SXSW 2021 Review: ‘Sound of Violence’ Shows Great Ingenuity As Murder and Music Combine

Hearing loss is a terrifying prospect, but it’s also a great concept for film. It’s one of the many aspects of Alex Noyer’s bold new horror/thriller “Sound of Violence” (inspired by his own short “Conductor”). In it, Alexis (Jasmin Savoy Brown) lost her hearing as a child but gained it back in a most unusual way during the murder of her family.

She could hear again when she bashed her father’s head in after he killed the rest of the family. When she did this, she gained her hearing back as she could see sounds through colours, bringing the concept of synesthesia into the film (where two senses are connected). It happens to be that she only can see those colours when she elicits extreme violence on someone. It’s music to her ears (literally) as she grows up to be a very experimental musician, getting sick beats by paying people to do odd jobs to create sound (like a BDSM whipping session).

Eventually, that’s not enough. Alexis can only remember that euphoria and is trying to recapture it, and she just wants that again. At the same time, she learns that she’ll lose her hearing again soon… Desperate, she starts a mission to create her musical masterpiece through murder before she loses her hearing permanently.

Visually alone, Noyer’s “Sound of Violence” is worth the watch. Cinematographer Daphne Qin Wu helps the visuals come alive on-screen, as the colours look like the ones seen in the indie “Fast Color.” They looked like fun for the VFX team to experiment with, and the louder or more violent the actions are, the more vibrant they get.

In the hearing loss, we’re placed in Alexis’ experience when sound is drowned out, for example. Later, some of it is used as a jump scare merely because her hearing is back when she hears a loud noise. When the technique is at its most impressive, it’s because we feel the percussion of instruments that she feels. It’s also interesting as the only way she knew her family was being murdered as a kid was because she could feel the vibrations of that violence.

This immersive quality impresses and seems to have similar techniques to Oscar contender “Sound of Metal.” They’re drastically different films but the similarities (hearing loss, focus on music) are clear, but “Metal” is a raw emotional journey and “Violence” is a journey of making music through murder. This surely has some of that emotional power through Alexis, especially with her fear when she learns she may lose her hearing again.

In music, “Sound of Violence” has a focus on disc jockeying and those synthetic beats, and for a film where sound and music plays such an integral role, it’s one of the film’s best aspects, as the film uses a variety of instruments like drums and theremins. Big shout outs to the composer Jaakko Manninen (as well as composers Alexander Burke and Omar-El Deeb) and the sound team like Jussi Tegelman and Igor Parfenov.

Some of these sounds are unsettling, but you’ll still tap your feet to them. They’re creepy and mechanical, too, especially with some of Alexis’ contraptions in the horror scenes as she creates her music. These moments are brutal and gory, as we laugh during it but question if we are supposed to laugh. This is especially when Alexis’ DJ mixer bashes and stabs someone behind her as she jumps around giddily like a DJ hyping up a crowd; but it’s euphoric and fun as she sees these colours again.

Alexis is such a layered character and is played very well by Jasmin Savory Brown. She’s humanized through her best friend Marie (Lili Simmons), and their chemistry is great. They’re roommates and best friends but there’s also the consistent “will they or won’t they” dynamic between them that’s interesting to watch unfold.

Alexis has layers of humanity as she commits these murders, too. She looks remorseful after but that remorse slides off when she listens to the sounds she’s made because they’re so good. She thinks she’s doing it for the greater good of her masterpiece, as a musician first and a killer second.

That’s the only core issue of “Sound of Violence” in terms of the believability of how she commits these murders. Alexis is a great musician but is one of the sloppiest killers you’ll see as, even though she had hours to clean up, she simply leaves her victims to be found the next day. That might distract some as Alexis acts out of desperation and instinct rather than meticulous planning.

The lack of clean-up perhaps has to do with her obsession. She thinks of these people as songs, so she’s moving from one song to the next, driven by that desperation to finish. She can’t pay the clean-up any mind because to her, that song is done and she has to hurry home to listen to it. That’s one in the books, so onto the next one.

Just the act of not cleaning distracted me in the third act with her character as this habit is more apparent, but “Sound of Violence” is worth the watch in terms of pure ingenuity in Noyer’s writing, as well as the creativity in sounds and visuals.

*”Sound of Violence” premiered March 18th at SXSW and is available to press and ticket holders until March 21st at 1 AM CST.