An at times odd, somewhat experimental piece of supernatural horror, Sound of Silence perhaps struggles because it tries to do so much. In its efforts, it at times spins wildly between being hectic and being flat, between being an homage and striking out alone. But there are good elements in here, and these deserve credit. We begin with a domestic setting, and a man in a suspiciously Amityville-eyed attic, working on an old-fashioned radio. He tinkers past the point of danger, in a warning to all inveterate tinkerers: first, hearing something strange – an odd, alarmed voice. Then, the radio itself seems to conjure an apparition, a none-too-pleased female ghost, who grabs at him. And then it gets even worse.
Given the guest spot which the radio enjoys as the opening credits roll, it seems that the item has had the potential for mischief for generations: there it is, in a bunch of photos taken in different historical periods, the people sitting near it all looking oddly blank-eyed. That being established, we move back to the present day: in the US (the location is equally heavily signposted for us), a struggling singer, Emma, is called away from flunking auditions by a phonecall from her native Italy. It seems that the man who tinkered with the radio is her father, and for his efforts he has ended up in hospital – in the ICU, in fact. She and her boyfriend Seba fly home, and get filled in on the details by her mother, who was also injured during the event: Emma’s father has not been acting like himself to say the least. Mama also warns against them going to the house, but Emma (Penelope Sangiorgi) ignores this advice wholeheartedly.
After doing some immediate laundry (this is surely record mileage for taking apparently dirty washing to one’s parents), and having sent the utterly feckless Seba out to get some food and supplies, Emma starts to play around with some old recording equipment in the house. Her parents always fostered her talent for singing, so there’s quite a lot of kit still around, including a small, soundproofed studio. But as she listens to some old tapes, she, too, hears something strange. Whatever the radio did, its influences are still present, and to escape its influences, she has to understand its story.
The ‘haunted/cursed object’ is a comfortable and much-beloved horror trope, and presumably anyone reading reviews at this website can think of a few examples they like. Oculus (2013) is a personal favourite, by the by, and clearly referenced here. Sound of Silence clearly has a sense of where it fits in to this slew of malign bric-a-brac, and actually, using a radio is not a bad idea at all. Tuning into different frequencies always was a little creepy, after all, with all those half-heard and recognised voices mid-conversation, or distant snippets of alien songs, never to be heard again. One of the things about this new wave of indie horror which fixates on analogue technology is that, often, there’s little sense of what that technology actually did which differentiates it from digital; the main takeaway is often simply, ‘it looks funny and retro’. At least here there’s more to it, and there are some genuinely creepy scenes where audio recordings are used – it calls to mind EVP, which may well be nonsense but, again, is unnerving. Sound itself is the enemy here. More visual scares are somewhat less effective, with a lot of reliance on flickering jump scares in particular, but this does at least mirror the ways radios can quickly tune in and out, gaining and losing signal – assuming this was the intention. The film is evocatively lit, though, which cuts across the often crowded frames to call to mind Italian horror of the 80s, with an unreal, dreamy aesthetic.
Of course, to end the ordeal, Emma has to somehow understand what is causing the phenomena: this kind of resolution is the key to getting out. It’s a tale as old as time, or at least as old as the horror genre. The film feels a little strained and uncomfortable where it shifts modes from mystery to exposition to accommodate this, and some of the ways it handles some rather uncomfortable, hefty subject matter along the way will draw sharp sighs from some viewers. It is one of those moments where Sound of Silence overstretches itself, making weirdly light work of sensitive, unwieldy themes. But at least it has the gumption to try and follow a narrative, and to generate atmosphere through more than aesthetics alone. You can forgive a lot as a result, so a few uneven performances, a desire to reference a long list of cinematic influences, or a grim determination to hang on for ten minutes past the perfect place to roll the end credits are just minor concerns. When all’s said and done, it’s better to attempt too much than to attempt too little, and Sound of Silence draws together some effective moments from its grab-bag of ideas and atmospherics.
Sound of Silence (2023) will be available on VOD from March 9th, 2023.