Sound of Horror (1966)

You know sometimes I wonder why I dig so deep into the horror movie genre. Sure, I occasionally find a decent movie buried under there, but more often than not I find a flick like Sound of Horror. And it kills just a little bit of my inner horror nerd’s joy.

In this Spanish production we have a group of cave explorers blasting a hole into a cave wall to get to stuff… Really it isn’t until later that they reveal they are looking for treasure. Also is it a great idea to be standing in the cave as you use dynamite to blow a different part of the same cave up? That seems a little risky. Regardless we watch as they find a weird egg looking thing and what I guess is a mummy in a sarcophagus that is supposed to be a Neanderthal. Don’t worry about the dead body though because it ends up not being part of the story at all.

What does happen is another egg hatches and an invisible monster comes out to attack them. They hide in the house until they don’t, some people get killed, they hide again, and then the housekeeper goes outside to get water for coffee and dies, they hide some more, and then the truck blows up. Movie over though not quick enough.

I have two major complaints about the movie. The first is the plot makes no sense and meanders thru the duration without any effort to bring something worthwhile to the screen. As I’ve already mentioned in my plot synopsis the characters release the monster and then spend the rest of the movie running in and out of the house with no apparent plan at all. They double down on this nonsense with a character, the housekeeper, stepping outside to get water from the well to make coffee to calm everyone down. She knows that the monster is out there and doesn’t think twice about it. That is the sort of logic you can expect from Sound of Horror. It makes for a very long and boring watch.

The creepy dance scene even made it to a lobby card!

The second major issue I have is that the monster is invisible. We have a creature feature with no creature at all! Sure, you get loud spooky sounds and props that fly around as they are hit by the invisible monster, but we don’t get to see anything. Well to be fair there is a brief glimpse when it moves thru smoke one time, but it is brief and vague.  Perhaps if this was a better movie with a plot and characters that engaged the audience that would be okay, but that isn’t what we have here. I’m not saying a giant rubber monster would have saved Sound of Horror, but it couldn’t have hurt.

Terrible story and a lousy monster mean that movie has little to offer. You know what we do get? An extended dance scene with the two female characters while the menfolk smile creepy and watch. Let me sitting thru this stinker mean something and take my advice. Skip this horrible excuse for a monster movie and spend your time on something better like It Conquered the World. While that isn’t a great movie at least the monster in the cave is decent looking and you actually get to see it!

© Copyright 2019 John Shatzer