Sound of Horror

Rating:
Summary: Ingrid Pitt Dances!
Review: "Sound Of Horror" is about some treasure hunters, searching the caves of Athens for a legendary stash of gold and jewels. Unfortunately for them, they use dynamite and blast open a prehistoric nest, complete with football-sized eggs! Andre (Antonio Casas) takes one of the eggs home, where we meet the rest of the folks, including Ingrid Pitt! She does quite a little dance number! Meanwhile, back at the cave, another egg hatches, releasing a fast-growing, invisible monster. It soon reaches humongous proportions, and man is it mad! It has a scream like a banshee with a kidney stone! The thing quickly kills one of the treasure hunters by ripping him open and draining his blood. Pretty graphic for 1965! From here on the movie is about our heroes' last stand. They defend themselves by hiding in the house. The creature attacks several times, killing a few more hapless victims (Don't worry, Ingrid Pitt lives on!). Andre ends up sacrificing himself by blasting it with more high explosives. Alas, it's all for naught, as the monster survives. What is it? Can it be killed? Watch it and find out. Lots of neat little twists and false endings. Check it out...

Rating:
Summary: Obscure little gem
Review: I first caught "Sound Of Horror" way back on TV in the 70's (the only time I saw it aired). It was on in the middle of the night, and since this was the days before cable & satellite Tv and hundreds of channels, it was one of only 1 or 2 choices I had to watch at that hour of the night with the nearby NY stations, most of which still went off the air most evenings in this period shortly before 24 hour a day programming and infomercials.
Well, being a horror movie fan, I would have watched it anyway. Of course being black and white, it actually appears older than it's actual age (from the mid-60's).
No doubt about it-this is a low budget affair. Perhaps the reason for the dinosaur being invisable was budgetary concerns. However in this case, it actually enhances the movie. For many (myself included) atmosphere and mood are the most important things in horror movies. This perhaps can account for all of those Universal horror movies from the 30's and 40's being still so popular today.
Anyway, the mood is set from the 1st second of the movie when we see the inside of this cave, which seems to be a cross between a movie set with perhaps a bit of animation or a drawn backdrop to the set. There's something moody and surrealistic about the scenes set inside the cave where these dinosaur eggs are discovered. Perhaps the director realised this. There are several long scenes inside the cave where nothing moves, and nothing happens. They're arent even any actors around. We just see the inside of the cave with it's glowing lights and eerie music playing-and I love it!!!!
The movie's not perfect certainly-the pacing being the most serious flaw. It just goes too slow at times. The one scence of a young Soledad Miranda (later a European cult start until her very early demise)dancing to some Greek music just brings things to a crawling hault and is the one slightly silly scene in the movie. Apart from that there's much to like even though the print of the film isn't great-it's still better than my early 90's video copy from one of those companies who specialize in public-domain titles. But, if you're not up for the challenge or into this type of old film, the print quailty will hurt the enjoyment of the movie I feel. For me, i'm thrilled to have this on DVD. I would have paid much more though to have a director commentary-but i'm unsure if the director is even still alive, and for a studio remastered version of the film. But I doubt that will ever happen-this film is almost totally unknown even by fans of obscure horror.
The single most effective thing in the movie (noting of course the mood of some of those surrealistic cave scenes and the nice soundtrack music), is the shrill cry of the dinosaur-it's very very effective and would add little to the movie if the creature had actually been visible. I remember that making the biggest impression on me when I first caught this at 3 a.m. on a dark night when I was in my early teens.
Not for fans of modern horror-gore or CGI special effects types of films, but quite a little gem for those who can appreciate old black and white horror with tons of mood to spare.

Rating:
Summary: Obscure little gem
Review: I first caught "Sound Of Horror" way back on TV in the 70's (the only time I saw it aired). It was on in the middle of the night, and since this was the days before cable & satellite Tv and hundreds of channels, it was one of only 1 or 2 choices I had to watch at that hour of the night with the nearby NY stations, most of which still went off the air most evenings in this period shortly before 24 hour a day programming and infomercials.
Well, being a horror movie fan, I would have watched it anyway. Of course being black and white, it actually appears older than it's actual age (from the mid-60's).
No doubt about it-this is a low budget affair. Perhaps the reason for the dinosaur being invisable was budgetary concerns. However in this case, it actually enhances the movie. For many (myself included) atmosphere and mood are the most important things in horror movies. This perhaps can account for all of those Universal horror movies from the 30's and 40's being still so popular today.
Anyway, the mood is set from the 1st second of the movie when we see the inside of this cave, which seems to be a cross between a movie set with perhaps a bit of animation or a drawn backdrop to the set. There's something moody and surrealistic about the scenes set inside the cave where these dinosaur eggs are discovered. Perhaps the director realised this. There are several long scenes inside the cave where nothing moves, and nothing happens. They're arent even any actors around. We just see the inside of the cave with it's glowing lights and eerie music playing-and I love it!!!!
The movie's not perfect certainly-the pacing being the most serious flaw. It just goes too slow at times. The one scence of a young Soledad Miranda (later a European cult start until her very early demise)dancing to some Greek music just brings things to a crawling hault and is the one slightly silly scene in the movie. Apart from that there's much to like even though the print of the film isn't great-it's still better than my early 90's video copy from one of those companies who specialize in public-domain titles. But, if you're not up for the challenge or into this type of old film, the print quailty will hurt the enjoyment of the movie I feel. For me, i'm thrilled to have this on DVD. I would have paid much more though to have a director commentary-but i'm unsure if the director is even still alive, and for a studio remastered version of the film. But I doubt that will ever happen-this film is almost totally unknown even by fans of obscure horror.
The single most effective thing in the movie (noting of course the mood of some of those surrealistic cave scenes and the nice soundtrack music), is the shrill cry of the dinosaur-it's very very effective and would add little to the movie if the creature had actually been visible. I remember that making the biggest impression on me when I first caught this at 3 a.m. on a dark night when I was in my early teens.
Not for fans of modern horror-gore or CGI special effects types of films, but quite a little gem for those who can appreciate old black and white horror with tons of mood to spare.

Rating:
Summary: forgotten little gem
Review: I saw this film not long after it was released. Most horror/science fiction films of the time were in black and white with poor visual effects because of the low budgets. This film is no exception - black and white, poor acting, poor directing, bad sets, corny dialogue and yet when I saw this film in the late 60's I really liked it. It was genuinely creepy. I bought the DVD all these years later and I still enjoyed it - mainly because of the nostalgic effect it had on me. The print has very poor picture quality and sound which is disappointing. The story is quite good and I believe with the right director it could be remade into a really greaty film. The best part of the film is the sound of the approaching invisible creature and then the piercing scream that follows. Another bit of chilling footage is when the old lady goes ouside to the well to fill up her jug at night. How stupid must you be, knowing that the creature is out there.

In conclussion, the DVD is poor in quality as I have mentioned above but it still has some genuine spookiness. Another plus is that it is the only Spanish horror flick I have ever seen.

Rating:
Summary: FOR PITT/MIRANDA FANATICS ONLY
Review: The image and sound quality are terrible. The images are grey and murky. The sound is full of hiss. I was confused when I read the review by phasedin he states "it's still better than my early 90's video copy from one of those companies who specialize in public-domain titles." This is an Alpha/Gotham release and thier forte is public domain. When I zoomed out, I saw video tracking on the image. I did some searches and for some reason you can only get this from Alpha Video. The plot and acting are better than O.K.

The price is right, but this is by no means a feast for the eyes.

Rating:
Summary: FOR PITT/MIRANDA FANATICS ONLY
Review: The image and sound quality are terrible. The images are grey and murky. The sound is full of hiss. I was confused when I read the review by phasedin he states "it's still better than my early 90's video copy from one of those companies who specialize in public-domain titles." This is an Alpha/Gotham release and thier forte is public domain. When I zoomed out, I saw video tracking on the image. I did some searches and for some reason you can only get this from Alpha Video. The plot and acting are better than O.K.

The price is right, but this is by no means a feast for the eyes.

Rating:
Summary: FOR PITT/MIRANDA FANATICS ONLY
Review: The image and sound quality are terrible. The images are grey and murky. The sound is full of hiss. I was confused when I read the review by phasedin he states "it's still better than my early 90's video copy from one of those companies who specialize in public-domain titles." This is an Alpha/Gotham release and thier forte is public domain. When I zoomed out, I saw video tracking on the image. I did some searches and for some reason you can only get this from Alpha Video. The plot and acting are better than O.K.

The price is right, but this is by no means a feast for the eyes.

Rating:
Summary: A Better Title: "Ninety Minutes of Pure Pain"
Review: This is the second time I have sat through "Sound of Horror" and it does not improve with age. This was made in Spain and is dubbed into English. It was originally released as "El Sonido Prehistorico" and also as "El Sonido de la Muerte", "The Prehistoric Sound", "Sound from a Million Years Ago", and ultimately as you see it now as "Sound of Horror". A more descriptive title would have actually been "Ninety Minutes of Pure Pain".

The plot concerns a group of "cave explorers" in Greece looking for buried treasure. The cave contains two dinosaur eggs which are activated by dynamite. One of them becomes an omelet on their fireplace, but the other goes on a rampage. I should stop here to explain the title. It is the SOUND of horror because the dinosaur is invisible! (It saved on special effects.) You can only hear his hideous scream, which sounds like an extremely agitated Charo yelling at the top of her lungs. Only once do we get a glimmer of him before he ends up on top of a blazing jeep and reveals himself to be "Grumpy" from "Land of the Lost". I would have given the film one star, but had to give it a bonus for the incredibly cheesy "axe throwing" special effect. This is the most hilarious effect I can recall in a horror film.

The one thing that really works against this film is the attempt to be all things to all people (still a problem in Hollywood today.) It has long, introspective talky scenes and cold as ice romance for the women. It has adventure, explosions, and monsters for the men. It has an improbably named old woman, Calliope (Lola Gaos), making coffee at all hours of the day and night for Juan Valdez. In other words, it tries too hard. The film is seemingly endless at 90 minutes, but would have been much more palatable with a little less coffee drinking and talking. I never grow tired of watching four guys shoveling dirt in a cave, either. Some people thought that Ingrid Pitt's dancing scene helped the picture. I disagree. It was yet another tortuous time waster that had nothing at all to do with being eaten by dinosaurs. On a positive note, the manner in which they expose the dinosaur is most clever and amusing. I will not spoil it for you but it involves bags of flour. Another problem the film suffers from is very loud, inappropriate string music playing in the background at wholly improbable times.

This film would have been a great MST3K if it had been about ten times better. The axe and flour scenes generate a couple of hearty laughs, but beyond that I would avoid this like the plague.

Rating:
Summary: A Better Title: "Ninety Minutes of Pure Pain"
Review: This is the second time I have sat through "Sound of Horror" and it does not improve with age. This was made in Spain and is dubbed into English. It was originally released as "El Sonido Prehistorico" and also as "El Sonido de la Muerte", "The Prehistoric Sound", "Sound from a Million Years Ago", and ultimately as you see it now as "Sound of Horror". A more descriptive title would have actually been "Ninety Minutes of Pure Pain".

The plot concerns a group of "cave explorers" in Greece looking for buried treasure. The cave contains two dinosaur eggs which are activated by dynamite. One of them becomes an omelet on their fireplace, but the other goes on a rampage. I should stop here to explain the title. It is the SOUND of horror because the dinosaur is invisible! (It saved on special effects.) You can only hear his hideous scream, which sounds like an extremely agitated Charo yelling at the top of her lungs. Only once do we get a glimmer of him before he ends up on top of a blazing jeep and reveals himself to be "Grumpy" from "Land of the Lost". I would have given the film one star, but had to give it a bonus for the incredibly cheesy "axe throwing" special effect. This is the most hilarious effect I can recall in a horror film.

The one thing that really works against this film is the attempt to be all things to all people (still a problem in Hollywood today.) It has long, introspective talky scenes and cold as ice romance for the women. It has adventure, explosions, and monsters for the men. It has an improbably named old woman, Calliope (Lola Gaos), making coffee at all hours of the day and night for Juan Valdez. In other words, it tries too hard. The film is seemingly endless at 90 minutes, but would have been much more palatable with a little less coffee drinking and talking. I never grow tired of watching four guys shoveling dirt in a cave, either. Some people thought that Ingrid Pitt's dancing scene helped the picture. I disagree. It was yet another tortuous time waster that had nothing at all to do with being eaten by dinosaurs. On a positive note, the manner in which they expose the dinosaur is most clever and amusing. I will not spoil it for you but it involves bags of flour. Another problem the film suffers from is very loud, inappropriate string music playing in the background at wholly improbable times.

This film would have been a great MST3K if it had been about ten times better. The axe and flour scenes generate a couple of hearty laughs, but beyond that I would avoid this like the plague.