PopHorror Let's Get Scared
The tagline for Italian directing trio T3’s SOUND OF SILENCE (2023) promises: “A chilling and stylish haunted house horror movie with a twist in the vein of The Conjuring and Oculus.” That was enough to sell me on the idea of catching this new offering from XYZ Films. Did it live up to the hype?
Watch the trailer below, then read on for our spoiler-free review!
Sound of Silence (2023) Synopsis
When her father is gravely injured, Emma returns to her family home in Italy. Alone in the house while her father recovers, she encounters a haunted radio – and the evil entity behind it. With the supernatural force growing stronger by the hour, Emma must reveal the dark secret behind the radio’s curse to survive the night.
Alessandro Antonaci, Stefano Mandalà, and Daniel Lascar wrote and directed the film. It stars Penelope Sangiorgi, Rocco Marazzita (You Die, TV’s Jack Stall Dead), Lucia Caporaso (Baggage Red), Daniele De Martino (House of Gucci), Chiara Casolari, Peter Stephen Wolmarans, and Alessandra Pizzullo (At War with Love).
Here’s a look at the poster art.
A Haunted…Radio?
I was told there would be a haunted house in this film, but it’s not really about the house. What we have here is essentially a haunted radio. No big deal. There’s usually a mystery to be solved whenever you find a cursed object, and that’s all part of the fun. So it goes, here, with Sound of Silence. The film opens, just as the trailer does, with a man breaking out an antique radio and tinkering with it in his workshop. Of course, it doesn’t take long to realize that this movie isn’t about the weekly top 40. It’s about history. And fear.
The old guy’s encounter with the radio doesn’t end so well, and soon his daughter is off to visit him to see if she can help. She, too, discovers the radio and must unlock its secrets before it drives her insane…or worse. What unfolds is a fairly straightforward chiller that is less about a “twist,” and more about the discovery of this radio’s dark history. Don’t touch that dial!
Sound Off
There are some pretty effective thrills and chills in here. It has jump scares galore, but it’s not just that. The makeup and visuals and glowy eye effects and the whole nine yards are also pretty creepy. There’s some good misdirection in here, too. When you think a GOTCHA is coming from one direction, it hits you from another. I got my fair share of tingles and goosebumps watching this.
I checked this out late at night on a tablet while wearing Bluetooth earbuds, and that experience really made me take notice of the audio. It’s safe to say that with a name like Sound of Silence, and a plot that involves a radio, it’s fair to expect the film to focus on the aural. It does. From the heroine being an aspiring singer to the showdown in a recording studio and all kinds of other sound-related things, the motif really works to pull everything together. We all know how much any good movie scare can be amped up by a good audio cue. That’s certainly the case here.
My main regret with this one is watching the trailer. The trailer really does show a lot, and while it was enough to hook me and make me want to watch (the goal of every trailer, I suppose), a lot of the most effective stuff from the film is in there, and that left me wanting more. Stuff appearing when you turn the radio on and off, in particular, is attention-grabbing, so it’s a shame the trailer shows so much of it. The trailer does not show EVERYTHING, however. You still need to find out what this radio’s deal is, and there’s some pretty eerie stuff in the final scene. It’s nice to get one big final shock that ends the film on a high note.
Sound of Silence – Final Thoughts
Sound of Silence is an effective cursed object thriller with solid acting performances and enough chills to make it worth your time. Turn off the lights and crank up the audio for maximum effect. I think you’ll like what you see…and hear.
Sound of Silence hits video-on-demand and digital platforms on March 9, 2023. Watch for it!
If haunted objects are your thing, be sure to check out these 20 crazy Amityville sequels. We did, so you don’t have to!
