Review – Rose McGowan is Brilliant in The Sound

If an abandoned subway station doesn’t sound very scary how about one that’s built beneath the ruins of a graveyard, a Potter’s Field next door to a former asylum? Just in time for Halloween, a horror movie comes rumbling through this maze of tunnels with all the dank chills audiences could want, along with the unexpected bonus of a story that’s riveting and ultimately quite moving.

The Sound is about a skeptic of the paranormal who travels from one allegedly haunted spot to another to investigate and debunk the presence of ghosts. She’s made a name for herself on her blog and on Twitter where she receives tips about spooky happening that people claim to have seen or heard. She then investigates the creepy locations, running tests with low-frequency recording equipment to prove the phenomena are natural. Usually.

Jenna Mattison’s directorial debut serves as a fine reminder that Rose McGowan is one of those actresses we never get to see enough of. Especially since McGowan’s outspoken stance against sexism in the industry led to her recent hiatus from acting for a couple of years while she pursued personal projects that she wrote and directed herself.  Since she’s been in the public eye as often for her passionate activism as she has for her intimate filmmaking, it’s easy to forget what a powerful screen presence she’s always had, and how good she can be when the material matches her talents.

As Kelly Johansen, a cynic who exposes bogus hauntings but who’s haunted by internal demons that are all too real, McGowan has found such a role. Following a lead to Toronto, Kelly ignores all the warnings and descends to explore the site where a girl committed suicide decades earlier, to poke around a deserted subway station where apparitions have been said to materialize. There she encounters others who have business underground — Christopher Lloyd is Clinton, an oddly evasive maintenance man, and Michael Eklund is an intense Detective Richards. Neither of these guys makes us feel any more comfortable, and there’s something seriously wrong going on with the cavelike acoustics that soon causes Kelly to worry she’s losing it.

Before long the inky darkness and hums of a subterranean subwoofer have worked everyone’s nerves to an increasingly unbearable extent. Mattison plays devilishly effective tricks on all our senses here, thrusting us into grimy shadows from which feathery figures emerge then subside, and of course cranking up an exceptionally dynamic soundscape that seems to sink below infrasonic throbs to vibrate our bones and turn the screws ever tighter in our heads.

Though the Sound may at first on the surface feel like a lot of modern horror films that take their cue from the Blair Witch Project and The Ring, it’s thankfully not one of those that leave us shaken but empty in the end. Sure, there are more than a few heart-stopping frights, but beyond the aurally induced tingles, this feels very much like a personal film. It’s a psychological puzzle that’s got a lot on its mind, touching on subjects that take us further than the potent technical jolts and spare plotline would have us assume. Mattison intends to do more than simply scare us, and she succeeds in reaching deeper. To say any more would be to spoil the effect and the fun.

Going in, I wasn’t sure what to expect from this film – but since we’re all on the look out for promising female directors was willing to give it a go. Glad to say I  can highly recommend it, as a solid thriller and a showcase for McGowan.

The Sound represents a promising debut for Mattison as a director/writer/producer. She had already earned recognition for screenplays that could keenly capture romance in Fish Without a Bicycle and ratchet tension in thrillers like For the Love of Money. She’s now shown she possesses an assured visual sensibility and is especially adept at guiding McGowan through uncharted depths, going to dark and vulnerable places in this film and finding their way back revitalized. Here’s hoping Rose McGowan is ready to reemerge in more roles and that Jenna Mattison is on track to flourish in exciting directions.