T w e n t y S i d e d
The Wilhelm scream is a staple in media and has been for over 60 years. Everybody reading this likely knows exactly what I’m talking about, but if you don’t, go ahead and look it up on YouTube. There will be plenty of videos to refresh your memory. It’s a classic. It’s a constant. I hate it.
If I’m in the middle of watching a SciFi-Fantasy Space Epic, like, say, a Star War and I hear a Wilhelm scream it doesn’t really bother me. It’s a goofy environment that allows for some levity in a way that some other stories and themes don’t. But when I’m watching Lord of the Rings and I’m deeply immersed in a dark but beautiful world and story, I don’t want to hear some poor prick from the 50s do his best to sound scared and dying.
I know the justification is that it’s a fun easter egg thrown in by sound designers and foley artists. I get that, and I don’t like yucking other people’s yum for no reason. That’s just it, though, I think it does ruin my experience sometimes. The end of a movie called Dante’s Peak, there’s an emotional death scene punctuated by a Wilhelm scream. That is not the place for a silly haha fun-fun joke to be thrown in. Half of the uses on Lord of the Rings and Hobbit movies are abominations. The death of Thrain in the extended edition of The Desolation of Smaug is probably the most infuriating usage of the sound in history. The Hobbit movies are far from perfect but they had a great scene going and then might as well have played a fart sound effect over it.
It’s just not a worthwhile addition to any movie anymore. It’s not even funny anymore unless used ironically. The world of media consumers know the sound exists whether they know the actual name or not. It’s a tired gag. It’s a dead meme. And like all dead memes in existence, it needs to be ignored until its evil power fades. Then we can all remember it as nostalgic cringe like “an arrow to the knee” or “do you know de wae?”
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100% Agree.
Thank you! It’s good to know I’m not alone in this.
So what you’re saying is we should replace all the Wilhelm Screams with All Your Base-s.
I don’t think I’ve heard it in the Lord of the Rings movies. But I watched Mickey 17 the other day, which came out last March and still had a Wilhelm Scream in it.
“All Your Bases Belong to Us,” “Peanut Butter Jelly Time,” or ear shattering “Vine Booms.”
I don’t the effect is going anywhere unfortunately. This is just an “Old Man Shouts at Cloud” moment honestly. But I genuinely don’t mind its usage in comedic moments. But if I’m watching Jason Statham’s next action slop and it’s the middle of a tense scene in a movie that is taking itself seriously I may have an on the spot mental breakdown.
Also Robert Pattinson’s work post Twilight has been amazing and you just reminded me to watch Mickey 17. So thank you for that :D
That, uh… remains to be seen.
It’s in the The Lord of the Rings movies, and the The Hobbit movies. They even have an entry for it on the LOTR wiki.
I don’t have a particular problem with it but I think for me it is partially the fact that I’m bad at recognizing voices so sure, I hear that prolonged scream but I do not immediately get that “I’ve heard this before”. Similarly I don’t have that problem where a character sounds like a different character to me because they share a VA that seems to distract a lot of people, I was in fact very proud when I recognized BG3 Raphael VA in some other work (don’t remember what it was right now) and then later learned he was in all sorts of games for, like, decades.
Yeah I can pick out Yuri Lowenthal and Johnny Yong Bosch’s voices out of a crowd anywhere. Luckily I think they’re excellent at their job and enjoy them.
I heard it in something recently and it took me right out of the story. At this point in time, it’s a comedy trope.
For sure. I actually really love hearing it in more sarcastic 3rd wall breaky bits.
Almost all of the gunshots you hear in movies are pre-recorded stuff dubbed in. In some cases those shots were recorded in the 1950s. It’s cheaper to use than recording your own.
I guess the Wilhelm scream is more recognizable since it’s a human voice.
They also still use that shattering sound effect that Ocarina of Time used for all their pots. And I’m pretty sure I heard the same cicada sound effect twenty years apart.
That and the ancient door opening sounds that are still everywhere. Super easy to pick out
What I find interesting is “the Goofy yell/holler” doesn’t have the same problem. Now, of course, the Goofy yell really only fits in highly comedic situations *in it’s entirety.* However, trimmed bits have actually shown up all over the place.
YES
I’m not sure when my opinion turned to agreement with this, but it certainly happened. I used to relish identifying it in films, it was a cool element of Star Wars. Maybe it was fun when it felt like special knowledge, or like an easter egg. Nowadays it feels tired, which is presumably just me getting tired of it, given how long it had been around before I first heard it. Or maybe as you say, it’s very much dependent on when and where it is used. Random Stormtrooper #428 dying vs actual named character! I don’t remember them in the LotR and Hobbit films but doubtless noticed, but I can’t remember how I felt about them being there – presumably I didn’t mind at the time as I first saw those films 20 years ago now and getting tired of Wilhelm feels like a more modern phenomenon for me. I’m not sure how it wasn’t ‘immersion-breaking’ back in the day for me, I’m very much a proponent of films being films and not televised plays where we’re all in on the fact that they’re just actors. I’ll take it a step further for games – I don’t like seeing the same mo-capped actors in multiple games (Deborah Wilson!)
I’ll buy that for a dollar!
(sorry. that response popped into my head and would not allow me to pass it by)
I do agree, the Wilhelm Scream has become badly overused. When I first learned about it’s history and usage in film lore, back when I was in college with Film Major friends, it was a relatively common easter egg, but in the decades since, it seems like it turned into some sort of obligation – if someone screams in almost any new film or television production, the Wilhelm Scream must make an appearance.
I have felt this way about the Wilhelm scream for a long, long, long time. I am so glad to find another who feels as I do about it.
It’s like the overuse of it across countless movies (and other media) exacerbates the negative effects it has on my experience when it is irreverently wedged into a scene of an otherwise really good or great story. While you could argue there are bigger flaws in the Lord of the Rings films, it still bothers me way more than any of the other blemishes on that superlative trilogy.
I’ll agree with the majority here and the poster that I dislike hearing it. It can work in something comedic but overall it’s such an overused sound clip that it’s very obvious when it’s used and it can easily ruin the mood of the scene. It’s as immersive breaking to me as when I see a movie or show where it’s obvious that the actors are in front of a green/blue screen and they’re surrounded by cgi.