Some of your universe's critics do not appreciate the revolutionary Sound of Horror. For example, reviewer vampi1960 writes, “the movie is very dull. it must be seen to be believed.” Reviewer plantonrules calls the film “Talky, dull and never the least bit good.” And reviewer bigchin_00 writes, confusingly, “It's not dreadful but it is pretty awful.”
Read on for an appreciation of Sound of Horror...
Elsewhere, two men hammer a stick of dynamite into a hole in a rock in a cave, then lay out a length of fuse. They are joined by Maria, the niece of one of the men, and they light the fuse. (Maria is played by Soledad Miranda.) As the spark travels down the fuse, Maria says, “Oh, Uncle Andre, I’m scared of explosions.”
He has time to reply, “You’ll get used to them, Maria. All cave explorers get used to them after a while.”
The dynamite explodes, opening part of the cave. Maria coughs at the smoke. The other man, Starves, says, “Maria, you’d better become accustomed to the smoke as well. It’s the most uncomfortable part of these explosions.”
Andre scoffs. “She’s only an amateur. And a woman.”
They walk through the newly created entrance in the rock, entering a tunnel with a helpfully extremely flat floor. Immediately, they find a spherical rock and conclude that it is a “stone egg.” Stravos says, “I believe only the covering is petrified.” The camera reveals there is another petrified egg in the cave wall. After the three cave explorers leave, we see something oozing out of the remaining egg — and as soon as it is out of the egg, it fades to invisibility.
As idyllic music plays, we watch the three explorers walk from the cave to their house, a few hundred yards away. They meet a woman named Calliope, who crosses herself when they show her the stone egg. “Look out, it could be cursed,” she says.
Stravos jokes, “Do you think there could be some ancient recipe for making a stew out of this?”
They, perhaps ill-advisedly, leave the stone egg on the mantel of a roaring fireplace while the women make lunch and the men look over Andre’s treasure map. Andre assures Stravos that “The treasure’s in that cave…somewhere. It’s got to be.”
Then the filmmakers cut to a shot of the inside of the cave. This lasts for nearly one minute, though nothing at all happens.
The next day, the explorers blow up another part of the cave to open another entrance to a tunnel with a flat floor. This tunnel is not empty, however. It features a body wrapped in cloth and ropes standing in a sarcophagus!
The body falls to the floor (i.e., cave bottom). “It’s been excellently preserved,” Andre says. He adds, “That means this mountain has been the burial ground for a race of men.” Despite the amazing discovery, however, Andre is frustrated that he hasn’t found his treasure, which is the only thing he wants.
Back at the house, a Jeep drives up and a new, younger group of explorers arrives—Asilov, Dorman, their driver Pete, and Sofia (played by Ingrid Pitt). The newcomers and Ms. Miranda dance to Greek music for a long time, after which Asilov shows Andre the missing portion of his treasure map. After deciding how they will split up the millions of dollars worth of treasures, Asilov looks forward to spending his money. “A beautiful villa, fine clothes, and limousines.”
Perhaps a little bluntly, Andre agrees. “Yes, riches. It’ll be good.”
The next day in the cave, Stravos watches over the mummified corpse while Andre, Asilov, and Dorman attempt to break through a wall where the second half of the map indicates the treasure should be. Meanwhile, Ms. Miranda and Ms. Pitt decide to sunbathe outside (i.e. sit on rocks in their regular clothes) while Pete brushes off the Jeep with a wire brush for unknown reasons.
After a few minutes digging, Asilov finds a skeleton, so of course they conclude the only possible explanation is that the treasure’s owners buried the treasure, then killed the man who dug the hole. They soon find some cement under the dirt that makes up the cave floor, so they realize they must blow up the cement with more dynamite.
As the others rush outside to get some dynamite, Stravos remains with the mummified corpse. The camera prowls near him, implying something invisible is approaching. He hears a high-pitched roar and then his arm is slashed bloodily. He staggers around the cave, screaming as he is attacked by something invisible.
The others rush into the cave when they hear his screaming, but they find only his dead body. They also hear the invisible monster’s cries deeper in the cave.
Back at the house, the men, instead of calling the local authorities about Stravos’s death, discuss what could have killed him. Calliope believes it is the evil spirits of the cave, but everyone dismisses such a ridiculous idea. Calliope grows angry. “This cave was doubly cursed when it received a treasure dripping with the blood of many men.”
Asilov counters her logically and eloquently: “But how long does blood cling to a treasure? It’s been years since it was first put there and its curse started claiming lives. That was before the atom bomb, before we started to land men on the moon. That was another age. And how many ages can a curse last?”
The men, seeing villagers standing atop the mountains and assuming they are ready to steal the treasure, return to the cave and start preparing to blow up the cement. They again hear the invisible monster’s shrieks deep in the cave. Perhaps counterintuitively, they run away, hurrying down the hill and into the house, then locking the doors and shuttering the windows. They soon realize that Dorman was attacked, so they give first aid to his slashed leg.
Chillingly, the filmmakers pan to the stone egg on the mantel, which begins to jiggle.
There follows a fascinating discussion about the history of the treasure, which came from the sacking of Athens in 46 B.C. and saw a great deal of murder and betrayal. After much discussion, everybody, perhaps implausibly, decides to leave the area and go to Athens. “When we get to Athens, we can figure out a plan of action against this invisible destructive force.” They all retire to bed.
At night, Ms. Miranda and Pete can’t sleep so they discuss how different things are now that an invisible monster has forced them to barricade themselves inside the house. “Yesterday I thought about my business,” Pete says. “That’s all. As you know, I was full of big plans to get rich, and now I’m sorry I didn’t pay a lot more attention to other things.”
Ms. Miranda adds, “More important things like dancing, flowers, books, and music.”
“That’s right, yes. I’m beginning to realize how much there can be in life if one just opens his eyes, and somebody around to share it all with you.”
After they kiss, but probably unrelated, the stone egg on the mantle breaks open and something begins to hatch. However, everyone in the house hears it, so they shockingly toss the hatching baby into the fireplace.
Andre theorizes, “It comes from a prehistoric age. We already know that. They lay unhatched for thousands of years, maybe even millions, until the day when we, or I, accidentally blasted them loose.”
“But why can’t it be seen?”
“I don’t know. Maybe it absorbs the color of its background as protection and becomes invisible immediately.”
As they all sit up, wide awake due to their perilous situation, Ms. Pitt takes out a large radio and sets it on her lap. “Maybe some gay music will help.” She turns it on and Dies Irae of Mozart’s Requiem begins to play.
Pete quips sarcastically, “Oh, very gay.”
Calliope, the person most afraid of the evil spirits in the cave, walks outside and leaves the door open so she can fetch water from the well. Shockingly, she hears footsteps moving close to her, then she starts screaming as the invisible monster attacks her. The others can only (i.e., choose to) watch in horror from the front porch.
After Calliope is definitely dead, based on the lack of continued screaming, Asilov says with frustration, “It’s like living under the threat of an atom bomb. We’ll hear it drop and then…”
Pete replies, “I’ll take the atom bomb age. Nobody’s pressed the button yet.”
After everyone separates, Pete holds Ms. Miranda’s hand. “One thing seems certain to me,” he tells her, somewhat confusingly. “This whatever it is doesn’t like the kitchen.”
At dawn, Andre goes outside, looks down at Calliope’s torn-apart body, then opens a crate at the side of the house full of dynamite. He carries a box of dynamite into the cave and begins inserting sticks into holes in the rock. The others discover his plan to blow up the cave entrance just as he lights the fuse. As the spark travels down the fuse, Andre is attacked by the monster, and the others rush from the house to the cave, only to arrive when a ton of rubble blocks the entrance. Andre has apparently sacrificed himself (and the treasure) to save the others from the invisible monster.
Somewhat awkwardly, Asilov says, “We’ll leave now. Andre has destroyed our enemy.”
However, the film still has some surprises. When they return to the house, it has been ransacked, and there are dinosaur footprints in the massive amount of flour that is covering the floor. Instead of panicking that the monster is in the house, everyone simply packs their belongings in their suitcases and loads the Jeep (this gripping sequence lasts over five minutes). When they eventually attempt to drive away, they find the engine won’t turn over. Suspensefully, we also hear the invisible monster growling from the cave, to which it has apparently returned.
In the climactic sequence, the treasure hunters retreat to the house and make the injured Dorman comfortable. However, Ms. Miranda finds the monster inside one of the bedrooms — she even sees its transparent form for a moment!
Resourcefully, she drags a bed against the door, but unfortunately for all involved it somehow breaks through a hallway window. The others set a trap to lure it outside, a process that is somewhat confusing due to the monster’s invisibility. After a moment, the monster runs outside, but then tries to break back into the house. The men keep it out. Heroically, Dorman decides to serve as bait for the monster because he is going to lose his leg from infection anyway. They concoct a plan to identify the monster by pouring massive bags of flour in the yard between the house and the car. (A pedantic viewer might question why they don’t use the time to run to the car instead of laying the trap, but such a viewer would be a spoilsport.)
Sensibly, after the trap is laid, Pete says, “I hope it doesn’t go around it.”
The plan, however, does work, and the creature walks straight through the flour, leaving footprints.
The survivors attempt to kill the monster by throwing two axes at it, resulting in one of the film’s signature images: a clever tracking shot of axes floating in midair as the creature moves toward the house.
The treasure hunters barricade themselves into the house again, then go outside when they see the injured monster’s tracks moving away through the flour. They help Dorman to the Jeep, whose engine now starts. Pete drives them away to upbeat, triumphant music. Asilov says, “Pete, I owe you pay for an entire week.”
Pete replies, “You don’t owe me pay for anything at all. If it weren’t fort for your aim, we’d still be trapped in that house.”
Dorman adds, “And I’d be dead. Someday I shall pay you back.”
In a shocking stinger, however, the invisible monster rips the Jeep’s canvas roof and the car blows up, killing both Dorman and the monster.
The others simply walk away through the Greek mountains.
Of course, Sound of Horror's major innovation is its invisible monster, an idea that allows the actors to be seen acting as they are attacked and that sparks terror in the heart of anyone who hears about the concept. Invisibility, however, is very complex and expensive, so I have no doubt Sound of Horror was one of the most expensive films of its era. The sophisticated effects of footprints appearing in flour and axes penetrating invisible skin will probably never be duplicated, but the expense was worth it, as Sound of Horror is a visual, dare I say, masterpiece.