#SXSW: “SOUND OF VIOLENCE”

By Amanda Gilmore

As a child, Alexis (Jamin Savoy Brown) recovered her hearing and gained synesthetic abilities after witnessing the murder of her family. Now an adult, Alexis is a Sound Engineer pursuing a career in music. She fears she may lose her hearing again if she doesn’t compose her experimental masterpiece. But there’s a catch, the masterpiece can only be achieved by recording the brutal acts of violence she inflicts.

Writer-Director Alex Noyer adapts his Short Film Conductor into a gruesome slasher feature. In a genre that often feels overdone, Noyer has created something inventive. He uses musical instruments and piercing sound as ways to give audiences gory murders they didn’t see coming. 

Savoy Brown gives a layered performance, playing Alexis as a demure figure in the beginning, then tilting into sinister territory once the audience knows what she’s capable of. After Alexis’s first kill, it’s clear she will stop at nothing to conduct her masterpiece. Her motivation leads to a climax that is both horrific and captivating.

Sound of Violence screens at SXSW: Thursday, March 18 at 9 PM ET.