_Saw The Musical_! _Sound of Violence_ is a psychedelic and gruesome slasher horror exploring a very unique concept of synesthesia, a rare condition that can cause people not just hear but also visualise sound. It's so refreshing, completely original and wildly creative, I've honestly never seen anything quite like it. The visuals and sound design are great. The kills are executed incredibly well, they're inventive and extremely disturbing. It could've been better though because it obviously struggles to put the ideas together into a narrative, making it like _Saw_ type film. But it's fun to watch. Jasmin Savoy Brown's performance is phenomenal! Can't say the same thing for the rest of the cast though.

I can't say it's good, but it entertained me. My association is that of early Japanese cyberpunk though in an arty and hip contemporary setting and execution. I decided early on to not be bothered about nonsensical sound works and terrible handling of microphones on par with 90s movie depiction of computer hackers and their magic fingers.

A bit of a miss that nobody could be bothered with some proper research. The main character should have been quite aware of existing experimental music and sound art of the physical sorts, Stelarc in the academic setting, some macho power noise, maybe Abruptum for her personal pleasures. A sound nerd like her would be scouting numbered limited editions of obscure industrial cassettes rather than some random record store for sure.

Oh, well. It didn't bore me and it wasn't stupid enough to make me angry, so I'll be generous and raise it to a seven despite its flaws.

[Sitges FF] Inspired by synesthesia, which provokes other senses such as sight or smell when a sound is heard, here it becomes a kind of stimulus for psychopathy. The director establishes a certain empathy with the protagonist, a deeper construction of the character, with a need that goes beyond her own will, similar to the need for blood of vampires. But the twisted staging of the murders misses the point.

The sound of violence is ugly and so is this film. Not an easy watch and while I appreciate the attempt to turn horror into art, it just didn’t do it for me. Jasmin is a great actress, however, and she just about makes this bearable.