Brad Anderson's second season entry for the Showtime Masters Of Horror series, Sounds Like, is at first glance a huge departure for the show. There's no overt violence or nudity to be seen, and its horrors are decidedly psychological rather than visceral. However, in both concept and execution, it is easily one of the finest episodes the show has produced thus far.
Larry Pearce (Chris Bauer) is falling apart. His six-year old son has recently died of a heart condition, and Larry and his wife Brenda (Laura Margolis) are having trouble putting the pieces of their shattered life back together. Previously, Larry was a man who took great pride in his acute sense of hearing - he is a call supervisor for a large computer company, overseeing the customer service and troubleshooting center where he listens to tech support calls all day. This heightened sense allows him to notice inflections in tone and slight changes of voice that reflect the reps' ability to help the customers properly. For a long time Larry has been very good at his job, but all this has begun to change after his tragedy, as his hearing begins to change and become even MORE sensitive. Sounds become louder and intrusive; typical everyday actions assault his ears thunderously every waking moment. All of this is in addition to the problems he faces at home, where his wife is also breaking down in her own way. Then problems at work that never existed before begin to arise, his calm demeanor starts to crack, and soon Larry is sliding down the long drop off into insanity, until violence may be unavoidable.
Sounds Like is really nothing like the previous episodes of MOH; the scares here are rooted in the fears of losing one's mind and our grasp on reality. Brad Anderson (who also adapted the short story by Mike O'Driscoll) shows a real aptitude for dealing with such terrors and brings us along with Larry, step by step, as his sanity unravels before us. It's no coincidence that in the behind the scenes documentary showcased in the extras that no less than five cast and crew members in a row describe Anderson as being very "specific". Anyone who has seen Anderson's previous films Session 9 and The Machinist know exactly what that means - he seems to be a director in the Kubrick mold, very precise and aware at every moment what it is he intends to achieve, with all details firmly in mind. Sounds Like cannot help but benefit from such an approach; while the sound design is clearly the most important technical ingredient of the piece (and much praise indeed for the sound technicians who pull this off, as the aural touches here couldn't be more essential as they are pretty much another character), the shots he chooses and the way he frames the action are stark and minimalist without sacrificing any of their effectiveness in conveying the story. It's all quite deliberate and as obviously planned out as well as such a low-budget, quickly shot piece of cinema can be. No stylistic flourishes for their own sake here.
There are few characters in Sounds Like: Larry's boss, his neighbor, and an employee upon whom Larry briefly projects his parental relationship with his son have the largest supporting roles - but it's really a one-man show by Bauer, with his wife getting the most secondary screen time. Margolis does a good job as the manic and emotional Brenda, to be sure, but Bauer takes his role and runs with it. Usually relegated to the part of the "heavy" (as in 8MM and Face/Off), seeing him here I recall his dramatic work in Billy Crystal's Yankee film 61* where he had a sterling supporting role as pinch hitter Bob Cerv, and the second season of HBO's The Wire as dock foreman Frank Sobotka, in which he turned in a phenomenal performance. His acting here is the glue that holds the story together and as his calm, controlled work in the early going turns into tortured psychosis, Bauer never makes a single wrong step. Dead eyed or wild eyed, it doesn't matter - the guy basically goes OFF here, and it's very well played.
The extras adhere to Anchor Bay's formula for the MOH releases - a couple featurettes (the aforementioned making of piece "Aural Madness", and "A Cacophony of Sounds Like - A Look Behind The Special Effects" where the highlight is a funny interview with the animal wrangler), a photo gallery, a commentary by Anderson and the screenplay (available on DVD-ROM). All the features get the job done and are up to the usual standards - brief though they may be - of these discs.
Sounds Like is a fine look into the mental disintegration of a man overcome by sadness and grief. The acting, writing, and directing brings this story to life with skill and intensity; the psychological insights are disturbing - and somewhat depressing, to be honest - but clearly drawn and dramatically sound. Again, this is easily one of the finest episodes produced yet by the Masters Of Horror series, surprising though it may be, as it shares little in common with the previous outings. But there's nothing wrong with proving that you don't need gore or big effects moments to creep your viewers the hell out.
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