COLLECTOR'S CRYPT - THE SOUND OF SUMMER (UNEARTHED FILMS BLU RAY) REVIEW
I have a personal story about cicadas that has stuck with me since I was just barely double-digits in age. My mom used to send me to a camp in the summers where they didn’t allow electricity and you were taught how to do lots of ranch-type activities: shoe horses, draw carriages, camp, shit in the dark, and fish to name a few things. One year, I went out on an overnight camping trip in the forest with a group of folks who signed up. We took our horses and packs, I had a mule because I was “too big for the horses” at that age, and after a half-day trek, we set up camp and got ready to eat and sleep. This summer happened to be one of the years the cicadas came out to mate, and the forest in Northern Arizona is a real hotbed of cicadas swinging, fucking, and chirping. The one thing we didn’t bring for this trip, were tents. The idea was to sleep outside in the open and bask in the glory that is nature. Instead, we basked in the glory of cicadas. Just close your eyes and imagine if you will this scene; you’re in a sleeping bag in a forest, and all you can hear around you is the distinct sound of thousands of cicadas chirping. While you’re trying to sleep, you feel small pings in your sleeping bag and wonder what they could be. Only to realize that you’re being pelted by falling cicadas and this persists throughout the night. Needless to say, I didn’t get any sleep that night and still despise camping. Naturally, this means I was drawn to UNEARTHED FILMS' newest blu ray release, THE SOUND OF SUMMER, which deals deliberately in those summer-time symphony makers. Is this film just a bunch of noise, or is it a sweet song of brutality and horror?
WHAT’S IT ABOUT?
In the relentless heat of the grueling summer, temperatures soar to blistering levels as cicadas emerge to sing their ear-shattering song. Months of continued exposure are enough to make anyone start to feel a little off. Anyone, that is, except that oddity the locals call 'The Cicada Man'. Who is that strange man and why is he always walking around with boxes full of live cicadas? More importantly, what does he do with them? As the heat starts to get to our heroine, and her sanity depletes, real life and delusion begin to mix. Her darkest nightmares seep into our world and she fears the Cicada Man has planted his swarm of insects inside her. She must get them out - at all costs. Thus begins her downward spiral into extreme paranoia and self-mutilation. She just needs to make it through the summer.
HOW IS IT?
You’d think based on the story in the intro that there would be some sort of lingering “cicada trauma” which would deter me from them and films like this. Contrary to that thinking, there is no bad blood between the cicadas and me, and the concept of THE SOUND OF SUMMER is an intriguing one coming from a label whose proprietor once told me the main criteria in selecting films for his label was “how fucked up they are”. Needless to say, UNEARTHED FILMS yet again demonstrate how that keen eye for offbeat cinema can sometimes bring a new audience to films that they may not have found otherwise. Not without flaws, THE SOUND OF SUMMER is art-house horror for the Cronenberg/Lynch crowd.
Summarizing THE SOUND OF SUMMER isn’t the easiest of tasks. While it does adopt a somewhat narrative structure, it is really more of an audio-visual experience designed to engage the viewer's senses rather than logic. The main story revolves around a young Japanese woman who is living through aggressive heat and overwhelming amounts of cicadas during summer in Japan. There are no distinctions made to characters or places, rather, everything exists in this kind of generalized way. The only character who has been given a name is “The Cicada Man”, a middle-aged man roaming the summer streets collecting cicadas. Our main character is put off by him, and yet there is something connecting them psychically. In her dreams, she sees him, and during his waking hours, he is murdering small children and feeding their flesh to his captured cicadas. From there our main character enters a slow descent into madness and physical changes that ultimately converge in quite the ending. While this all sounds straightforward enough, the film has this uneasy beat to the action and is often devoid of dialogue in favor of immersive sound, and this is to the film's overall benefit as it does engulf you in the mood and mind of the main character.
There is a lot to enjoy about THE SOUND OF SUMMER. From the interesting and thoughtful visual and auditory design to the very effective and economical practical effects. Still, the film is not without some flaws. The primary one is that the lack of narrative past the midway point makes it hard to connect with the character and the action. While this choice is certainly intentional, it makes the paranoia less palpable and pulls the viewer out of the action. Secondary to that is a matter of preference, for those who prefer their stories direct and dialogue frequent this film may not be for you. For those who are more into the experimental side of horror, there are novel and interesting ideas here that are surely worth one’s time and attention.
HOW DOES IT LOOK?
Given the relative recency of the film, 2022, the overall look of THE SOUND OF SUMMER is quite crisp and clear. This is a very low-budget film, and as such the quality of the film does show with the kind of camera used. Still, it does not do the film any disservice and the picture is exactly as it should be. Images from this release can be found below and throughout the review:
HOW DOES IT SOUND?
This release comes with a 2.0 Stereo DTS-HD audio track and it is just right for the film overall. The overwhelming and engulfing sound comes through loud when it should and has a good balance during the more dialogue-centric scenes. A 5.1 surround soundtrack would have been interesting given the kind of sounds and soundscapes, but the film doesn’t suffer without it.
ANYTHING SPECIAL?
For those that enjoy the film, this release packs a heap of special features that provide lots of commentary on the making of the film, its reception, and overall what the director was aiming for narratively and aesthetically. The first special feature we took in was the Tokyo Talkshow with the creators of The Sound of Summer, Loud and legendary director Shozin Fukui. This 33-min recorded panel interview provides perspective on what the summer means to director GUY, and then questions from another shock-cinema legend, SHOZIN FUKUI of 964 PINOCCHIO fame. He was very complimentary of the film and seemed quite impressed with how well-aware Guy was of other filmmakers in the Japanese underground. They talked about the difference between making films in Japan over the UK, how they arrived at the various music choices they made, and also that it took over 20 hours to film the ending! A really insightful and also endearing panel that is overflowing with admiration.
The second special feature we took in was a 45-minute Behind the Scenes vignette. This is more “home movie” style behind-the-scenes stuff with no narration, or one-camera interviews, and is comprised mostly of candid footage of the production process cradle to grave. A full list of special features included with this release is listed below:
BONUS MATERIALS
Behind The Scenes of The Sound of Summer
Tokyo Talkshow with the creators of The Sound of Summer, Loud and legendary director Shozin Fukui
Japanese Premiere
Trailers
LAST RITES
THE SOUND OF SUMMER is what happens with low-budget art-house horror meets insect body horror in Japan. With an eerie vibe, entrancing audio, and some effective gross-out practical effects make this one that is worth seeking out if you fancy yourself a fan of the strange and unfamiliar.
THE GORY DETAILS
Thank you to the fine fiends over at MVD ENTERTAINMENT for providing a review copy for the crypt! The Sound of Summer is available NOW and can be purchased via MVD DIRECT!
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