Ahhgahh!!!

August 11, 2006 10:34 PM

It's called The Wilhelm Scream. And I bet you've heard it a hundred times. At least. I've heard it in SO many action movies I began to think I was nuts! Lucas seems to have used it as a sound geek in-joke... and evidentally so has everyone else since. Now I can live knowing I'm not the only one who's noticed, and not as crazy as I thought.
posted by Dome-O-Rama (28 comments total)

Double-esque
posted by jonson at 10:39 PM on August 11, 2006

I never noticed...and after seeing the iFilm compilation, I don't think that my brain would ever be smart enough to figure out that the same scream was used in each of those movies UNLESS I heard/saw the compilation. Interesting. I don't find the scream particularly compelling or even believable in some of those instances.

But it does seem somehow appropriate in the "Howard The Duck" instance.
posted by davidmsc at 10:42 PM on August 11, 2006

Deja-ayggghh
posted by TwelveTwo at 10:45 PM on August 11, 2006

Double-esque

Yeah, but this one has links to Wikipedia^!!!!!
posted by dersins at 10:49 PM on August 11, 2006 [1 favorite]

Direct link to the movie from the orginal Wilhelm scream post.
posted by bigmusic at 11:12 PM on August 11, 2006

I notice the Wilhelm scream all the time, and I totally fucking hate it—it's completely distracting, a movie derailer.
posted by interrobang at 11:16 PM on August 11, 2006

What about that "Yeeeeeaaaaaaaarrgggggh" scream (used in StarCraft and other places)? The Wilhelm Scream is kinda lame in comparison.
posted by Eideteker at 11:27 PM on August 11, 2006

I think I have reached the end of the internet, since nothing that is posted here is new to me anymore. The Wilhelm stuff is old news. *sigh* But I loved it when I saw it first, I just wish there were more fun things online that I haven't seen.
posted by newfers at 11:28 PM on August 11, 2006

The Willhelm Scream is like the Hannah Barbera Bongos of action movies. I guess it's funny once you recognise it, but before then it's the kind of thing that makes sane adults grind their teeth.
posted by Frowny_McGrumpus at 11:29 PM on August 11, 2006

Oh, and your favorite sound effect sucks.
posted by Frowny_McGrumpus at 11:30 PM on August 11, 2006

Yeah it's a teeth grinder for me - at least once I started noticing it when I was about 18 (just turned 37).

Sorry about the double post, the links didn't come up on the search!
posted by Dome-O-Rama at 11:33 PM on August 11, 2006

Yeah, Eidetecker. Is there a name for that one? I never notice the Wilhelm scream, but I always notice the Yeeeeeaaaaaaaarrgggggh scream. Mostly in trailers, it seems.
posted by brundlefly at 11:34 PM on August 11, 2006

Jeez...for something that appears to be relatively obscure -- and the fact that the original MeFi post was over 3 years ago -- I think we can give Dome-A-Rama a pass on the double-post charge.
posted by davidmsc at 11:38 PM on August 11, 2006

Thanks!
posted by Dome-O-Rama at 11:42 PM on August 11, 2006

Double-esque.

Don't you mean double-ahhAAAG?
posted by bwg at 12:10 AM on August 12, 2006

And I agree with interrobang.
posted by bwg at 12:13 AM on August 12, 2006

I never picked up on the Wilhelm scream until I was told about it, but there's a "pool of gasoline/other fire source rapidly catching" sound effect which I hear time and time, and time again, which sounds, to my ears, NOTHING like the rapid conflagration it always seems to represent, yet I keep hearing used over and over and over again. I can only hope that's an in-joke too, since it's really not a very good effect. Anyone else know the one I mean?
posted by Jon Mitchell at 12:34 AM on August 12, 2006

Jon, is the fire igniting effect the one you're thinking of?
posted by ArkhanJG at 1:06 AM on August 12, 2006

The one that always gets me is the standard police radio chatter one, with a woman saying something like "one-Adam ten-sixty-seven" or something like that. I remember it first from Blade Runner, but it's been in tons of things since. It seems like it's the only radio chatter effect out there.
posted by jiawen at 1:23 AM on August 12, 2006

Conversely I take an odd enjoyment in hearing the door sound effect from Doom (the game) in movies every now and again.
posted by MetaMonkey at 2:29 AM on August 12, 2006

Is there a name for the scream they use in StarCraft when you select the Academy? And the futuristic door-opening sound that's in the original Doom game, and every cheapish sci fi movie?
posted by stammer at 2:33 AM on August 12, 2006

Newfers, try this
posted by senor biggles at 3:22 AM on August 12, 2006

In all those jungle movies, are there many different recordings of the kookaburra bird going oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-AA-AA-AA-AA-AA or just one?
posted by jfuller at 5:26 AM on August 12, 2006

Is there a name for the sound of the 18-wheeler speeding past? The one with the air horn blast that has a nice Doppler effect...

I notice that one more often than the Wilhelm scream.
posted by emelenjr at 6:06 AM on August 12, 2006

The kookaburra is bad enough, but what about that loon (emblematic diving bird of the Canadian north) call you hear in just about every 'jungle' movie?

I'd love to hear these 'Hanna-Barbera bongos' though, if a link exists.
posted by Flashman at 6:40 AM on August 12, 2006

I love the Wilhelm Scream, and get a kick out of it every time I hear it (or think I hear it) in yet another movie or tv show. ...or MeFi post. I'm less annoyed by the Wilhelm than I am of reports that every other MeFi post is a rerun. So the fuck what? I bow with reverence to the majesty of this duplicate thread. Again. If it happened more than a month ago, pointing out it's a duplicate is unfair, mean-spirited, and ...other un-nice things I can't find words for at the moment. And snarky, although I don't mind it being snarky. In other news, very nice find Senor Biggles. Hadn't seen that tube before. Armando Iannucci is hilarious. I'd caught him on some BBC radio audio ..thing on the web somewhere a year or so back and had forgotten, but he was funny then. I bet he's out there somewhere being funny right now. Didn't know he also had a tv show.
posted by ZachsMind at 7:00 AM on August 12, 2006

"Dr. Davis, telephone please, Dr. Davis, telephone please. Dr. Blair, Dr. Blair, Dr. J Hamilton, Dr. J Hamilton"
posted by daninnj at 7:31 AM on August 12, 2006

It would be nice if there were compiliations of other over-used sound effects.
posted by graventy at 7:40 AM on August 12, 2006