Masters of Horror – Sounds Like (TV)

The hills are alive with the sound of… masticating? Yes, even the sound of someone noshing far across a crowded cafeteria can be heard at a deafening volume by poor Larry Pearce (Chris Bauer).

Larry, whose job it is to monitor the calls at a computer tech support facility (named Malleus Corp., naturally), can not only hear a pin drop, he can discern the tiniest inflection in the voices of his crew, knowing, even before they do, when a call might go awry. In these cases, he "terminates" the connections (have you even been on with tech support, and "oops!" the call is dropped? Blame Larry).

At first, this is a great help at work, but when the aural assault never lets up, even at home, Larry gets a little loopy. From his workshop in the garage, he can hear everything his wife Brenda (Laura Margolis) is doing in the house: Knitting needles sound like knives sharpening; pen to paper is like nails on a chalkboard; and the swallowing of pills swishes, gurgles and gulps at top volume.

It is later revealed that a certain life-altering incident sparked this preternatural skill in Larry's head, and it's been eating away at him ever since. In somewhat similar fashion to director Brad Anderson's 2004 film, The Machinist, this one tragic moment in a character's life has set into motion a chain of events that cannot be stopped.

While I didn't much care for the bright, almost sitcomy look of Sounds Like (I would have preferred Anderson's more signature style and stark/dark color palettes as seen in Session 9 and the aforementioned The Machinist), I did like the sound design, editing segues, and score. The script is simple and the climax isn't all that surprising, but it's a testament to the talents of Anderson and Bauer that even though not much really "happened", I was still on the edge of my seat throughout the episode.

Somewhat comparable to Lucky McKee's Masters of Horror entry last season, Sick Girl, there are no horror elements to Sounds Like until the last five minutes. This may not sit too well with slasher and monster fans, but give it a try — I think you'll like what you see (and hear).

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Reviewed by Staci Layne Wilson