The Wilhelm Scream: Hollywood’s most iconic sound effect

Twenty Thousand Hertz

Dallas Taylor

Music, Design, Arts, Music Commentary

4.8 • 4.1K Ratings

🗓️ 30 May 2017

⏱️ 19 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

When it comes to movie screams, what’s the first one you think of? Is it a scream that evokes a sense of fear, pain, or maybe even… humor? Perhaps you immediately think about a famous “Scream Queen” or a specific scene from a movie. But you may not realize that the most famous scream in Hollywood has a name—and it’s been used over and over and over in countless films, television shows, and commercials. What makes it so good? And how did it become a filmmaker favorite? Featuring Steve Lee, sound designer, film historian, and creator of the Hollywood Sound Museum. Twenty Thousand Hertz is produced out of the studios of Defacto Sound and hosted by Dallas Taylor. Follow Dallas on Instagram, TikTok and LinkedIn. Watch our video shorts on YouTube, and join the discussion on Reddit and Facebook. Consider supporting the show at donate.20k.org Episode transcript, music, and credits can be found here: https://www.20k.org/episodes/wilhelmscream Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:24.3	Zocdo.com slash Hertz.
0:29.8	You're listening to 20,000 Hertz. I'm Dallas Taylor.
0:35.4	Ah! Ah! Ah! Knights of Columbus that are me! I'm Dallas Taylor.
0:40.3	Knights of Columbus that are me.
0:56.3	The two screams you just heard came from Will Ferrell and Anchorman,
0:59.9	and Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker in The Empire Strikes Back.
1:03.4	Movie screams seem like easy work, but they're not.
1:06.0	That's why some of the best are so iconic.
1:09.7	You have scary ones, like Captain Quint from Jaws.
1:17.1	Or Janet Lee from Psycho.
1:31.3	And the original scream queen, Faye Ray, from King Kong way back in 1933. Then you've got non-horror screams,
1:33.7	like Kevin from home alone feeling the burn of after shave.
1:36.9	I can't seem to find my toothbrush,
1:38.4	so I'll pick one up when I go out today.
1:40.4	Other than that, I'm in good shape.
1:43.4	Ah! Other than that, I'm in good shape.
1:52.5	And Marv the burglar from the same film when Kevin puts a tarantula on his face.
	...

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