Basically you’re a horror fan, horror films appeal to you but maybe you don’t entirely know why.

Something about them just gets your spine tingling, gets you hiding behind a cushion or maybe makes you cringe with fright behind your tightly closed eyelids. Whether you’re into zombies, creatures, supernatural shockers or maybe just a good old slasher, the frightfull feeling you get whilst watching a truly good horror is something you also relish. Something that you feel you need to put yourself through in order to release that emotional response that somehow puts a smile on your face at the end of each and every screening, and allows you to recover from shaking and fast breathing, allowing your end response to be that of intense joy and relief that what you just saw was a fictional creation and not something that will happen to yourself the next time you leave the house………….?????

You sit down, you put on a horror film and it begins……….the scares, the creepiness, the shivers, the fast breathing, the screams.
You close your eyes because the scares are becoming unbearable, but you can still hear what’s going on, the eerie music and the sound effects are detailing each and every scene. Forcing you to hear how close the next scare is approaching, allowing your own mind to create images of what’s about to happen, more scary and horrific than what is actually unfolding on the screen.

This my friends is because a large percentage of what actually scares us in horror films in fact comes from what we hear as opposed to what we see. From the low background eerie sounds to the fast loud killer is upon us music score. If the sound effects and music were not there, the picture laid out before us would not be half as terrifying! This is not just by chance though, no, no, no. The music scores and sound effects put together so brilliantly, the scores and effects that have stuck with us over the years to the point where we often find ourselves humming them in order to creep out a friend or family member, these have been devised specifically to create those spine tingling feelings. Researched and created with only scaring and fear inducing in mind!!

Sounds to die for is a new book, and a new look into the language of horror film sound.
If I may repeat a quote taking from www.flaithulach.co.uk, the publisher’s website:

“A fascinating behind the scenes look at the previously unexplored territory of horror film sound.
Through in-depth analysis of sound in the films of Dario Argento and discussions with leading practitioners, this book explores our inherent relationship with sound; examining how and why specific sounds are chosen and utilised to express and manipulate human perception and emotion."

"Talent, initiative and attention to detail"

"Interesting and provocative"

Now as a self confessed horror fan the question before me is:

‘Is this book worth the read and will I be better for it?’

Well the only answer I can come up with is yes!

Not only does it provide an impressive insight into how sounds and music affects us and why it does this so well within horror, it does really well to actually focus on the sound effects, that until the research within the book was done, was usually the poor relation to music. The book has a real personal feel to it. The conversations and discussions within are done to a level where you feel like your actually there getting involved in the discussion. This is something that a lot of books of this type try, but unfortunately fail at badly, coming across very clinical………….this one certainly does not.

If this is something that appeals to you, and I can certainly understand why it would, you can find yourself a copy by going to:
www.flaithulach.co.uk 
Click on the book title, Sounds to die for.

Or you can visit the page directly at www.flaithulach.co.uk/soundstodiefor.html