The Sounds of Silence
Posted: Tue Dec 22, 2020 4:02 pm
Dear friends,
now that holiday season is arriving and I have some more time, I thought about a topic that is - at least to my knowledge - barely discussed in our community: the sounds of the actress as she is meeting her demise. The way she may grunt or scream.
For me, this can be a quite arousing factor to enjoy a scene more or less. In the worst case, it also can totally ruin it. Maybe you remember the beginning of DePalma's BODY DOUBLE where they shoot a slasher scene and everything works fine until the damsel in distress screams and the director freaks out.
In my own videos I try to give my actresses certain instructions and usually they deliver their tasks well. Sometimes they need some demonstration and sometimes it's just not possible. Some girls just can't die nicely vocally :=D
But coming back to the mainstream cinema, I discovered, thanks to DVD and Blu-Ray and various language options, some very interesting differences how a scene works in which country. Today, these vocal fx are not "dubbed" at all, but in the 70s and 80s it was common everywhere to dub everything with local talents, even the death scenes.
I have assembled a little vid with some favorite scenes and want to point of the differences in the dubbing. I had intended to past all clips here separately but this didn't work. So, I've created a vid with them all. Maybe you can download it and read my comments before or with the scenes:
So, what's to see? The following comments may have an excessive use of the word "favorite", so I will apologize in advance for that.
The first comparison is from DEATHSTALKER 2 (1987), one my favorite Barbarian movies of the 80s. I LOVE these CONAN rip-offs. Through them I was introduced to Amazon Warriors and loved the idea behind these women immediately. And the rest is... history :=D
It's the famous scene where Monique Gabrielle throws a dagger right in the bare navel of her evil clone. First is the original English dub. I love the way she later yells YOUUUUU bitchhh... but I even like the German dub more. This comes next. This was the way I saw this movie first on VHS.
What I like better in the German version is the sound of blade entering her belly. It's rather "bumping" in the original, here it sounds softer and "fleshier". I also like the grunt of the German dub and that she grunts and moans more over the scene while Monique is not heard at all after the first grunt. Interestingly the English version has her "Ewwww"-comment after the evil twin dissolves while it's silent in the German version
CONQUEST (1983) is next, another barbarian movie from Italian goremaster Lucio Fulci. The reason why I like this movie so much is mainly due to Sabrina Siani, one of my favorite actresses of the 80s. She has a beautiful skinny body and her pretty face and blonde hair are stunning, too. Both you won't see in CONQUEST as she wears a mask all the time, playing an evil priestess. In one scene she dreams about her future demise, being shot between the tits with a laser arrow. In the German and English version I am not sure if you can hear a scream or not as the sound FX of crushing bones is so loud but in the Italian version you hear a nice scream (German dub first, then the original). Also, she moans louder and even more engaged in the original Italian dub.
It is followed by AMAZON JAIL (1982), one of my most favorite WIP movies. It has so many beautiful girls and sleazy baddies, it's really great fun! The movie came directly to VHS in Germany in the mid-80s and the dub was done cheaply. It's also a bit out-of-synch on tape. The best scene comes when super cute Shirley Benny engages in a great catfight with another sexy gal. Soon they have ripped their dresses and make it out topless. As Shirley grabs a machete, sitting on her opponent to kill her, she is arrowed in the back by a bunch of guys. This scene has always been a favorite of mine. I LOVE how Shirley opens up, stretches herself as she is arrowed. Unfortunately the German dub never highlighted this as it's a screaming mix of the watching other females around it. This changed when I got the US DVD of this with the English dub which has her scream nicely. It made the scene even more thrilling! First comes the German dub, then the English version.
Next is MILLENNIUM CRISIS (2007) a confusing mess of a Sci-Fi-Thriller which story I failed to understand. But there was a nice topless sword fight between the evil lady and some guy. I've got the US DVD first and was a bit disappointed. Not only how the scene was filmed but also how it was vocally done. In the US version the lady grunts two times and... that's it. The German dub is much better but... it was dubbed OVER the English track. So you actually hear both, which is a bit confusing. A great scene... but wasted by the way it was filmed and the sound. First is the English track, then the German dub.
Rounding this little trip up are three movies by my fave director Jess Franco. He is often critized as an untalented maniac making shitty movies. Although I must admit that many of his works suffer from bad editing and the inability to shoot an exciting action scene, there is no other director around who constantly creates such a unique sleazy, sweaty, depraved world than Franco. In his movies the bad girls and boys are so over-the-top... it's fantastic. And also the good ones have dark sides they love to show us. For me, these are always hot movies in a sense that you can sense the heat, the sweat on the naked skin, the lust driven bodies... incredible. If this guy would be more interested to film his death scenes more thrilling, we would all worship his altar today. It would be my dream to make a movie in a Franco-Universe one time. One of my favorites from him is MACISTE CONTRE LA REINE DES AMAZONS (1973) which exists only in French on VHS and on DVD in Italy in a very bad print. This Amazon warrior movie has so badly edited death scenes that I could scream but... damn, I'd love to live in this Amazon Jungle!
Before coming to the movies, I may explain that his movies were financed by many different producers and/or featured actors from all around the world. The movies were shot in a way that everybody spoke in their own language and were dubbed later in every country by the script with local talents. So, no real "original versions" of his films exist. Also, the producers tend to cut the movies as they wanted, so many versions of a Franco film can exist. Censorship problems around the world only made that even worse.
Ok, the first of them is EXORCISM (1974), one of his most personal and best movies, as it's told. The movie begins with a stage act, where Monika Swinn stabs a bound Lina Romay to "death" with a fake dagger. Lina's scream in the English Version is quite good already, but I like the German dub even more. It's not as over-the-top as the English and fits better to her reactions. I first saw the movie on a Dutch VHS tape called THE SADIST OF NOTRE DAME, where this scene was not even included. Only later on US Blu-Ray I saw this opening scene. Later I bought a German Blu-Ray-Set which has many different versions included. Before that the movie was never released in any form in Germany. They also dubbed the film for the first time in German, even hiring some old "dubbers" of the 70s/80s and the result is really excellent!
Then there is SADMONIA (1981), the WIP that ranks with AMAZON JAIL over the top spot. The whole movie is way out, EVERY WOMAN is topless almost ALL THE TIME, it's great! And Ajita Wilson is marvellous as the bad lady(boy)! The most popular scene is surely the fully nude knife vs. spear death fight. Again, this is badly edited and shot in backlight, so you don't see much. I watched this on German VHS first and loved it immediately. Later on US DVD a longer version became available. Also this fight is longer there and to my surprise it ended with a marvellous orgiastic scream as the warden is stabbed in her belly! I liked the German grunt already, but this over-the-top scream became one of my favorites! It comes too early actually, but who cares? German first, US follows.
And finally there is JACK THE RIPPER (1976) starring the great Klaus Kinski. This scene is also one of my all time faves although it's so opposite to what I usually like. When you have seen some of my vids, you'll know that I like long, sensuous writhing, arching, squirming on the ground.
Here we see some plants, the camera goes down and we see a paralyzed Lina Romay, eyes wide open, breathing heavily. We can hear her already when we can't see her yet, as the camera is still moving down. In the scene before she has just been stabbed by Jack, who is now going to... well, you know what he did... This scene really haunts me. Lina does such a great job lying and staring there... breathing... nothing else. For just some seconds. But together with the sound of her breathing... this is so thrilling! I watched this on VHS in German first and will always love that scene. Following are three more different variations of this scene (of the English, French and Italian dub) and as all have some nice touches, I still like the German the best.
So, this took longer than expected. I hope you liked this journey into audio thrills and I would love to hear what are your favorite sounds before the silence? I know there are many, many more... let's hear about them!
Best,
Solstice
now that holiday season is arriving and I have some more time, I thought about a topic that is - at least to my knowledge - barely discussed in our community: the sounds of the actress as she is meeting her demise. The way she may grunt or scream.
For me, this can be a quite arousing factor to enjoy a scene more or less. In the worst case, it also can totally ruin it. Maybe you remember the beginning of DePalma's BODY DOUBLE where they shoot a slasher scene and everything works fine until the damsel in distress screams and the director freaks out.
In my own videos I try to give my actresses certain instructions and usually they deliver their tasks well. Sometimes they need some demonstration and sometimes it's just not possible. Some girls just can't die nicely vocally :=D
But coming back to the mainstream cinema, I discovered, thanks to DVD and Blu-Ray and various language options, some very interesting differences how a scene works in which country. Today, these vocal fx are not "dubbed" at all, but in the 70s and 80s it was common everywhere to dub everything with local talents, even the death scenes.
I have assembled a little vid with some favorite scenes and want to point of the differences in the dubbing. I had intended to past all clips here separately but this didn't work. So, I've created a vid with them all. Maybe you can download it and read my comments before or with the scenes:
So, what's to see? The following comments may have an excessive use of the word "favorite", so I will apologize in advance for that.
The first comparison is from DEATHSTALKER 2 (1987), one my favorite Barbarian movies of the 80s. I LOVE these CONAN rip-offs. Through them I was introduced to Amazon Warriors and loved the idea behind these women immediately. And the rest is... history :=D
It's the famous scene where Monique Gabrielle throws a dagger right in the bare navel of her evil clone. First is the original English dub. I love the way she later yells YOUUUUU bitchhh... but I even like the German dub more. This comes next. This was the way I saw this movie first on VHS.
What I like better in the German version is the sound of blade entering her belly. It's rather "bumping" in the original, here it sounds softer and "fleshier". I also like the grunt of the German dub and that she grunts and moans more over the scene while Monique is not heard at all after the first grunt. Interestingly the English version has her "Ewwww"-comment after the evil twin dissolves while it's silent in the German version
CONQUEST (1983) is next, another barbarian movie from Italian goremaster Lucio Fulci. The reason why I like this movie so much is mainly due to Sabrina Siani, one of my favorite actresses of the 80s. She has a beautiful skinny body and her pretty face and blonde hair are stunning, too. Both you won't see in CONQUEST as she wears a mask all the time, playing an evil priestess. In one scene she dreams about her future demise, being shot between the tits with a laser arrow. In the German and English version I am not sure if you can hear a scream or not as the sound FX of crushing bones is so loud but in the Italian version you hear a nice scream (German dub first, then the original). Also, she moans louder and even more engaged in the original Italian dub.
It is followed by AMAZON JAIL (1982), one of my most favorite WIP movies. It has so many beautiful girls and sleazy baddies, it's really great fun! The movie came directly to VHS in Germany in the mid-80s and the dub was done cheaply. It's also a bit out-of-synch on tape. The best scene comes when super cute Shirley Benny engages in a great catfight with another sexy gal. Soon they have ripped their dresses and make it out topless. As Shirley grabs a machete, sitting on her opponent to kill her, she is arrowed in the back by a bunch of guys. This scene has always been a favorite of mine. I LOVE how Shirley opens up, stretches herself as she is arrowed. Unfortunately the German dub never highlighted this as it's a screaming mix of the watching other females around it. This changed when I got the US DVD of this with the English dub which has her scream nicely. It made the scene even more thrilling! First comes the German dub, then the English version.
Next is MILLENNIUM CRISIS (2007) a confusing mess of a Sci-Fi-Thriller which story I failed to understand. But there was a nice topless sword fight between the evil lady and some guy. I've got the US DVD first and was a bit disappointed. Not only how the scene was filmed but also how it was vocally done. In the US version the lady grunts two times and... that's it. The German dub is much better but... it was dubbed OVER the English track. So you actually hear both, which is a bit confusing. A great scene... but wasted by the way it was filmed and the sound. First is the English track, then the German dub.
Rounding this little trip up are three movies by my fave director Jess Franco. He is often critized as an untalented maniac making shitty movies. Although I must admit that many of his works suffer from bad editing and the inability to shoot an exciting action scene, there is no other director around who constantly creates such a unique sleazy, sweaty, depraved world than Franco. In his movies the bad girls and boys are so over-the-top... it's fantastic. And also the good ones have dark sides they love to show us. For me, these are always hot movies in a sense that you can sense the heat, the sweat on the naked skin, the lust driven bodies... incredible. If this guy would be more interested to film his death scenes more thrilling, we would all worship his altar today. It would be my dream to make a movie in a Franco-Universe one time. One of my favorites from him is MACISTE CONTRE LA REINE DES AMAZONS (1973) which exists only in French on VHS and on DVD in Italy in a very bad print. This Amazon warrior movie has so badly edited death scenes that I could scream but... damn, I'd love to live in this Amazon Jungle!
Before coming to the movies, I may explain that his movies were financed by many different producers and/or featured actors from all around the world. The movies were shot in a way that everybody spoke in their own language and were dubbed later in every country by the script with local talents. So, no real "original versions" of his films exist. Also, the producers tend to cut the movies as they wanted, so many versions of a Franco film can exist. Censorship problems around the world only made that even worse.
Ok, the first of them is EXORCISM (1974), one of his most personal and best movies, as it's told. The movie begins with a stage act, where Monika Swinn stabs a bound Lina Romay to "death" with a fake dagger. Lina's scream in the English Version is quite good already, but I like the German dub even more. It's not as over-the-top as the English and fits better to her reactions. I first saw the movie on a Dutch VHS tape called THE SADIST OF NOTRE DAME, where this scene was not even included. Only later on US Blu-Ray I saw this opening scene. Later I bought a German Blu-Ray-Set which has many different versions included. Before that the movie was never released in any form in Germany. They also dubbed the film for the first time in German, even hiring some old "dubbers" of the 70s/80s and the result is really excellent!
Then there is SADMONIA (1981), the WIP that ranks with AMAZON JAIL over the top spot. The whole movie is way out, EVERY WOMAN is topless almost ALL THE TIME, it's great! And Ajita Wilson is marvellous as the bad lady(boy)! The most popular scene is surely the fully nude knife vs. spear death fight. Again, this is badly edited and shot in backlight, so you don't see much. I watched this on German VHS first and loved it immediately. Later on US DVD a longer version became available. Also this fight is longer there and to my surprise it ended with a marvellous orgiastic scream as the warden is stabbed in her belly! I liked the German grunt already, but this over-the-top scream became one of my favorites! It comes too early actually, but who cares? German first, US follows.
And finally there is JACK THE RIPPER (1976) starring the great Klaus Kinski. This scene is also one of my all time faves although it's so opposite to what I usually like. When you have seen some of my vids, you'll know that I like long, sensuous writhing, arching, squirming on the ground.
Here we see some plants, the camera goes down and we see a paralyzed Lina Romay, eyes wide open, breathing heavily. We can hear her already when we can't see her yet, as the camera is still moving down. In the scene before she has just been stabbed by Jack, who is now going to... well, you know what he did... This scene really haunts me. Lina does such a great job lying and staring there... breathing... nothing else. For just some seconds. But together with the sound of her breathing... this is so thrilling! I watched this on VHS in German first and will always love that scene. Following are three more different variations of this scene (of the English, French and Italian dub) and as all have some nice touches, I still like the German the best.
So, this took longer than expected. I hope you liked this journey into audio thrills and I would love to hear what are your favorite sounds before the silence? I know there are many, many more... let's hear about them!
Best,
Solstice
It also has Martine Beswick in it, one of my wet dreams also... her performance in PREHISTORIC WOMEN is THE role model for every Amazon Queen yet to come!
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