BOOM SOUNDS FOR HORROR/THRILLERS

We are proud of all the work our clients do and the trailers below are no exception. Wielding our sounds like expert swordsmen, the sound designers behind these trailers have given us some practiced cases for horrors and thrillers.

From psychedelic mind-benders like BEAU IS AFRAID to a revisiting of classic horror tales like LAST VOYAGE OF THE DEMETER and mammal-snorting horror comedies like COCAINE BEAR, these recent trailers are full of creepy knocks and squeals, bass-dripping snarls and creature sounds, and more.

Combining sounds too subtle with sounds too powerful, or highly positive thoughts with highly threatening audio, is what creates this sort of malaise we need in sound design to challenge the viewers ease, to pull them into an addictive unrest and stress.

Listen and learn from these trailers and how to craft masterful fields of sound from the most recent Hollywood releases.

LAST VOYAGE OF THE DEMETER

Bram Stoker’s Dracula is an immortal story that keeps on giving. With each of its chapters so rich in intricate plots, it’s a wellspring for movies like LAST VOYAGE OF THE DEMETER. A heartbeat knock and thud is the main theme here, repeated throughout the entire trailer, coupled with the tick-tock clockwork sound. They’re also solid metaphors for vampires and signaling bad times to come for the crew of the Demeter.

Also included are some great creature sounds for the nosferatu, along with some braaams horn blasts parting the fog and revealing the true horror of this sea-born saga.

The sound design here is a great example of backing away from the compression. It’s always a rookie mistake to leave your sound timeline looking like a sausage, because the real horror is in the dynamic turns. From soft heartbeats to overpowering growls and flesh rips – that difference in volume is where it’s at. Remember that silence is golden… and terrifying.

For some great creature and monster effects similar to the sounds Dracula makes in the trailer, check out our CREATURES HUMANOID or MUTATE ORGANIC libraries.

BEAU IS AFRAID

Joaquin Phoenix has a gift for choosing psychological roles in movies that bend genres and warp minds. It’s the run of a person’s nightmare dealing with severe anxiety in a backdrop of absurdist black comedy. The trailer starts off with tense drones and a scream, but then quickly slows down to establish the “regular experience”. It’s a real model of cyclical story telling itself, and the sounds also feature some spinning whirls, hard-hitting transitions, and impacts.

The movie is about anxiety, and listen to how the sound design, especially in the beginning, really draws in the feeling of a kind of lonely terror that matches the boy’s expression.

For similar sounds, check out our FREE PROCESSED IMPACTS library.

THE MOTHER

Straight out of the Liam Neeson-style thriller, Jennifer Lopez shows she’s still got the stuff to make a proper kill-em-all-in-defense-of-your-child movie. Opening with a solid, mystical thud while Lopez reawakens her career, with horn braaams, thuds, and tense risers. They use a solid dose of impacts to punctuate the scenes and plot points, with a range of well-timed silences and climaxes to keep up the interest. Enter also explosions, bullet casing drops, and more that all need their own expert sound design handling for a more trailer-specific sound.

Need similar huge braaams and risers? Our CINEMATIC METAL library might be a good pick for you.

POPE’S EXORCIST

Director Jules Avery and actor Russel Crowe team up to bring horror back to the exorcist genre. The trailer opens with a very political slant, with Crowe’s character Fr. Amorth defending his position. The sound design here remains low key. But as the trailer shows creepier and creepier scenes, the sound design follows, with creaking, belching, and impacts, and then closes with a few ticks and tocks.

Like in LAST VOYAGE OF THE DEMETER, the trailer sound designers are careful to use dynamic range and silences to emphasize the classic horror of the story. It also uses well-known musical elements in a very unusual, disturbingly rhythmic way like a damaged clock telling you: time is running toward hell breaking loose.

For a complete library of creepy, bone-crunching FX, check out our MEDIEVAL MELEE.

COCAINE BEAR

Snakes on a Plane, Sharknado, Eight Legged Freaks… every now and then comes out a movie that’s completely bonkers and inexplicable, but somehow still manages to capture the imaginations of millions of pop culture zealots and imprint itself into our TikTok-loving minds. Cocaine Bear is one such movie. The trailer features bass-defying low rumbles growling from everyone’s favorite pearl sniffing ursa, defending his righteous stash from drug dealers and narcomen. The climax is a complete mayhem of sound as it layers for bear falls, snarls, swipes, and more.

In horror movies, it’s good to bring out the dark growls and furor of the main antagonist, and the trailer for COCAINE BEAR does not slouch here. The low frequencies are modified and highlighted, so that even the cheapest phone speaker playing YouTube videos can bring out the rumble.

Need some low-bass growls? Check out our new ALIEN LIFE, with the Construction Kit featuring dozens of high-quality, up-close animal recordings and the Designed pack upping the terror.

KNOCK AT THE CABIN

Some might consider M. Night Shyamalan the father of the modern horror-twist. Knock at the Cabin maintains every bit of sinister psychology he’s known for. The sound design features drones, knocks, chain rattles, window breaks, and impacts galore, each used to emphasize just how creepy Dave Bautista manages to come off with each slow-cadenced, mad-cap articulation he utters. Knocks act as building jumpscares, while drones are used to maintain tension. And notice that excellent metallic squeal at the end as Bautista raises that pole?

Accentuate your own scares with our CINEMATIC STRIKES library.

BOOM Library sounds

We divide most of our libraries into two kinds: Construction Kits and Designed sounds. Construction Kits are in true Do-It-Yourself form, expertly recorded with the intention that you’ll use these to mangle and create layered nuggets of golden sound (or if you’re dealing with the right target, use them as is). Designed to help you wield masterfully crafted, twisted and mangled sounds, the type you really need for horror, especially in the realms of creature sound design.

Whatever use you need them for, we’ve got a wide array of cinematic scares for you. Get started with a curated selection of some of our best sounds with THE COMPLETE BOOM BASICS.