10 Horror Films With Terrifying Sound Design

An acclaimed indie gem from Australian writer-director Jennifer Kent, The Babadook is a menacing monster movie that acts as a chilling metaphor for grief. The plot follows widowed Amelia (Essie Davis) struggle to cope with her troubled and misbehaving son (Noah Wiseman) while still mourning the death of her husband.

Things only go from bad to worse for Amelia when she reads a twisted storybook to her son about a monster called Mister Babadook that she finds in his room. With her son convinced that the creature is real and being unable to dispose of the book, Amelia’s grief manifests itself as the shadowy figure that torments the family.

A story you wouldn’t want to read to young children, Kent establishes the bleak tone of her film with washed-out cinematography that coats the family home in dark shadows. Likewise, the filmmaker masterfully uses sound to crank up the tension, and you likely never even noticed.

Throughout the film, Kent incorporates an unnerving drone in the background of a handful of scenes – the sequence in which Amelia reads the storybook being a standout example. As the scene becomes more disturbing, the volume intensifies.

And then, of course, there’s the gravelly voice of the monster itself.