10 Movie Scenes That Totally Tricked Your Brain
4. A Low-Frequency Sound In The Club Scene Makes You Anxious & Nauseous - Irréversible
Gaspar Noé's 2002 thriller Irréversible is not a film for the faint of stomach, to be blunt.
It depicts brutal murder and sexual violence in extremely confronting, matter-of-fact fashion, and because that apparently isn't offputting enough, the director also decided to employ some sneaky tricks to further mess with the viewer's brain.
For the movie's infamous nightclub sequence, Noé piped an extremely low-frequency noise into the film's sound mix, which creates feelings of anxiety and even nausea is viewers, placing a dizzying cherry on top of what is a willfully unpleasant experience.
Noé himself said of the technique:
"We added 27 Hz of infrasound - a low frequency sound which the police use to stop riots. You can't hear it, but it makes you shake. In a good theater with a subwoofer, you may be more scared by the sound than by what's happening on the screen. A lot of people can take the images but not the sound. Those reactions are physical."
This likely explains why Irréversible's infamous Cannes premiere saw 250 audience members reportedly walk out, while 20 viewers fainted and required oxygen from emergency services.
Though the effect presumably isn't as pronounced if watched on a TV's tinny native speakers or, gasp, on your phone, it's surely an interesting experiment for anyone with a decent surround sound system to conduct at home. Just have a sick bowl ready before you start.