laughingsquid.com: This sound effect, which rivals the “Wilhelm Scream”, may have originated with the 1986 psychological drama The Ninth Configuration but was finally named after actor and NFL player Howie Long, whose character, Master Sergeant Kelly, was launched off of a train in the 1996 John Woo movie Broken Arrow.
5 comments:
I find that articles about the Wilhelm Scream pop up a lot and are pretty common, but I don’t think I have ever seen one about the Howie scream before. In fact, I’m actually pretty sure I have never even heard of the Howie scream before reading this article. It is definitely interesting that the Howie scream as a concept is less popular and well-known than the Wilhelm scream, since according to the article, the usage of both sound effects is relatively level as far as usage goes. It is an interesting look at how popularity works in the pop culture environment to make some things way more popular than others. Similarly, there’s an article linked to this one that talks about the “goofy holler,” with a relatively similar story – this is a pretty common sound effect, but nobody really knows it. It’s interesting to think about how heavily reused all of these effects are.
Everybody knows about the Willhelm scream, especially as it was popularized in Lucas and Spielberg movies, as a funny inside joke between directors. I think sampled sound bites like the Willhelm and Howie screams are great ways to call back to cinema history and to the canonization of film. Similar to how Spielberg and Lucas popularized the “Wilhelm Scream”, directors like John Woo loved the “Howie Scream”, sampling it in multiple of his movies. Broken Arrow (1996) isn’t a very good movie, but it’s interesting that this was where the name of the sound was popularized. Woo also uses the Howie Scream in Face Off, another weird (to put it lightly) action movie which uses the scream to punctuate a grizzly death. After watching the video included in the article, I think it’s interesting that the “Howie Scream” is also referred to as the “tiefighter scream” as it calls back to the creator of sound effect’s big brother the “Willhelm scream” and that it’s even more interesting how sound effect companies have contextualized the “Howie Scream” in their libraries.
It is really interesting to me how often the Wilhelm scream sound bite is used in modern day sound effects. I have always wondered about why, as for anyone who knows the lore and has heard that sound before, who knows how to recognize it, it does kind of take you out of the moment. I've always sort of assumed that it was some combination of it being an easily accessible, public domain type effect, as well as a hidden Easter egg for those with an understanding of the history behind the scream. The Howie scream, on the other hand, does make a little bit more sense to me why it is rather frequently used. Something about it is a very sort of primal scream, that is a very unique sound, but not nearly as comedic as the Wilhelm scream. There's probably a lot of the same reasoning behind it, that is easily accessible as well as fitting the criteria of what the designer wants it to sound like, but the Howie scream definitely feels a lot more realistic of a sound to me, which makes it harder to pick out during a film.
Personally I have seen my own fair share of movies, as well as video games. As such I have heard the Howie scream as well as the Wilhelm scream, and if I am being honest I had never even thought about the origin of the screams. It makes total sense that the scream comes from a movie originally, and I am not surprised to hear that the Howie scream also comes from a horror or horror adjacent movie. The Howie scream has become an iconic sound effect within the movie, TV, Videogame, and Streaming industries, and it is really cool to learn where it comes from. Now when I hear the effect again I will be able to recall where it came from and what went into the sound being created. It is a little unfortunate that people were not able to pin down the voice actor who actually recorded the effect, but know which movie it comes from gets pretty close. It is also funny that the movie itself did not do very well despite having a popular and well known director, and despite that fact the singular scream has not become an eternal part of the entertainment industry and has lived on past the movie it was made for.
Oh man I love whenever in a movie or you get to hear the sound effects propagated across many films. It is a crazy sound and I never thought it would be originally a real human scream and not some alien when it is hunting. It is so fascinating to hear when the sound comes from and how it is used in different contexts. I never even thought of it in the Star Wars films but the tie fighters flying by using a part of the scream is really funny. I always remembered that sound from the game half life 2 as the aliens were running at you. It is kind of pitched up and made a bit more unhuman but not that much and it is crazy how well it fits. I will be looking or listening out for the sound as I watch more movies but I still feel like the wilhelm scream is definitely more popular.
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