The Wilhelm Scream (Again)

It's been a while since we posted about the Wilhelm Scream, a neat bit of stock sound effect popularized by Star Wars series sound designer Ben Burtt, who used it it pretty much all of his films as an in-joke.

Say No to Crack has a YouTube clip of the famous scream in various movies. If you haven't heard of the Wilhelm Scream before, check it out: Link


Ha, that's pretty cool, I'd not realized it was used in Space Balls as well as Star Wars - what a neat touch. Although I must say that as far as stock screams go even it doesn't quite compare to the one used all the time in old(ish) Disney cartoons (especially Goofy ones) - YAAH-hoohoohoo-hoy!

Makes me giggle every time =)
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D'oh, sorry about that, the link redirected to a neatorama 404 page for some reason (come to think of it, a "preview" button so we could check stuff like wonky links before posting would be most appreciated) ... Um, at any rate, the 'Goofy Holler' I'm referring to is described in a little more detail at Wikipedia ...

Oh, beautiful, beautiful Wikipedia, is there ANYTHING you can't tell me about?
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My youngest daughter used to work for George Lucas, and she got to scream in several movies. I have to say, her screams, while not cult class, were pretty darned attention-grabbing.
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I'm so sick of the Wilhelm. It seems even more trite, annoying and unimaginative every time I hear it.

And Ben Burtt shouldn't get credit for popularizing it; it was already a popular bit of stock sound. It's just that he took it to all new levels of obsessive stupidity without care whether he was damaging the art he inserted it into.
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Ah the Wilhelm scream. Everytime I hear it on a film or TV show I yell out "WILHELM!" as loud as possible. It's fun to scare my family with it, but they're starting to pick up on things and scream "WILHELM!" with me.
So far I haven't heard it in the cinema, but it will be quite interesting to see what everyone else's reactions are when I suddenly shout out "WILHELM!" in the middle of the film (you can get away with anything as long as you turn around to see who did it with everyone else...)^_^
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You can't just enjoy the movie?

We watched Star Wars Episode 3, and the Tarzan yell the Wookies gave as they swing on ropes to attack the robot army is so Tarzany, it actually ruins that particular moment in the movie. Star Wars is not known for its subtlety. Sometimes, effects can be overdone.
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I need to go back and watch the Lord of the Rings, because I don't totally believe it was really used there. Maybe it is just the context of the clip that made the screams cheesy and out of place. Although I think it is cool as sort of an inside joke.
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It's funny because there is a stock sound that me and my hubby dubbed the "cupboard cat". you know,that one cat the seems to make that "WREEAAAR" noise whenever it jumps out of somewhere in the horror movies.
Because all cats make that noise. When jumping. even if they are jumping from the table to the floor.

WREEEEARR!
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Every time I see a story about this "scream" I wonder how long it will be before someone identifies that "car crash" sound effect I've heard so many times.

"Tires screech, crash sound with muffled male scream half way through"

I've heard it on quite a few old radio programs, such as Boston Blackie, The Saint and The Shadow. If anyone has a copy of the novelty song by "Nervous Norvus" "Transfusion", it's repeated there at least 4 times.

Gosh it's late.... can you tell :)
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