The Sound of Summer (2022) Unearthed Films Blu-ray Review

Japanese horror films have brought some of the most intense moments in cinema. Anyone who have watch such films as Ju-on: The Grudge, Ringu, The Depths, The Audition, Horrors of Malformed Men and Onibaba now how true that statement is.

Continuing the rich history of Japanese horror is writer, producer and director GUY. In 2022 he brought his own unique tale to the silver screen with his feature film debut The Sound of Summer. Now Unearthed Films have released this film on Blu-ray.

In the relentless heat of the grueling summer, temperatures soar to blistering levels as cicadas emerge to sing their ear-shattering song. Months of continued exposure are enough to make anyone start to feel a little off. Anyone, that is, except that oddity the locals call 'The Cicada Man'. Who is that strange man and why is he always walking around with boxes full of live cicadas? More importantly, what does he do with them? As the heat starts to get to our heroine, and her sanity depletes, real life and delusion begin to mix. Her darkest nightmares seep into our world and she fears the Cicada Man has planted his swarm of insects inside her. She must get them out - at all costs. Thus begins her downward spiral into extreme paranoia and self-mutilation. She just needs to make it through the summer.

Many of the Japanese horror films are known for their gross bloody horror scenes. The Sound of Summer is a low budget horror film, but GUY used the budget wisely and made a slow burn horror films that will make your skin crawl. I must be honest, for me the amount of gross out images was a bit much! But some will love it! Although I wouldn't rate this film alongside the classic Japanese horror films, it is still a good little Japanese horror tale.

When I was watching The Sound of Summer it reminded me a lot of the 2006 film Bug. The Sound of Summer is complete with the uncomfortable paranoia and self mutilation, found in Bug. For me that film was hard to sit through and at time so was The Sound of Summer.  

The Sound of Summer makes its Blu-Ray debut in 1080p with a 1.78:1 aspect ratio. The audio is Japanese audio track in an LPCM 2.0 with optional English subtitles. I always enjoy the bad English dubbing for these foreign films and I wish this film would have had that option as well! 

The film transfer looks really nice. The picture is clean and sharp. The colors pop off the screen. The gross-out scenes are so vibrant it will make the squeamish. The Japanese audio is clear. It really is a nice transfer.

Beyond a nice looking transfer Unearthed Films have added some very cool bonus features. Take a look at what is included on this Blu-ray.

* Behind The Scenes of The Sound of Summer Featurette (45 Minutes)

* Tokyo Talkshow with the creators of The Sound of Summer, Loud and legendary director Shozin Fukui (42 Minutes)

* Japanese Premiere (34 Minutes)

* Trailers: The Sound of Summer and Difficulty Breathing (GUY'S short film)

The behind the scenes feature is a fascinating one. I also think it is cool to see the creators on the talk show. All in all this is a really good release for horror hounds. If you love gross out horror films, The Sounds of Summer is really going to scratch that itch. As I said earlier one of the biggest downsides for me is that there was not the English dub. I would love to see that. I enjoy those more than anything.


So if you love Japanese horror or gross out cinema The Sound of Summer maybe just what you are looking for. Head over to Amazon and order your copy today.

Out of 4 Film Reels (4 Being the Best) The Sound of Summer Blu-ray receives...