MovieChat Forums > Harbinger Down (2015) Discussion > Same squeaky door sound used over and ov...

Same squeaky door sound used over and over

posted 9 years ago by Mikee333
7 replies | jump to latest

At the first scene of a door opening, there is a sound effect of a door squeaking. It's the same overused squeaky door effect that is used in thousands of movies, and I dare say it is even more of a cliched sound effect than the Wilhelm scream. And it's almost like the makers of Harbinger Down wanted to make an ironic point of just how overused this sound effect is, because after that one first scene of a door opening, they use it again on the next door, and then again. And again. And again. And AGAIN! AND AGAIN!

If you google "squeaky door sound" you'll find hundreds of different sound effects, which you can use for free. Or you could just go find an old door, and record the sound of it being opened and closed a few times. But whoever was in charge of sound design for this film just kept on using the same sound, over, and over, and over. And they keep using that same sound on every frigging door, to the point where it turns into a joke. If you made it into a drinking game, you'd get wasted before 20 minutes had passed.

Budgetary issues aside, this just tells of lazyness.

[–] bidtracker 9 years ago

It may be the case of a royalty free sound effect. This was supposedly shot on a very tight budget so mybe they were able to use it for free and just had no other choice

[–] VVolfySnackrib 9 years ago

I hate that sound effect even when I hear it just once in any run of the mill Hollywood movie. Hearing it 10+ times in this, ugh.

[–] Mikee333 9 years ago

Good to see I'm not the only one who's annoyed by the old cliche-squeak. It's just as bad as the "swoosh"-sound that is used every time someone shoots a bazooka, or any other type of missile is launched, in absolutely every film ever made! No matter how big the budget is, they still use that same old sound. Bah

[–] agentdc7 9 years ago

Yeah I was annoyed the first time I heard the generic metal door sound and I knew I was going to hear it over and over again. I don't understand why they couldn't record the sound of the actual metal doors on set. They're real doors right? They make real metal sounds right?

[–] cdth89413 9 years ago

The same here... I was annoyed so much.

[–] Pomacea 8 years ago

In fact, that squeaky door sound is the same one that's been being used since the early 1990's.

[–] PhoenixVanguard (45) 5 years ago

I came here to comment on the same thing. That squeaky door noise is one of my top three most hated stock sound effects, the other two being the squeaky sounding metal impact, which is often used in car crashes, and the Wilhelm scream. I wish the crew members responsible for recording sound actually did their jobs and recorded sounds, rather than reusing them. It's a terrible practice that is no different than using stock footage. It makes the whole production feel cheap and lazy.

I was keeping a tally of the squeaky door sound effect while watching this film, and I counted it being used 19 times. For an 82 minute film, including credits, it was used on average once every 4 minutes. Worse yet, sometimes it is used mere seconds apart. At 35 minutes in, it was used 3 times in 34 seconds. At 49 minutes in, it was used twice in 7 seconds. That is absolutely pathetic.

The strange thing was, on two occasions, they used a different sound effect which was not repeated at all in the film. Why not reuse some of them to mix it up a bit? Ridiculous.