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The Wilhelm Scream has most likely already sounded in your ears. Because the fear-filled sound appears in countless films and TV productions.
Wilhelm’s Cry: Origin and Naming
The Wilhelm Scream has been heard in various suspenseful film scenes for more than 70 years. Whether a shot is fired and the film character falls to the ground screaming or hits the hard asphalt metres from a window. The scream is used in a wide variety of dangerous situations and film genres.
- Meanwhile, sound designers seem to be making a joke of deliberately incorporating the famous scream into a film scene.
- The Wilhelm Scream made its debut in the 1951 western “The Devil’s Brigade”, when an alligator pulls a soldier underwater. But at that time the film sound was still nameless.
- It was Ben Burtt, sound engineering genius and inventor of the lightsaber sound in Stars Wars, who is said to have given the Wilhelm Scream its name. He mistakenly assumed its origin in the 1950s western “The Burning Arrow”. In it, supporting character Wilhelm gives the cry when he is hit by an arrow.
The Wilhelm Scream appears in these productions
The list of films is indeed long in which the Wilhelm Scream has been incorporated, sometimes more, sometimes less subtly. The sound is considered a running gag among sound designers.
- Estimates suggest that at least 300 films contain the Wilhelm Scream. However, in reality the number could be much higher.
- Ben Burtt incorporated the Wilhelm Scream into all the Star Wars films. But it can also be heard in other productions such as “The Lord of the Rings”, “Indiana Jones” as well as in “Inglourious Basterds”, “Django Unchained” and in “Avatar – Aufbruch nach Pandora”.
- And even children’s films like Toy Story feature the Wilhelm Scream, as do series including Game of Thrones and The Simpsons.
- Even in video games like GTA V you can encounter the Wilhelm Scream.
