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.

For thoughts on The Sound of Summer, please check out our discussion on The Video Attic:

[youtube https://youtu.be/XOfQo2Hz2JA?t=766]

Video Quality

The Sound of Summer makes its Blu-Ray debut with a fine 1080p video presentation that showcases the low budget aesthetic well. The production design and shooting locations, along with the special effects makeup, provide grotesque, crystal clear textural details. The black levels reveal slight signs of banding in a few scenes, but largely they maintain a good amount of depth. The flesh tones are natural with a welcome amount of detail present in close-ups. The image is clean with the natural color palette popping off the screen. The film employs some nice colors when pockets of vegetation are featured, which makes for a very vibrant image. The presentation shows off an impressive amount of depth, especially in the claustrophobic room that is a focal point of the climax. Overall this Blu-Ray is a strong representation of this movie that should more than please fans.

Audio Quality

Unearthed Films gives this Blu-Ray an LPCM 2.0 in the original Japanese with optional English subtitles. The soundscape is nice and complex with nimble and effective sound design which sounds wonderfully creepy here. Environmental sounds bring a pleasing amount of texture to the proceedings. When the characters are moving through the city, there are some distinct ambient details that flesh out the setting. Dialogue always comes through crisp and clear without being clipped by any competing sounds. The music is effective and well-balanced while maintaining its fidelity. Hard-hitting moments are not a constant presence in this track, but a few moments deliver some nice character. The audio track provides a really rich experience full of nuances that bring this narrative to life exactly how it was intended.

Special Features

Behind The Scenes: A 45-minute featurette which gives you a fly-on-the-wall look at various moments from the production including blocking and lighting setups, the performers in the makeup chair and other collaborations on set.

Tokyo Talkshow With The Creators Of The Sound Of Summer, Loud and Legendary Director Shozin Fukui: A 34-minute event featuring director Guy and other filmmakers in which he shares his inspiration for the story, the difficulties of shooting the film, working with the actors in the heat, the music in the film and more.

Japanese Premiere: A 43-minute piece which shows the premiere of the film with the director and cast in attendance for a pre-screening conversation and more discussion after the screening which gives insight into the making of this film and the experiences on set.

Trailers: The two-minute trailer is provided for The Sound of Summer. There is also a trailer provided for Difficulty Breathing.

Final Thoughts

The Sound of Summer is a moody exploration of what can happen when the body and mind is pushed to the brink. Body horror fans will find a lot to delight in as general audiences squirm in their seats from self mutilation and unnatural mutations. The story feels slightly underdeveloped to bring all of this together in a transcendent manner. The limitations of the budget are felt at various points, but by and large this is a pretty impressive bit of practical, low-budget horror filmmaking. Unearthed Films has released a Blu-Ray featuring a good A/V presentation and a welcome assortment of special features. If you are a fan of grueling, gross horror films, you should give this a shot. Recommended

The Sound of Summer is currently available to purchase on Blu-Ray.

Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray.

Disclaimer: Unearthed Films has supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.