Summer. Slashers. Soccer. It’s the perfect time for a new flick straight out of Argentina: No One Will Hear Your Scream.
Bernal, Buenos Aires, 1990. While an entire country is focused on the World Cup in Italy, someone takes advantage of the Argentine’s team matches to commit brutal murders.
No One Will Hear Your Scream, IMDB
Micaela (Sol Wainer) is working in her parents’ music store making custom mixtapes and selling the latest rock records. While everyone in the city is tuned in to the World Cup and celebrating Argentina’s wins, people are being brutally attacked by a masked killer. Micaela and her friends worry, but when she figures out that the killer has bought one of her custom tapes, she decides to play detective and figure out the face behind the frights.
I think that one genre that is growing rapidly on me are Pseudo-Retro Slashers — ones that aren’t actually from the peak Slasher rampage of the 80s, but movies made to resemble that time period (essentially, period pieces). No One Will Hear Your Scream is just that, set to a 90s background and full of nostalgia. Amongst the cassette tapes, Walkman players, old answering machines, and arcade games, this film manages to make us yearn for a bygone time while not overdoing it with blazing neon signage and overused language. It’s realistic, and that’s what makes it scary.
And being a Slasher, this is what makes or breaks a movie. No One certainly has a mysterious vibe in Micaela trying to figure out the killer’s identity. Meanwhile, the killer himself is bashing in people’s brains with a mallet and slicing up necks with a large knife. Violence isn’t spared as the killer attacks with force, spreading blood all over the scene. And just like the realism portrayed in everyday life for the characters, the blood too isn’t a gushing waterfall of viscera — it’s there alright, but it’s eerily realistic. Since the kills aren’t supernatural or demonic, it makes us feel for the characters even more because that’s how it happens outside of movies too. Shock and awe are set to the screams of an enthusiastic announcer over the radio.
All the while, Micaela is working to solve the murders while not getting herself killed and jamming out to a surprisingly rad soundtrack. Obviously a film set in the 90s needs some period-accurate tunes to go along with it, and No One delivers. It makes every scene exciting and every kill… well, killer. No One is well-paced with not one dull moment.
No One Will Hear Your Scream‘s Pseudo-Retro Slasher typing was a surprising thing to come out of Argentina, but a more-than-welcome addition. Since this is a Spanish-language film, you’ll have to read subtitles; however, dubbed versions are also available (though I highly recommend watching in the original language because the acting comes across much better that way). Be prepared for brain matter sprayed against the pavement set the the rhythm of hardcore synths and electric guitar.
No One Will Hear Your Scream is streaming now on Tubi, AppleTV, Google Play, Amazon Prime Video, Vudu/Fandango, Hoopla, and Plex (also available on DVD and Blu-ray). For more follow the film on Instagram.
