A man with unbelievably wonderful hearing (Chris Bauer, "8mm") begins to go nuts when he cannot cope with the death of his son Michael. His job, his marriage and his entire world begin to fall apart.
Executive producer Andrew Deane approached Brad Anderson, gave him various short stories to choose from, and this was the one picked out.
Like "Chocolate" in season one, those who want traditional horror are going to be disappointed. There is no maniac with an axe or ghosts or demons or aliens. Just a man with uncanny hearing who can no longer adjust to the world in which he lives. The story is actually very good if you enter it from the right frame of mind.
The episode comes from the relatively unknown director Brad Anderson, who made the infamous "Session 9" as well as one of the better movies I have seen, "The Machinist" (with Christian Bale and Jennifer Jason Leigh, two of Hollywood's best actors). If you have seen one or both of these, you know Anderson's specialty is presenting his audience with mental illness. "Sounds Like" is no exception to this trend.
Anderson notes in the commentary that most of his work, with the exception of "The Machinist", has some sort of therapist character, which is a bit unusual given that Anderson himself had never been to a therapist. What does this mean? Probably nothing, but all his films -- even "The Machinist" -- definitely rely on more of a psychological horror than outright violence.
The strength of this episode is that on many occasions, we are presented exactly what the main character can hear. And it is awful! Some of the most annoying noises you will ever hear, which is like some of the most gruesome images you will ever see... but different. (If you want images, we do have maggots and baby rats, so that might work for you.)
I enjoyed this film, although it seems to have very little replay value. With the low expectations I'm having with season two, this comes out as something enjoyable and I would recommend you give it a shot if you like Anderson's other work. While I would hardly consider "Machinist" or "Session 9" mainstream, his work is becoming known and it will not be much longer before they give him something huge...
