The Wilhelm scream is a stock sound effect first used in 1951 for the movie Distant Drums. It has been featured in dozens of movies since. Alongside a certain recording of the cry of the Red-tailed Hawk, the "Universal telephone ring" [1] and "castle thunder," it is probably one of the most well-known cinematic sound clichés.
I know somebody didn't "just do a new compilation and insert the scream."
The reason it sounds wierd is because you're hearing the same sound effect over and over in so short a space of time.
These are all authentic, and there are a lot more--for example, it's in all the "Lord of the Rings" films and the new "King Kong" (first guy over the cliff in the dinosaur stampede).
Ben Burtt (sound designer for Lucasfilm) was the guy who started the craze to insert it into every film he's worked on starting with the original "Star Wars"(although I didn't hear it in "Munich," which he designed, I'm sure he snuck it in somewhere).
The most out-there example is in "A Star is Born" (the Judy Garland version) where it shows up in a moment of silence in the middle of a musical number.
Burtt did some investigative work and the best guess is that it was done, during a dubbing session, for "Sabre River" by Sheb Wooley (more famous for the song "Purple People Eater"). For years it was listed was "Man Scream Eaten by Alligator."
They _are_ out of place. The Wilhelm scream has become sort of an injoke for moviemakers who now put the scream in their movies on purpose. Just check the wikipedia entry on this phenomenon.
How do we know somebody didn't just do a new compilation and insert the scream? I can't be bothered trying to check, but some of them seemed pretty out of place.
The reason it sounds wierd is because you're hearing the same sound effect over and over in so short a space of time.
These are all authentic, and there are a lot more--for example, it's in all the "Lord of the Rings" films and the new "King Kong" (first guy over the cliff in the dinosaur stampede).
Ben Burtt (sound designer for Lucasfilm) was the guy who started the craze to insert it into every film he's worked on starting with the original "Star Wars"(although I didn't hear it in "Munich," which he designed, I'm sure he snuck it in somewhere).
The most out-there example is in "A Star is Born" (the Judy Garland version) where it shows up in a moment of silence in the middle of a musical number.
Burtt did some investigative work and the best guess is that it was done, during a dubbing session, for "Sabre River" by Sheb Wooley (more famous for the song "Purple People Eater"). For years it was listed was "Man Scream Eaten by Alligator."