Film Trivia: The Wilhelm Scream

I wish I could describe to you what the Wilhelm Scream sounds like. Still, if you've seen an action movie, ever... I'm positive you've heard it already, though you may not have known it for what it was. The Wilhelm Scream is a distinctive yell with a story that goes way back in cinema history. If you need a refresher though, try checking it out here or YouTubing it.


What started out as a stock scream recording was later rediscovered by none other than sound designer Ben Burtt, the man who would become famous for his contributions to the Star Wars movies as the man who gave voice to R2D2. As for Ben's ongoing career, you can see, or rather hear his handiwork in his most recent film Wall-E, as he provided all the adorable chirps and blurps that emanated from the titular character's sound card.

Seriously though, tracing the Wilhelm scream becomes pretty easy if you know what it sounds like. You can hear it in just about every movie ever made that has any tiny bit of action. It's like the greatest recurring joke in cinema. The hard part comes in trying to track every single movie to ever use the Wilhelm Scream... because that list is long. Here's a YouTube video that puts just a small handful of those clips together. I dare you not to laugh when you see how awesomely overused the sound is.