Wilhelm Scream

Ever need to scream? Jonah certainly did. Film the story of Jonah today and you’d likely hear the Wilhelm Scream through most of the action.

What sound would you make if you were, say, being eaten by an alligator?

What utterance would one vocalize if one were falling to his or her doom from a great height, or being shot in the leg by an arrow, or getting tossed out of the back of a truck moving at high speed? Go ahead and give it a go — there’s nothing in the Bible that says we can’t scream in our study, or in church.

Chances are we’d all react differently to these scenarios — everything from a surprised gasp to a blood-curdling, paint-peeling howl. Human reactions to shock and awfulness run the gamut.

If you’re watching these things happen to someone else in a movie, however, there’s a pretty good chance that the scream you’re hearing has been screamed before. The stormtrooper falling to his untimely demise as Luke and Leia are about to swing across the chasm in the Death Star in Star Wars, the Nazi trooper flying out of the back of a truck in Raiders of the Lost Ark, Buzz Lightyear getting knocked off the windowsill in...