Ugh! I don't know WHAT the reviews below are talking about. I can sum up SOUNDS LIKE in two words. Dull and irritating. There are no likable characters at all minus one friendly homophobic coworker. The main character is a prick through out, his wife is even more irritating than the sounds and you have no sympathy for any given character. I wanted to bash my face on sharp spikes. That said the last two minuts or so almost make it watchable. in particular a scene where a decomposing body is discovered with maggots munching and sqirming on the eye balls of said corpse. I was hoping for a psychological creepshow that would get under my skin....and.... That it did.... But in the compleat wrong way!

Brad Anderson is such an unconventional genre director that the categorization itself feels somewhat off (he started his career writing and directing romantic comedies, after all); that's not to say he hasn't brought a reputable eye to horror, with the mind-twisting "Machinist" and especially "Session 9" (one of the best horror sleepers of the past decade). Refreshingly (and somewhat predictably), Anderson uses the "Masters of Horror" format to tell a tale as intimately character-based as his previous works, while keeping the emphasis on a sense of unease as opposed to excessive gore. 'Sounds Like' is the story of Larry Pearce (Chris Bauer--"8MM"), a call monitor at a software company who develops super-sensitive hearing following the loss of his son; his wallow in grief is punctuated by an escalating madness that culminates in murder and, finally, silence. While the film is technically well done, with superb sound-effects editing (I particularly liked the small-arms fire of a sudden downpour against a windshield), I found myself intrigued yet detached from Larry and his predicament--aside from an early monologue and a few flashbacks, the characters aren't given enough background detail. Despite this, Anderson creates several great setpieces (including an ironic twist to Larry's refuge in a public library, and a scene where he bashes the ticking and buzzing appliances in his home with Nicholsonian grandeur), and certainly shows his knack for telling an offbeat tale. While 'Sounds Like' could have been better, it's still worth a look.

Masters Horror: Sounds Like is set in Seattle where Larry Pearce works as the manager of a computer software call center, having lost his 6 year old son Michael (Nicholas Elia) to a rare heart condition he finds that he has ultra sensitive hearing. Larry hears everything in ten fold, from people typing on computer keyboards, people whispering across the room, people tapping their foot on the floor, dripping taps & eventually even people breathing become unbearable for Larry as he is constantly bombarded with mind piercing noise. Eventually Larry decides he's had enough & if he can't stop the noises themselves then maybe he can stop himself hearing them with the help of a large meat clever...This Canadian American co-production was episode 4 from season 2 of the generally hit-and-miss Masters of Horror TV series, written & directed by Brad Anderson I thought Sounds Like was a definite miss. The script was based on a short story by Mike O'Driscoll & I am genuinely surprised by the amount of very positive comments it has here on the IMDb at the present time, for a start I would be very hard pressed to even describe this as a horror film & it feels more like some bizarre sentimental drama until the last 5 minutes when Howard Berger, Gregory Nicotero & the boys at KNB effects actually get to do some work. Larry has this strange unexplained ability to amplify sound & noises from the start so this episode ends up like 55 minutes of exactly the same sort of repetitive build up which leads up to a gory ending although it comes to late to save the episode. This is pretty slow going & while it's well written isn't this meant to be horror themed & I'm slightly confused as to who this is meant to appeal to?Director Anderson does OK but he just keeps repeating the same things over & over again, until the last 5 minutes there isn't a single drop of blood in the entire thing. There's no horror, there's no scares or tension & absolutely no atmosphere.Technically this is very well made, has good production values & doesn't look like a cheap made-for-TV program. The acting is very good actually & it's shame the story is somewhat limited.Sounds Like is one of the very worst Masters of Horror episodes, a lot of people seem to like it & that's fine but it's definitely not for me. Another Masters of Horror, another disappointment.

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...