There is a particular sound effect that’s known to movie buffs as “the Wilhelm.” You’ve undoubtedly heard it: it’s a high-pitched male scream, kind of a “yaaaa-haagh!”, typically heard when someone meets a violent death like tumbling off a cliff, being eaten by some giant creature, or being run over by a truck. The sound is quite old, dating (according to most sources) to a 1951 adventure flick called Distant Drums, but these days it’s best known as a running gag in the Star Wars films — it is heard in all six of them, as well as the Indiana Jones and Lord of the Rings movies. Those movies only use it once or twice, though; Ben Burtt and his proteges apparently don’t want to overdo a good thing.

Whoever did the sound effects for the movie Them didn’t share this modern sense of restraint. I watched the classic horror flick tonight — if you don’t know the title, it was the first of the “Big Bug” cycle of the 1950s, those cautionary tales about the unforseen consequences of atomic testing coming back to literally bite us — and I counted at least half a dozen instances of Wilhelm. It got to where it was kind of distracting, actually, and that made me wonder if modern movie fans are maybe a little too conscious of the technical stuff. Surely an audience in 1954 wouldn’t have noticed that so many giant-ant victims issue exactly the same squeal as the die… or would they?

If you’re curious about this distinctive effect, here is a page about its history; go here for a list of movies and other media that have used it.