Sound is a crucial part of watching movies, but we often don’t notice how much work goes into it. Movie sound has three main parts: what characters say, sound effects, and music. Usually, you hear at least one of these. But sometimes, movies use silence. These quiet moments are rare, but they can be very powerful and stick with us long after the credits roll.
This list looks at ten amazing times when movies used silence to make a big impact. We’re talking about scenes where there’s no talking, no music, and sometimes, no sound at all. We’re not including old silent films, but movies that usually have sound. For example, the start of Pixar’s Up (2009) has no dialogue, but beautiful music plays. The scenes here go further, embracing true quiet or the feeling of it.
10 Contact (1997)
Robert Zemeckis’s Contact opens with a stunning visual journey, pulling away from Earth and zooming far out into space. As the camera travels, the jumble of TV and radio signals from our planet gets older and then fades away. Finally, deep in space, about 30 seconds of complete silence take over. It’s a daring way to begin a film.
Director Robert Zemeckis mentioned that the original idea was for the camera to move towards Earth, like a message arriving. By reversing this, the opening powerfully shows how tiny humanity is in the vast universe. This quiet start gives a new perspective on Earth, making us feel rather small in the grand scheme of things.
9 The Departed (2006)
Martin Scorsese often uses silence in his movies, believing it’s very important, even if audiences expect constant sound and music. In The Departed, there’s a brief but incredibly effective silent moment. Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon) is a mole for mob boss Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson) inside the police. Meanwhile, undercover cop Billy Costigan (Leonardo DiCaprio) is trying to get into Costello’s crew.
A super tense moment happens after Captain Queenan (Martin Sheen), one of Billy’s few trusted contacts, is killed. Sullivan, sitting at Queenan’s desk, dials the last number the Captain called. Billy’s phone vibrates. He answers, but neither man speaks for a few seconds. This silence puts all the focus on Damon’s and DiCaprio’s acting. No music is needed to show what they’re feeling.
8 Alien (1979)
Ridley Scott’s Alien is a sci-fi horror classic, partly thanks to its brilliant sound design. Often, it’s the near-total lack of sound, with only faint, natural noises, that creates such a scary atmosphere. The film’s editor, Terry Rawlings, highlighted how vital sound is for building terror, noting that without it, early cuts of scenes can seem boring.
Consider the scene where Brett (Harry Dean Stanton) looks for Jones the cat after the chestburster has escaped. Rawlings pointed out that watching Brett creep around silently in the rain room would be dull without sound design. Instead, the quiet is broken by soft clinking chains and dripping water. These subtle, everyday sounds (called Foley sounds) make the audience hyper-aware of lurking danger.
7 Whiplash (2014)
Sound is obviously key in Damien Chazelle’s Whiplash, a film centering on jazz drummer Andrew Neiman (Miles Teller). Andrew endures harsh treatment from his bandleader, Terence Fletcher (J. K. Simmons), who aims to push him to greatness. The movie’s final minutes feature an intense, nearly dialogue-free battle of wills as Andrew performs an unexpected solo.
During this performance, all sound drops away. In this silence, the camera focuses on Andrew’s face. His drumming finally earns his teacher’s respect, but watching him play in silence makes the audience think about the personal toll of his success. The drums then return, building to a finish. About 10 seconds of silence follow, as student and teacher share a look of acknowledgment before the film ends.
6 The Birds (1963)
Alfred Hitchcock, the Master of Suspense, knew that sound design was vital for creating fear. In The Birds, he chose not to use a traditional music score. Instead, the screeching of birds acts as the score. The loudness of the birds makes the quiet moments even more unsettling. These silences aren’t completely empty, though. Hitchcock used a nearly inaudible electronic hum, described as the sound of “brooding silence,” to suggest a waiting threat.
One extremely effective use of silence occurs when Lydia (Jessica Tandy) visits her neighbor. The eerie quiet as she searches his house signals that something is terribly wrong. In a bedroom, she finds a scene of chaos, and then her eyes fall upon her neighbor’s mutilated body, his eyes pecked out. The silent reveal makes the horror even more shocking.
5 Interstellar (2014)
When Interstellar was released, some viewers complained about the sound mix, particularly dialogue being overshadowed by loud effects. Director Christopher Nolan defended these choices, stating his unconventional mix was intended to be a unique experience. While opinions on the overall sound vary, one scene’s use of silence is undeniably brilliant.
This occurs when Dr. Mann (Matt Damon) imperfectly docks his ship and overrides the airlock safety. Hans Zimmer’s score builds tension as Mann justifies his risky actions. Just as he says, “there is a moment,” the airlock blows. After the initial sound of Mann being sucked into space, the massive explosion that follows is shown in complete silence. This absence of sound paradoxically makes the explosion feel even more powerful and vast.
4 Attack of the Clones (2002)
Whatever your thoughts on Attack of the Clones, the seismic charges Jango Fett deploys against Obi-Wan in the asteroid field are truly memorable. These bombs first suck in all surrounding sound before unleashing a powerful blue wave. Ben Burtt, the legendary sound designer for Star Wars, created this unique effect.
Burtt’s idea was to create an “audio black hole.” This represented an explosion so immense that its sound energy couldn’t escape immediately, but was released a moment later. This “black hole” is marked by a brief moment of absolute silence in the film’s audio track, right before the deep, resonating ‘thump’ of the explosion. This short pause of total quiet dramatically amplifies the impact of the blast. Burtt had wanted to use this effect in A New Hope (1977) but didn’t find the right opportunity until this film.
3 Saving Private Ryan (1998)
Director Steven Spielberg chose to omit music from Saving Private Ryan’s battle scenes because music can remind viewers they’re just watching a movie. With only the sounds of gunfire and screams, the sequences feel terrifyingly real. The overwhelming noise of war makes moments of quiet even more striking. Sound designer Gary Rydstrom described the Omaha beach scene, where the camera moves between being above and below water: “Above water, the battle is chaos, its cacophony. Underwater it goes completely away.”
This muffled ocean sound is taken further when Captain John H. Miller (Tom Hanks) experiences shell shock. Rydstrom explained it was Spielberg’s idea for Miller to “take the battle in without normal sound. It was a wonderful device to get inside somebody’s head.” Rydstrom achieved this near-silence by recording ocean sounds, playing them through a speaker, and then re-recording them through a long tube.
2 No Country for Old Men (2007)
Large parts of No Country for Old Men have no music and very little dialogue. This minimal sound makes every noise heard incredibly important. The film’s sound editor, Skip Lievsay, noted that while most suspense films use music to guide audiences, the Coen brothers wanted to “remove the safety net.” They believed this lack of musical guidance makes the movie much more suspenseful, as you don’t have that usual comfort zone.
Silence is used masterfully when Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) hides in a hotel room, waiting for his pursuer, Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem). Moss waits in almost complete silence, with only tiny noises breaking through, making the audience hold their breath. Ethan Coen mentioned wanting viewers to be in Moss’s shoes, “likewise straining to hear.” We hear a distant phone ringing and soft footsteps before the sudden eruption of gunfire shatters the quiet.
1 A Quiet Place (2018)
John Krasinski’s A Quiet Place features very little spoken dialogue because it’s set in a world where mysterious creatures hunt anything that makes a sound. Sound designers Erik Aadahl and Ethan Van der Ryn aimed to make the audience feel what the characters were experiencing. Aadahl explained that the movie’s quietness causes people to “hold their breath and get quiet themselves, and become aware of the sounds they are making,” effectively making the audience active participants.
Sound design was especially crucial for portraying Regan, played by deaf actress Millicent Simmonds. The audience often hears the world as she does through her cochlear implant. To capture this, the sound designers drew on their experience in an anechoic chamber—a room so quiet you can hear your own heartbeat and nervous system. For moments when Regan’s implant was off, they used total silence. This meticulous attention to sound created an incredibly tense and immersive film.
These ten films showcase the incredible power of silence in storytelling. Whether it’s to build suspense, highlight emotion, or emphasize vastness, the absence of sound can often speak louder than any dialogue or musical score. It’s a bold artistic choice that, when used effectively, leaves a lasting mark on the audience.
Which of these powerful silent moments in movies is your favorite? Are there any other scenes you feel masterfully used silence? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
