How The Gory Sounds of MORTAL KOMBAT Were Made

Check out this fun and interesting video from Insider that offers a behind-the-scenes look at how the gory flesh-tearing sounds of the new Mortal Kombat film were made. Because you have to have the nasty sounds to accompany the nasty visuals.

For 2021’s Mortal Kombat, the film’s sound team got really creative to pay tribute to the franchise’s signature bloody kills. Foley artist Adrian Medhurst had to account for the blood spurting and bones breaking of any given gruesome moment.

To make the sounds as organic as possible, he experimented with all types of foods. For a bone-cracking body split, he snapped celery and pepper. And to cover blood spurting out of someone’s heart, he found he could get the right squirting sound by manipulating a grapefruit. Meanwhile, sound designers like Robert Mackenzie and James Ashton added distinct distortions to create characters’ signature moves, such as Kung Lao’s hat when he uses it as a weapon.