Shriek - Recap

Walter Shreeve gives a demonstration of auditory illusions to his financier, Derek Powers. When Powers expresses his disappointment that Shreeve hasn’t come up with more, Shreeve dons a experimental suit equipped with sound modules and demonstrates its destructive abilities. He suggests using it for demolition and excavation, but Powers notes that dynamite is cheaper. The executive wants a return on his investment and tells Shreeve that to solve a problem for him: Batman.



Bruce Wayne addresses the board of directors of Wayne-Powers and talks of how he’s ashamed that it’s forgotten its history and is destroying New Gotham by purchasing the city’s historical district and make rooms for another industrial complex. Everyone applauds except Powers and his ally on the board, and Powers says that Wayne won’t be on him about it for much longer. Wayne asks for a stockholders meeting and Powers agrees. As the meeting adjourns, Wayne smirks at Powers.

Outside, Terry picks up Wayne, who offers to show him what’s so important. Terry drives to Crime Alley, unaware that Shreeve is following them. Wayne points out the theater that he and his parents were attending the night that they were killed. When Terry wonders why Wayne wants the buildings representing his memories to stay standing, Wayne asks if Terry would want to forget his father. Ace starts barking and Terry goes to investigate, while Wayne breaks into the old police station. As he explores, he notices a can vibrating. The building starts to collapse and Terry, in the Batman suit, comes to his rescue. Shreeve blocks their escape and unleashes a wave of sound, tearing up the floor. Batman knocks off one of the sound modules, but Shreeve fires another sound blast to cover his escape, and they get out just as the building collapses behind them. Outside, Batman discovers that Wayne has passed out.



Terry gets Wayne to the hospital where he makes a speedy recovery. The doctors order Wayne to stay overnight for observation and Terry says that he’ll follow up on a lead: the sound module.

Shreeve tells Powers that he failed because he didn’t expect Batman to be there. Powers wants Wayne shut up so Powers can buy the land, but points out that Wayne is under guard now and can’t be touched. Shreeve assures him that he can handle the situation.

Wayne wakes up in the middle of the night when someone calls his name. However, there’s no one there. The voice tells him that there’s something he has to do.

At the Batcave, Terry is examining the module and has the computer analyze the metal. One of the metals is acoustium, a new alloy that amplifies sound vibrations and developed by Shreeve Sound Laboratories.

The voice continues to torment Wayne, telling him it’s for his own good. The voice tells him to go to the window and jump, but Wayne refuses, insisting he can’t be hearing his own thoughts. He screams in agony and the nurse and the police guard run in. Wayne tells them that he’s hearing voices and the nurse has him sedated.



Shreeve returns to his laboratory and finds Terry, disguised as a pizza boy, trying to make a delivery. Terry offers to split the pizza with him and gets invited in. Shreeve demonstrates a micro-transmitter and Terry then touches another device. It mutes out all sound in the workshop. When Terry asks about sound vibrations, Shreeve figures that he’s a spy and knocks him to the ground. Terry runs for it but Shreeve dons his suit and attacks him. Before he can kill Terry, Terry grabs a sound module and uses it to blast through a wall and get outside. Shreeve goes out after him but the police arrive and order him to surrender. He blasts them back long enough to escape.



Terry goes to the hospital and the nurse informs him that Wayne has been moved to the psych ward. Powers is there and assures Terry that Wayne will be in the best of hands: his. Terry says that he can handle Wayne’s affairs. Power provokes him and Terry attacks him until the orderlies pull him away. Powers goes back to his office and finds Shriek waiting for him. The villain explains that the police know who he is and he can’t go back to his lab. Powers, unimpressed, tells him to embrace the power of his suit and gives him the new name of Shriek. The CEO tells him to go out and do damage, and to dispose of Batman if the hero gets in Shriek’s way.



In the psych ward, Wayne continues to hear voices telling him that the food is poisoned. Batman breaks in through the window and Wayne tells him to check the light fixtures for hidden speakers. They find nothing, but Batman realizes that there’s a two-way radio hidden in the oversized bandage on Wayne’s head. They figure that Shreeve bribed a nurse to place it in the bandage. Batman takes Bruce to the car and then flies off to trace the signature to an automated factory.

Batman goes in to investigate and Shriek attacks him. The hero activates the machinery to cover his movements, but Shriek muffles the sound in the area and then turns up the amplifier in his helmet to home in on his opponent. Batman is caught off-balance and Shriek quickly moves in to attack him.

Wayne realizes that Ace can hear something beyond human frequencies and releases the dog. It arrives just in time to knock Batman out of the way of an approaching truck that the hero can’t hear. When Shriek fires another blast, Batman throws a batarang, destroying the sound muffler and flooding Shriek’s helmet with all the sounds of the city. When Batman removes the helmet, Shreeve realizes that he’s deaf and screams in anguish.



Later, the stockholders vote on the motion to expand into the historical district and it is strongly rejected. As Terry and Wayne leave, Terry points out that Shreeve is too freaked out to testify. He asks his employer how he knew the voices weren’t coming from him, and Wayne explains that they called him “Bruce.” He tells Terry that even subconsciously, he still refers to himself as Batman.

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