Berberian Sound Studio (2013)
Average Rating: 7.1/10
Reviews Counted: 86
Fresh: 71 | Rotten: 15
Its reach may exceed its grasp, but with Berberian Sound Studio, director Peter Strickland assembles a suitably twisted, creepy tribute to the Italian Giallo horror movies of the '70s that benefits from a strong central performance by Toby Jones.
Average Rating: 7/10
Critic Reviews: 22
Fresh: 19 | Rotten: 3
Its reach may exceed its grasp, but with Berberian Sound Studio, director Peter Strickland assembles a suitably twisted, creepy tribute to the Italian Giallo horror movies of the '70s that benefits from a strong central performance by Toby Jones.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.2/5
User Ratings: 1,832
Movie Info
In the 1970s, a British sound technician is brought to Italy to work on the sound effects for a gruesome horror film. His nightmarish task slowly takes over his psyche, driving him to confront his own past. Berberian Sound Studio is many things: an anti-horror film, a stylistic tour de force, and a dream of cinema. As such, it offers a kind of pleasure that is rare in films, while recreating in a highly original way the pleasures of Italian horror cinema. (c) IFC
Watch It Now
Cast
-
Toby Jones
Gilderoy -
Cosimo Fusco
Francesco -
Fatma Mohamed
Silvia -
Eugenia Caruso
Claudia -
Antonio Mancino
Santini -
Tonia Sotiropoulou
Elena -
Jean-Michel Van Scho...
The Goblin -
Katalin Ladik
Resurrected Witch -
Salvatore Li Causi
Fabio -
Chiara D'Anna
Elisa as Terea -
Susanna Cappellaro
Veronica as Accused ... -
Jozef Cseres
Massimo -
Pál Tóth
Massimo -
Lara Parmiani
Chiara as Signora Co... -
ADVERTISEMENT
All Critics (86) | Top Critics (22) | Fresh (71) | Rotten (15) | DVD (2)
While it's a loving homage to movies like Dario Argento's Suspiria and is crafted with tons of style, it leaves out one key ingredient: being even remotely scary.
Top CriticRadishes, cabbages and melons meet horrific ends in Berberian Sound Studio, a down-the-earhole psychodrama where what you hear is more terrifying than what you see.
Writer/director Peter Strickland intriguingly weaves into the story a movie-within-a-movie that we barely see, but we hear.
A sometimes interesting, sometimes head-scratching movie that pays homage to the old ways of the sound mixing world and to the "giallo" genre of horror that was prominent in Italy during the 1970s.
[It] not only exploits one of cinema's most important modes, it also attempts something more difficult: turning a genre movie into a work of art.
A one-trick pony, but it's a reasonably cool trick.
A movie that may whisper dark secrets into your ears at night, when you're trying to forget it.
...stylishly creepy psycho-thriller that pays homage to the Italian horror scene of the '70s.
For much of British director Peter Strickland's Berberian Sound Studio, not much actually happens. But for the devoted cinephile, it's utterly entrancing.
Ultimately, Berberian Sound Studio is just an exercise in meta -- a movie more about generating sensations than making sense -- but it's provocative and effective in the way it shows how a movie doesn't have to be "real" to be disturbing.
Berberian Sound Studio is a film for critics. General public -- come at your own risk.
It messes with your head in ways that is impressive, but it also seems too abstract for its own good at times. Its unsettling atmosphere and strong performances make Berberian Sound Studio one of the more distinct psychological thrillers out there.
Regardless of what you call it, it's a highly accomplished, intelligent, and effective piece of work, perhaps the best genre film I've seen since The Innkeepers.
Fans of Dario Argento and Mario Bava films take notice.
"Berberian" fascinatingly lays bare the meticulous complexity of audio dubbing in the analog era.
It wasn't until the movie was over that I realized it had pulled off the neat trick of creeping me out without showing even a single drop of blood.
Don't rush your judgement. Once you let Berberian Sound Studio actually sink in, you'll realize just how beautiful Strickland's mind-melting experience actually is.
Definitely a curiosity piece, but one gets the sneaking suspicion it wasn't also meant to be an inert one.
As IFC clearly realizes, Berberian Sound Studio is a niche item, but a niche item whose target audience should embrace it with a hearty Ciao, bella!
Audience Reviews for Berberian Sound Studio
An experienced British sound-engineer is hired to work on a low-budget Italian horror movie called "Equestrian Vortex". Throughout his work, he struggles with the language-barrier and constant exposure to horror movie images and finds himself drawn into a vortex all his own, as he begins to lose his grasp on reality.
The thing that strikes you most from this film when it opens is it's good sense of atmosphere. It possess an almost strange sepia tint, as if the proceedings have been desaturated. There's a permeating feeling dread and unease that courses through it as time, itself, seems to stroll by. Strickland is certainly in no rush to tell his story and he also abandons any conventional method in doing so; a good chunk of the dialogue is in Italian and there's a deliberate omission of subtitles. This may put some people off but it serves to create an understanding and affiliation with the loneliness and isolation of the protagonist, Gilderoy (played brilliantly by Toby Jones). Although deliberate, and an interesting method, I also found it somewhat frustrating. What's also very interesting is that the story takes shape in the sound that's provided for film's rather than the images. How many times have you ever seen a horror movie that relies solely on audio rather than visual? Cabbages are stabbed and plunged into water to provide the perfect accompanying sound of someone being stabbed or drowned. It's an interesting insight and the suggestion of horror is actually captured very well using this approach. When we do, eventually, see the images that have been getting dubbed, it throws the film into a completely new surrealistic direction that shares similarities with the mind-bending talents of David Lynch and his art imitating life theme of "Inland Empire" or "Mulholland Drive". Of course, thats where the similarity ends as Strickland doesn't have the ability to construct his story with any real meaning in the way that Lynch excels at. I'm no stranger to surreal cinema, in fact I love it but this leaned a little too far to self-indulgence for me.
Anyone familiar with the 'Giallo' horrors of Italian cinema during the 60's and 70's will, no doubt, take a lot more from this film than I did. That being said, there's no denying it's grasp on atmosphere and it's impressive ability to build tension. However, as our protagonist becomes increasingly withdrawn and descends in madness, we descend into obscurity without any real satisfying conclusion. For me, the film just ended. I was aware of it's nature and prepared for any subtext or symbolism that it might throw my way, but in the end, it didn't quite come together. I was hoping for a more satisfying conclusion.
It's certainly not to everyone's tastes. For some, it will bore; for others, it will confuse. However, if your open minded enough, it will draw you in. Basically, it's an art-house horror that can either be seen as pretentious clap trap or an astute homage. I find myself somewhere in between.
Super Reviewer
Discussion Forum
What's Hot On RT
New Desolation of Smaug trailer!
Naomi Watts is Princess Di
The Hangover 3, The Purge, and More
Trailer for a squirrely heist flick
See what's on TV tonight
Latest News on Berberian Sound Studio
June 14, 2013:
Critics Consensus: Man of Steel Is Up, Up, and OkayThis week at the movies, we've got the return of Superman (Man of Steel, starring Henry Cavill and...
December 9, 2012:
British Independent Film Awards 2012 WinnersThe BIFA honor the finest in independent filmmaking in the UK. Check out the complete list of the...
Fresh Links
Featured
Halloween Movies For Wimps
Scary movies too scary for you? Here are some alternatives for October 31st.
10 Best Superhero TV Shows
HitFix combs through TV history to compile a superpowered list.
Ridiculous Movie Mistakes
RollingStone proves even the best movies miss a details here and there.
Deadly Movie Kids
Moviefone lists 11 Movie Kids Who Could Kick Our Asses.
50 States, 50 Movies
For July 4th, TimeOut has compiled 50 state-specific movie choices.
Promos
Follow RT on Twitter!
Spice up your feed with hourly Tomatometer updates!
Featured on RT
- Primetime Preview: Supernatural, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and More 0
- RT on DVD & Blu-Ray: The Hangover Part III, The Purge, and More 11
- Primetime Preview: Beauty and the Beast, Sleepy Hollow and More 0
- NYFF: Joaquin Phoenix and James Gray talk The Immigrant 2
- Box Office Guru Wrapup: Gravity Stuns with Record $55M Launch 80
- Primetime Preview: Witches of East End, Once Upon a Time and More 4
- Weekly Ketchup: Disney Plans Live Action Cruella de Vil Movie 37
Top Headlines
-
Fox Animated Series, ABC Comedies Tumble in Sunday Ratings
0
-
Bong Joon-ho Reportedly "Furious" About Snowpiercer Cuts
0
-
Record-Setting Number of Films Competing in Foreign-Language Oscar Race
0
-
Woody Allen Cancels Blue Jasmine's India Premiere
1
-
Lionsgate Wants Gary Ross and Jennifer Lawrence's Burial Rites
1
-
ABC Plans Kevin Hart-Inspired Series
0
-
The Shining's Danny Torrance Is All Grown Up
1
I don't mind weird or something that doesn't quite add up until the end, but when it's both those things and still doesn't have an explanation of some type, I get a bit annoyed!