Strickland explores sound in film in tantalising new ways in this modern cult psychological horror about a British sound engineer hired to work on Italian giallo, who discovers something sinister behind-the-scenes.
Review #2,607
Dir. Peter Strickland
2012 | UK | Drama/Horror | 92 min | 1.85:1 | English, Italian & Greek
Not rated – at least M18 for sexual references and disturbing theme
Cast: Toby Jones, Tonia Sotiropoulou, Cosimo Fusco
Plot: 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.
Awards: Won Junior Jury Award – Special Mention & Nom. for Golden Leopard (Locarno)
International Sales: The Match Factory
Accessibility Index
Subject Matter: Moderate – Filmmaking; Sound in Film; Real vs. Reel; Italian giallo
Narrative Style: Slightly Complex
Pace: Slightly Slow
Audience Type: Slightly Arthouse
Viewed: MUBI
Spoilers: No
Peter Strickland has been one of the more interesting British directors to emerge in the 2010s. I first heard of him through In Fabric (2018), a psychological horror built upon the sinister qualities of a piece of cloth.
Going back to his sophomore feature, Berberian Sound Studio, one might draw parallels with In Fabric, but instead of fabric, he uses sound to haunt us and his protagonist, played by a shy and confused Toby Jones.
Jones is quite good as Gilderoy, a British sound engineer who flies to Italy to work on an Italian giallo movie that he has been hired for. Playing around with the creative possibilities of sound, Strickland (and Gilderoy) also find the terror hidden beneath each sound effect or voice.
“This is not a horror film.”
As an uneasy feeling starts to envelop Jones’ character, he becomes suspicious of the exploitative and transgressive behaviour within the sound studio.
Strickland’s film forces us to pay attention to the sounds that we hear, and in certain scenes, the screams or mono-recitations of the voice actresses become filled with a kind of dread that metastasizes into physical fear and torment.
As Gilderoy finds himself increasingly unable to discern reality from hallucinations, we as audiences fall into the same dark abyss as him.
More than a decade on, Berberian Sound Studio might now be considered a modern cult classic, albeit one that is still somewhat under the radar—its subversive nature, sonic palpitations and meta-filmic homage to cult films of the distant past all serve up a tantalising concoction of new horror.
Grade: A-
Trailer:
Music:
Eternality Tan 