- Director: Peter Strickland
- Writers: Peter Strickland
- Stars: Toby Jones, Antonio Mancino, Guido Adorni
- Runtime: 1 Hour 32 Minutes
- Amazon Link: https://amzn.to/2rdlNvH
Berberian Sound Studio (2012)
Synopsis
A sound engineer, Gilderoy, shows up at studio 4 of the Berberian Sound Studio to work on a new Italian Giallo horror film. We see the credits roll, but the credits actually belong to the film he’s working on, not the one we’re watching. Gilderoy is played by Toby Jones, who usually just plays Toby Jones, a nervous little British guy. Right off the bat, he has trouble getting reimbursed for his flight ticket.
The director is really bossy and appears to be cheap as well. We see them record various scenes in the movie, while Gilderoy plays with spiders and makes a mess of his shirts. Most of the people don’t speak English, so he doesn’t really have anyone to talk to; he’s clearly at a loss at this studio, and he admits he’s never worked on a horror film before– although the producer get upset and tells him not to call it a horror film. He’s curious as to why they hired him, when he clearly isn’t well-suited to the place. We never get an answer to that question.
The film he’s working on has something to do with witches, who were killed long ago, and the producer says it’s all based on a true story. Gilderoy starts getting distracted, and he’s homesick, but mostly, the subject of the film is disturbing him emotionally. He seems to be easy pickings for the bully of a director. Gilderoy is a fish-out-of-water in Italy, and working on a horror movie, but we get the impression that everything is not necessarily as it seems.
Again, they’re still dragging their feet about paying his airfare. They say there was no such flight that day, and Gilderoy starts getting really upset. The producer forces an actress to have sex with him, and, in revenge, she throws tape and film all over the studio, ruining a lot of work.
Gilderoy has a very surreal late-night experience that’s hard to describe. Then the next day, the unreality continues into the workday, as real life and the horror movie collide.
Commentary
You get to see a lot of what goes into adding the sound to a film, which I thought was interesting, with the notes and scores and timelines and Foley stuff. This was supposed to have taken place in the 70s, which explains the complete lack of computers. It’s neat to see how it was done.
I think the main “horror” here is having your soul sucked out by being stuck in a place and situation that you cannot get out of, but you really don’t want to be there. Gilderoy hated this job so much that the world sort of folded in upon him.
The acting here is all very good, the sound effects and music are excellent, and it’s fun to watch. There’s little to no plot, however, and in all honesty, nothing really happens. I was still entertained throughout, and have to say it’s one of the most unique horror films I’ve seen this year. It’s very different, but I totally recommend it.