I honestly don't know what to think right now. On one hand, what atmosphere. There aren't many films that revolve around something like this so this immediately stands out. The performances are also exquisite, However, I can't help but feel like the film is also dancing around, messing with us. It could be easy to just call it pretentious and empty, all surface, but I don't know... it's too demented to. I enjoyed my time though, but I don't know... Anyone seen it?

Exactly the same mixed feelings as you. It's as striking and brilliant a bit of horror filmmaking as I can think of for the first hour, then it just disappears into complete pretension. I guess I'd call it a waste. I didn't expect such an original film to have a straightforward 3rd act, but neither did I expect it to disappear up its own bottom to the same extent.

I've seen it and I was underwhelmed as well. It didn't turn out to be quite what I thought it would be. I didn't know a lot about it but I had the idea that it was going to be about the guy coming to the frightening realization that the people he went to work for were making snuff films.

I went in with an open mind but hated the film — it was slow, uneventful and, yes, it was pretentious.

One of my favorite movies of the last 15 years, horror or not. Toby Jones is splendid as the put-upon Gilderoy, and I love the way psychedelic madness intrudes on and eventually swallows the initially rather straightforward narrative. Might I equally enjoy a somewhat more comprehensible resolution? Perhaps, hard to say, but the blown-fuse shutdown Strickland went with doesn't bother me at all. Reminds me of The Strange Color of Your Body's Tears/L'étrange couleur des larmes de ton corps (2013), another recent favorite.

It's not like the ending comes totally out of left field. We're given plenty of clues along the way that the film's implicit narrator isn't 100% reliable. Also, since Berberian Sound Studio concerns a psychological meltdown during post-production work on some crazy Eurosleaze art monstrosity, the tripped-out conclusion makes thematic sense. Awesome movie.

It's not like the ending comes totally out of left field. We're given plenty of clues along the way that the film's implicit narrator isn't 100% reliable. Also, since Berberian Sound Studio concerns a psychological meltdown during post-production work on some crazy Eurosleaze art monstrosity, the tripped-out conclusion makes thematic sense. Awesome movie.

Very well said.

I rate it 🐮🐮🐮🐮🐮🐮🐮🐮

(8 cowshits out of 10)

The first time I watched it, I didn't realize there was an option to turn on English subtitles. Since much of the opening was in English, I never thought to look.

When I watched it a second time with English subtitles turned on, the plot was easier to follow.

Moooooooo

>>6

The first time I watched it, I didn't realize there was an option to turn on English subtitles.

Lol, I did exactly the same thing. I initially assumed that the unsubbed Italian was intentional, putting viewers in Gilderoy's uncomprehending position. It wasn't until the movie was more than half over that I got the bright idea to check for subtitles. Derp.

well I assume you watched it on DVD where all sorts of options are available...my understanding is that the lack of subtitles in a cinema release IS to put you in the position of the main character much like the lack of subtitles in Magic Magic...

I thought the film was ...interesting...and if you freak out at vegetables being chopped up then its a classic and some geek about Giallo (sp?) movies then the possible references are a wet dream - I do think the meltdown was very well done but it was more a case of style over substance and a casual viewer is just going to find it a let-down.

interesting art movie for me.

It would be in my favorites list of the last ten years. I'm such a visual (and audio if the sound produces something other than parlor tricks all the time) horror fan, and it had such a giallo aesthetic. I like Toby, too, and think he was actually good casting. It needed someone who could become manipulated by the circumstances surrounding him. Being enveloped by the whole process, and becoming part of the product. I dig this kind of stuff, personally. It is an acquired taste, though.