Berberian Sound Studio (2012)

A sound engineer's work for an Italian horror studio becomes a terrifying case of life imitating art.

Director:

Peter Strickland

Writer:

Peter Strickland

Stars:

Toby Jones, Antonio Mancino, Guido Adorni

16 wins & 15 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Toby Jones	...	Gilderoy
Cosimo Fusco	...	Francesco Coraggio
Antonio Mancino	...	Giancarlo Santini
Fatma Mohamed	...	Silvia as Teresa
Salvatore LI Causi	...	Fabio (as Salvatore Li Causi)
Chiara D'Anna	...	Elisa as Teresa
Tonia Sotiropoulou	...	Elena
Eugenia Caruso	...	Claudia as Monica / Screamer
Susanna Cappellaro	...	Veronica as Accused Witch
Guido Adorni	...	Lorenzo
Lara Parmiani	...	Chiara as Signora Collatina
Jozef Cseres	...	Massimo
Pal Toth	...	Massimo (as Pál Tóth)
Katalin Ladik	...	Resurrected Witch
Jean-Michael van Schouwburg	...	The Goblin (as Jean-Michel Van Schouwburg)

Storyline

A sound engineer's work for an Italian horror studio becomes a terrifying case of life imitating art.

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Plot Keywords:

foley artist | sound recordist | sound recording | movie studio | casting couch | 

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Genres:

Drama | Horror | Thriller

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Did You Know?

Trivia

Film debut of Antonio Mancino.

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Goofs

At the very beginning of the film, Elena calls Francesco to announce Gilderoy's arrival at the studio. Although the film is set in Italy, when she picks up the phone a continuous dial tone is heard, which is normal for the US or UK; however, the actual dial tone would have sounded very differently in Italy, a country where the phone system has a very distinctive and non-continuous dial tone (consisting of a 425Hz tone with a duration of 0.6sec followed by a 1 second pause, followed by a 0.2 sec tone then a 0.2 sec pause, repeated in a loop until the first digit is dialed).

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Quotes

Giancarlo Santini: Gilderoy, this is going to be a fantastic film. Brutal and honest. Nobody has seen this horror before.

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Crazy Credits

This movie was originally released as The Foley Artist

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Connections

References Evil Ed (1995)

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Soundtracks

Glory Hole
Performed by Nurse With Wound
Written by Steven Stapleton
Licensed Courtesy of Nurse With Wound

User Reviews

Great original concept, but lacks a clear direction towards the end

This film is a pleasant homage to Italian giallo and to the under-recognized art of sound editing. A bit like Hélène Cattet & Bruno Forzani's "Amer" did, but in a more conventional, more "easy watching" way.

It begins as an amusing comedy with a cast of characters gently mocking the 70's Italian machismo. The very exciting central concept of the film is to deal with graphical horror without showing any real violence on the screen. This counter-fashion idea clearly marks its distance from the recent escalation in the graphic horror genre cinema, which I find honorable.

The imagination of the spectator is highly put to use compared to these days' standards. A truly outstanding atmosphere is obtained thanks to a really terrific sound editing. The atmosphere moves from light fun to disturbing fantasy with elegance.

But near the end, the story lost me. I eventually didn't understand where the film wanted take me. For that disappointing feeling, I don't rate it very high, but this movie is definitely a good piece of artwork and is more interesting than most of what is to be seen nowadays.

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official Twitter

Country:

UK Germany Australia

Language:

English Italian

Release Date:

31 August 2012 (UK)

Also Known As:

Berberian Sound Studio

Filming Locations:

Three Mills Studios, Three Mill Lane, Bow, London, England, UK

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$6,605, 16 June 2013

Gross USA:

$38,493

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$312,757

Company Credits

Production Co:

Illuminations Films, Warp X, Film4

Technical Specs

Runtime:

92 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1