Berberian Sound Studio [Blu-ray] - Peter Strickland

One of the underappreciated cinematic gems of 2012 Berberian Sound Studio features the superb Toby Jones as a sound engineer working in the mid-1970s. For his next job he heads to Italy to start working on a new horror movie where his task is to put together the audio mix for the film. However things don?t prove to be that simple. As he watches more and more of the movie in question Jones? character gets increasingly affected by it to the detriment of his mental state. As he does so Berberian Sound Studio intelligently pays homage to the likes of Dario Argento and Lucio Fulci and it emerges as something of a love letter to the Italian horror movies of the era. It?s also an excellent film in its own right. Jones? sound engineer is very much a fish out of water aside from when he?s at his mixing desk and the film is anchored by one of his best-ever performances. Director Peter Stickland who contributes an excellent commentary track to the disc is equally keen to give due respect to the art and tools of sound mixing and that he weaves all of this in so successfully is very much to his credit. The disc also boasts a good making of documentary and there?s no shortage of further behind the scenes material to explore. It?s a thoughtful rewarding package for a sublime piece of cinema. Strongly recommended. -- Jon Foster