Berberian Sound Studio
IFC Midnight | Release Date: June 14, 2013 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
80
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 22 Critic Reviews
Positive:
19
Mixed:
3
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
The GuardianPeter BradshawMay 10, 2013
Utterly distinctive and all but unclassifiable, a musique concrète nightmare, a psycho-metaphysical implosion of anxiety, with strange-tasting traces of black comedy and movie-buff riffs. It is seriously weird and seriously good. Read full review
100
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Staff [Not Credited]May 10, 2013
Director Peter Strickland brilliantly ratchets up the tension without showing a single frame of the grisly film. Read full review
100
The TelegraphRobbie CollinMay 10, 2013
It is one of the year’s very best films, a great, rumbling thunderclap of genius. Read full review
91
The PlaylistOliver LytteltonMay 10, 2013
Strickland' command of tone, aided by Oscar-winning "Slumdog Millionaire" editor Chris Dickens and, of course, sonic wizards Joakim Sundstrom and Steve Haywood, is masterful, jarring and discombobulating the viewer as Gilderoy's mind unravels. Read full review
90
NPRIan BuckwalterJun 14, 2013
Strickland's Berberian Sound Studio is one horror film that opts to skip the usual frolic among those metaphorical monsters in favor of a deeply unsettling dive into the subconscious. Read full review
90
VarietyGuy LodgeMay 10, 2013
Icily disquieting rather than scary, the film is less an exercise in narrative than in tonal mastery. Read full review
88
Boston GlobePeter KeoughJun 21, 2013
Though “Berberian” bogs down a bit in its infernal spiral, Strickland proves himself to be a rising talent — a master of sound and fury both. Read full review
88
Slant MagazineChuck BowenJun 9, 2013
On the surface, Peter Strickland's film is an amusing black comedy that parodies the horror movie's continual status as the cultural black sheep of the cinematic landscape, but the filmmaker is most prominently concerned with painting a sonic portrait of alienation. Read full review
83
The A.V. ClubA.A. Dowd Jun 12, 2013
Not a drop of blood is spilled in Peter Strickland’s Berberian Sound Studio. Even so, Italian-horror buffs may feel a flush of nostalgia watching this bewitching genre whatsit, which manages to evoke the crimson-splashed shockers of the 1970s without so much as a single frame of actual carnage. Read full review
83
IndieWireEric KohnMay 10, 2013
Berberian Sound Studio constructs a perpetually strange, unseemly series of events overshadowed (and sometimes consumed by) the spooky movie-within-a-movie that hangs over every scene. Read full review
80
Village VoiceMichael AtkinsonJun 11, 2013
Berberian may sound like it's more fun to pick over afterward than watch, but it's also masterfully crafted. Read full review
80
Time OutKeith UhlichJun 11, 2013
The creepiness builds with symphonic precision until reality truly is indistinguishable from fantasy. Read full review
80
Time Out LondonTom HuddlestonMay 10, 2013
Berberian Sound Studio is like nothing before – and whether or not it ‘works’ seems almost irrelevant. In this era of cookie-cutter cinema, Strickland’s deeply personal moral and stylistic vision deserves the highest praise. Read full review
80
Total FilmJamie GrahamMay 10, 2013
Strickland’s nuanced, atmospheric, ambiguous movie transcends genre. Read full review
80
EmpireDavid HughesMay 10, 2013
With a debut film, Katalin Varga, shot entirely in Hungarian, Strickland isn't one for the easy option. This excellent follow-up plunges into equally unusual terrain with similarly pleasing results Read full review
75
New York PostKyle SmithJun 13, 2013
A clever, elliptical, slightly bizarre and altogether transfixing psychological thriller. Read full review
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriJun 17, 2013
There are no bad guys, and no real violence. Horror fiends looking for cheap thrills may be disappointed. But those with a flair for the offbeat might find themselves unnerved and riveted. Read full review
70
The New York TimesNicolas RapoldJun 13, 2013
It’s not unlike many of Mr. Strickland’s beloved Italian films, which could be superb exercises in cinematic style and atmosphere while remaining imperfect. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesSheri LindenJun 12, 2013
Writer-director Peter Strickland...uses atmosphere as others would use plot, and knows how to provoke comic shudders. But he tends to repeat himself, and he doesn't quite find a satisfying denouement for the inventive premise. Read full review
53
Film.comMatt PatchesJun 11, 2013
Like the giallo films it pays tribute to, Berberian Sound Studio is more of a sensory experience than a dramatic one. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleDavid WellsJun 30, 2013
Eventually, though, these scenes get repetitive, and the muddled final act neither builds nor gets scary. Writer-director Peter Strickland is much more interested in the atmospherics, so when Gilderoy plunges into the abyss (or wherever), we are left confused, and not in a satisfying, David Lynch kind of way. Read full review
40
New York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierJun 14, 2013
Fans of Dario Argento and Mario Bava will appreciate the references. Even for newcomers, there are minor chords to enjoy. If only there were less screaming. Read full review
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