Sightlines · reception

How Berberian Sound Studio was received

2012 · Peter Strickland · Berberian Sound Studio on Sightlines

The arc

Acclaimed out of the gate in the UK — it swept four prizes at the 2012 British Independent Film Awards including Best Director and Best Actor for Toby Jones — but general audiences found it baffling, and it's since settled into cult-classic status as the film that made Peter Strickland a name.

What’s debated

The final act is the eternal sticking point: fans call it a hypnotic descent, detractors call it an arthouse shrug that refuses to resolve — and everyone argues over what actually happens.

Its footprint

It's become the go-to touchstone for foley and film-sound obsessives — the image of watermelons and marrows being stabbed to make horror sounds is endlessly referenced, and its fake giallo 'The Equestrian Vortex' is one of cinema's most beloved movies-that-don't-exist.

Where it stands

A cult object and quiet Letterboxd favorite — the 'film about horror that never shows the horror' that cinephiles press on anyone interested in sound design or giallo.

Did you know? The giallo being made inside the film, 'The Equestrian Vortex,' is never actually seen — only its animated title sequence (designed by Julian House) and its sounds; the score is by the band Broadcast, one of their final projects.

Named by the director

• Death Laid an Egg (1968) — Strickland repeatedly cited Giulio Questi's avant-garde giallo and Bruno Maderna's score as a key touchstone for Berberian's sound world.
• Dario Argento — Strickland named Argento's hyper-stylised Italian horror, discovered at London's Scala Cinema, as formative for the film's giallo milieu.
• Mario Bava — Strickland cited Bava as the other pillar of the Italian horror tradition the film lovingly reconstructs.