Berberian Sound Studio

If you’re a fan of Dario Argento or the Italian giallo film genre, you’re going to want to see this ASAP. After prim-and-proper English foley artist Gilderoy (the magnificent Toby Jones) flies to Italy to begin work on a film called The Equestrian Vortex, the long nights in the studio begin to take their toll and slowly but surely, he enters a hell he wasn’t prepared for. We see very little of the film he’s working on, but we hear almost everything; all the witch cackles, demon howls and icky thumps that are associated with giallo films start to register with the audience, and we begin to empathize with Gilderoy. The film takes place in the 1970s, and it’s a joy to watch soundmen work on dusty reel-to-reel machines, rip up stalks of vegetables and smash cantaloupes for their desired sound effects instead of relying on digital sound banks.