Was recommended the below
long ago, while seeking more meta-horrors ala Jan Svankmajer's
Faust (a superbly earthy, practical effects-laden nightmare trip). God knows why I watched 'em now, but I did, god dammit.
Anguish (1987) Conceptually clever, functionally dry quasi-slasher. Fictional film "The Mommy" - a Hitchcock meets Argento gorenographic psychodrama, about an eye-snatching surgeon/mama's boy - is menacing a teen girl in the audience! But is that all that is really going on?! zomg!
Competent, forgettable Slasher ala 80s, upgraded to a surly one-trick pony by its under-utilised premise. Fine for approximately one watch, bonus points if you dig lurid Euro-horrors masquerading as set in Burgerville
Berberian Sound Studio (2012) A finely oneiric disintegration of onscreen reality, gorgeously stylised to boot. It is the 1970s! Timid English audio engineer and nature enthusiast GILDEROY arrives at the titular Italian studio, his virtuosic Foley skills desired by the producers of THE EQUESTRIAN VORTEX. Unfortunately for our nebbish protagonist, this
isn't an amiable horse-riding documentary, but
balls-out Bava-rama. Extreme violence against watermelons, courgettes and other juicy foodstuffs ensues - the artfully unseen gothic atrocity exhibition testing Gilderoy's professionalism and balls, as his surroundings grow ever chillier. Why did he get this job anyway? Hmm.
Doesn't quite stick the landing - decidedly un-climactic, though not
anti-climactic.
Something's definitely culminated over the discomforting trip, and not just the director's afternoon wank! The intricately detailed, exquisitely slow collapse of its narrative moves me to file Berberian as One Of The Good Ones. At a relatively lean ~90mins, it's recommendable simply for its small cast's stage-worthy performance, and its suave, unmistakably affectionate capture of a 1970s analogue recording environment. A potentially very revisitable unravelling.