Masking Threshold

One of those "the director had a smart idea" movies. You can smell the pretentiousness even during the opening credits with that "is recursive" slapped on to the quote about man being created in the image of god. Wow, so deep. The narration is annoying and pretentious - constantly dropping 'clever' factoids, like lychen being a symbiosis between fungus and algea, Bart Simpson having had to have been Homer's age by now, etc - like scrolling through Buzzfeed... The driving force is ostensibly the intensification of the protagonist's mental condition and the slow buildup of gore, culminating in human body parts all over the place. But I felt no intensification of any feeling except boredom and disgust. And this disgust had no depth to it, nothing beyond it to support and contextualise it narratively and/or emotionally. The experience is more like flipping through a graphic dissection book, an experience I have no interest in, certainly not artistically, and certainly not while listening to that constant annoying narration. So yea maybe in an ingenious way the film is recursive in that we cannot escape the annoying speech sounds of the guy researching an annoying sound in his head...

First things first, this isn't really horror per se, but I suppose going insane would be considered horror. This film focuses on senses in every way possible, sight, sound, taste, smell, and touch. It's those senses that intensifies over time and for some, becomes a crutch into self isolation as it turns into psychological paranoia. The film introduces you into each of these senses with spiraling inner thoughts spoken out as the film goes on, and then leads to full blown insanity that ends in surrender. If you focus on the underlying context without feeling bored, you'll understand why this film plays out this way. Complete insanity in doses.

After watching the first 12 minutes I realized that the rest of the film followed the same pattern. The movie is characterized by repetitive disgusting close-ups. It accompanied by an intense and overwhelming audio track consisting of a mentally ill person's mutterings . It's made as a collection of short, gross videos that might appeal to some but did not resonate with my personal preferences. While the initial minutes of the film were enough to gauge the entire movie's tone, I decided to watch a few random moments close to the end to confirm my suspicions. In conclusion, the movie may suit those who enjoy short, shocking visual experiences, but it might not be a good fit for those who prefer more varied and nuanced films.

I know it's been said a lot but I've never left a review on here. After seeing the positives I decided to give it a try. A try for something different in the horror genre because I've watched a lot of horror movies. This was literally the most boring thing I have watched. Nothing happens except a guy talking and close ups of nothing the entire time. And i understand what it was, he could hear the sound of death and became obsessed with death but non of this happened until the end. It just tried sounding smart the entire movie then they realized something was supposed to actually happen at the end. I'm really not someone who likes traditional slasher flicks. I like a good story and for it to lead somewhere. But let me sum it up so you don't waste over an hour and a half. That is how annoyed I am at the existence of this movie and the time wasted. He has a ringing in his ears and it annoys him. He does experiments to see what variables changes the ringing. Finds out he can basically hear death and becomes obsessed and kills a couple people. Sounds kind of interesting at the end but you have to literally suffer through nothing for 95 percent of the movie and even the payoff isn't great.

Might be a semi-decent podcast, but it's a terrible movie. It's made out of a series of extreme close ups, most of which don't really have anything to do with what's being said. It's just headache inducing. Then there's no story and the narration itself is comprised by things you've already seen or heard around the internet. The concept and visuals are ok, but I would love to see an actual movie of it instead of just the ramblings of a weirdo. It could be kinda Lovecraftian if it wasn't so pretentious. The fact that 'you haven't seen anything like it doesn't make it good. The main fault of this thing is that it got old and boring really fast. The 4 out of 10 I'm giving it is for what could have been.

This is a masterful piece of movie making, reminiscent of Poe's The Telltale Heart. A horror ASMR film with a faceless protagonist describing his efforts to prove his sanity. In fact, what we see as an audience is a detailed decent into madness. The brutality and delusions continue to escalate as the movie moves along. I entered in to this experience with no idea of what i was in for. This was a nice surprise. However, this film is nor for everyone. I'm trying to just describe the feeling of this film without ruining it for that 1in 5 person that will love it. The plot description says all you need to know going in.

I do not know where to start. This is one of the most unique movie experiences I've ever had. A truly astrounding depiction of the descent into madness. Fascinating. A paranoid tech guy frustrated by his constant tinnitus opens up about his obsessive attempts to cure his debilitating tinnitus through a series of home experiments in a makeshift lab. But as his investigations grow darker and more frightening, a terrible secret behind his desperate condition is revealed - and the possible cure is even darker than he could have ever imagined. It's an intriguingly intimate experiment in minimalist horror that shows how far a filmmaker can go with a simple premise: to show a man's mental breakdown documented through an online video diary.

Saw this harrowing gem on the virtual platform of Fantastic Fest 2021. Insanity! As far as I interpret this daring indie film, it's a new take on the Lovecraftian diary. A person slowly goes insane, documenting it in a video log, and you can witness his plunge into the abyss of his mind for a solid ninety minutes. Not sure this is already a spoiler, but the entire film is set in one room, and director Grenzfurthner pulls it off like the madman he is. Amazing sound design. AMAZING.

An intelligent, anti-social man searches for the reason for his tinnitus but discovers a fundamental part of our existence. Or does he? The ending is gloriously explosive and cynical. A small workshop, a bunch of dialogue and stunning micro cinematography are the basis for this original film by Johannes Grenzfurthner, an experimental Austrian artist. Part of my joy as a viewer was not being spoken down to - this isn't for the masses. 'Masking Threshold' is more visually appealing than 'X', more mentally stimulating than 'You Won't Be Alone' and and as vicious as 'Bull'. And, along with those movies, the best thrills of the year.

Okay. This is a tough one. I have a range of emotions after watching this movie, it has proposed a lot to think about, and some critical dilemmas too. Johannes Grenzfurthner has put together a risky, experimental, hard-on-senses eldtrich tale of obsession, desperation and the unexplainable. And all for only 20'000 moneys. It's a hard to love film, but it will find its way to its audience. Spiritually and thematically it has parallels with movies like "Primer" and Darren Aronofsky's "Pi", and also has lovecraftian angles. The entire film consists of pretty much only close-ups, ranging from a few medium shots to a myriad of extreme macro photography. "Masking Threshold" is pure DIY madness, laid over a dangerously patient, but inventive and equal amounts repulsive and fascinating script. It must've taken a seriously long time to make the script a reality, for the monologue practically never ends, and the shot count seems to be unbelievably high. Additionally, the editing and sound design is very well done and fits the storytelling. There's a video-diaryl/youtube/desktop-film/documentary/POV feel and aesthetic, yes, all of those combined in one. 99% of the character spotlight is only on one, Ethan Haslam playing a character whose name we never learn, but he's aptly named "protagonist" on Imdb. The entire movie is narrated by his diary-like thought process, and the task at hand. He has made a make-shift lab in his apartment, and sets out to find a cure or at least a reason for his insufferable hearing impairment. Our protagonist works in IT, is a huge skeptic, desperate, suffering, and going down a deep and otherworldly rabbit hole... The movie, in a way, remains the same until the culmination, but at the same time shifts and turns constantly. In its first half or less, "Masking Threshold" requires an extra patience in answer to its tepid pacing, and quite quickly I learned this film requires pretty much constant focus and thought. But it all leads into more and more distressing vibes and a hands-down weird, grimy and darkly philosophical final act, which I'll admit kept me glued to the screen. At times "Masking Threshold" feels quite distressing, provocative, even repulsive, both visually and thematically. It's hard to pinpoint just one top message or theme, Grenzfurthner's concoction is a story of delusional obsession, a tale of today's society's madness, a modern Lovecraft story, a frightening presentation of nature itself. Despite all its flaws, this independent micro-budget feat is almost never less than fascinating. Granted, if you're prepared to give a chance to a reasonably unorthodox film that stretches and changes many standards of every day films. It's as indie as it gets. I honestly hadn't really seen a film like this before. For those whose interest might be piqued by the lovecraftian angle, I'll admit that one hour into I couldn't really see why it was gaining this reputation, but later and in the afterthought, I have to say, it is boldly and proudly very much along the lines of H. P. Lovecraft's literature and mythos. In its extremely small, but eventually so vast feeling world, "Masking Threshold" makes itself as big as it could possible be, and might be one of the most original horror film I've seen, and one that gave the biggest mixed bag of feelings. It's not an easy watch, and I believe there are many turn-downs for many people, but overall it's a beast that I can't help but admire in the most odd of ways. I like movies that make me ponder a lot. Very hard to rate it. My rating: 7/10.