2021 Directed by Johannes Grenzfurthner
Conducting a series of experiments in his makeshift home-lab, a skeptic IT worker tries to cure his harrowing hearing impairment. But where will his research lead him? "Masking Threshold" combines a chamber play, a scientific procedural, an unpacking video, and a DIY YouTube channel while suggesting endless vistas of existential pain and decay. Glimpse the world of the nameless protagonist in this eldritch tale, which is by no means for the faint of heart.
Ethan Haslam Johannes Grenzfurthner Jason Scott Sadofsky Bronwynn Mertz-Penzinger Ishan Raval Caroline St. Clair David Fine Pierre Emö Kudra Owens Offerus Ablinger Roland Gratzer Katharina Rose Harald Homolka-List Patrick Michael Greene Max Grodénchik Paul Poet Kero Fichter Jasmin Hagendorfer Matthias Ramon Jaklitsch
Mascarando Limites, Umbral de Enmascarado, Maskovací práh
A self-styled empirical scientist studies his own unusual case of tinnitus. One of the best, if not the best, Gothic horror movies I've ever seen in that it perfectly captures the classic tension between the scientific method, personal ambition, and the draw of mysticism. As the unnamed protagonist encounters more and more obstacles to resolving his condition, he suffers an emerging positivist crisis and begins shedding the constraints of rationality. John is an iconic subject of so-called "Reddit brain", in love with the aesthetics of hard science but quick to dismiss any perspectives that don't confirm his per-conceived notions. His inquiries are interspersed with rants decrying the evils of psychotherapy, internet trolls, and religion. His venom against, well, pretty much…
It’s kind of strange how a convention that is basically the bedrock of horror writing has been almost completely missing from horror movies. It seems like almost every adaptation of a first-person horror story is interpreted by filmmakers into the visual language and narrative flow of a third-person story. Sure you might get a bit of well-voiced first person narration but you always end up just watching Jonathan Harker or Victor Frankenstein or Montresor blunder across the screen in some famous actor’s body. It’s almost like the need not to rob someone of a juicy role takes precedence, leaving the possibility of direct perspective only open for experimental animators (like Svankmajer’s 100% characterless cinematography in The Fall of the House…
One of the most unique film experiences I've had. Fascinating depiction of a descent into madness.
This thing is gorgeous and weird and a very unique little movie. Incredibly great, excited for whatever the filmmakers do next, and whatever they might have done previous
"The miserable have no medicine but hope"
A compelling unique experimental film done by random visual imagery over audio only (careful to never reveal the main character's full face) of a man's gradual descent into madness trying to cure his own tinnitus, a thing few others believe is even real and nobody else believes is as severe as he claims
Considering I hadn't even heard of Panic Fest till a week or two ago, I'm overjoyed at how two days in I've already found myself seeing three features from it I love and would have completely missed out on otherwise (the other two being The Outwaters and Dawn Breaks Behind The Eyes). Can't wait for them to get distribution so more eyes can see them hopefully
Oh man - what a cool surprise! I think this one is kind of extrordinary! I was mesmerized and it really got under my skin.
This is pretty much an art movie and it plays like La Jetee crossed with HP Lovecraft.
NOT primarily the ”aquatic Cthulhu cult” Lovecraft - more like the ”person spiraling out of controll into insanity trying to grasp something unimaginable” lovecraft.
It’s pretty much all voiceover and B-roll. Sort of like a visualized audiobook or an illustrated inner monolouge depicting a person stumbeling further and further into insanity. And I have to say that the thoughts and reasonings in this movie is one of the best depictions of someone loosing their mind to insanity that…
An obnoxious, condescending Redditor who believes he hears a constant sound that can't be explained by his doctors decides to do a series of experiments and post them to YouTube to figure out what the sound is and how to stop it. Think "The Tell-Tale Heart," but as a 90-minute video collage by a YouTube "let me tell you how things REALLY are" guy as he kills an escalating series of insects and animals. No prize for guessing where that ends up. I can see why this has played some festivals because it is conceptually interesting and the sound design is fantastic (not to mention the macro photography, beautiful and frequently extremely squirm-worthy), but ultimately this is a very familiar story just dressed up in capital-A "Art" drag. It's basically a podcast/radio drama with a constant running video component. Also features the most misguided end credits voiceover tag since Tusk.
Absurdly odd and extremely disgusting, a descent into total madness, a spiral into insanity that has never been observed before.
Watch at your own risk!!!
This movie felt pretentious as hell and while it had moments of shock value, overall it was mostly boring and felt like it tried too hard.
What if the monster is your own mind? Masking Threshold is a horror film wrapped in an art film. It is a monologue that starts out tedious in its details, as a technique to control the film viewer’s experience and help them slow down to the pace of the main character. Then he leads you into a labyrinth of science, alchemy, and ultimately madness within his mind.
(Fantastic Fest 2021)
A fierce, outspoken, harsh, unapologetic movie. Never seen anything like it before.
Ein namenloser junger Mann wird von einem permanenten, variierenden Geräuschteppich geplagt, dem keine äußere Schallquellen zuzuordnen sind. Er verbarrikadiert sich im Keller, um dort seiner merkwürdigen auditiven Wahrnehmung mit zunehmend abstrusen Experimenten auf den Grund zu gehen.
Das absolut außergewöhnliche Kammerspiel des österreichischen Regisseurs Johannes Grenzfurthner besteht fast gänzlich aus Nah- und Makroaufnahmen, unterlegt mit den Ausführungen des redseligen, nie ganz sichtbaren Protagonisten, der immer weiter in den Wahnsinn abdriftet. Besessenheit hautnah vermittelt als ein hypnotisierendes audiovisuelles Erlebnis, am Ende vielleicht etwas zu drastisch bzw. plakativ, wenngleich dramaturgisch schlüssig.
MASKING THRESHOLD ist ebenso fordernd wie faszinierend – und definitiv einzigartig. Ein Film, dem man vielleicht nicht so schnell wiederbegegnen möchte (wie z. B. ERASERHEAD), der sich aber ins Gedächtnis einbrennt.…
