Masking Threshold

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1:51

Masking Threshold

Released Sep 30, 2022

1h 30m

Horror

Mystery & Thriller

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

100%

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11 Reviews

86%

Popcornmeter

50+ Ratings

Frustrated by a constant ringing in his ears, a paranoid data analyst documents his obsessive attempts to cure his own debilitating tinnitus through a series of home experiments conducted in a make-shift lab. But as his research becomes increasingly dark and macabre, a horrifying secret behind his maddening condition is revealed with a potential cure more sinister than he could have ever imagined. A deeply philosophical horror film inspired by Lovecraftian weird fiction and cosmism, experimental filmmaker Johannes Grenzfurthner takes us on an unsettling journey into the paranoia of the human mind to reveal the disastrous consequences of the relentless pursuit of knowledge.

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Christian Valentin

Spectrum Culture

A striking chronicle told through a boldly experimental style that unsettles and accomplishes so much with so little.

Oct 5, 2022

Full Review

Dennis Harvey

48 Hills

Inventive, in a way that may recall such vaguely similar delusional-quest films about delusional outsiders as Pi or Bug.

Oct 4, 2022

Full Review

Daniel Gorman

In Review Online

Johannes Grenzfurthner's Masking Threshold is a remarkable bit of DIY lunacy, a hand-crafted nightmare that combines elements of a diary film, a first-person, found-footage pseudo-documentary, a YouTube tutorial, and the Screenlife desktop aesthetic.

Oct 3, 2022

Full Review

Brandon Judell

Brandon Judell (Medium)

With one of the best screenplays of recent years, with the superb cinematography of Florian Hofer, and the awe-inducing editing by both Grenzfurthner and Hofer, Masking Threshold is a wry, dissective look at modern society's derangement.

Rated: 8/10

Jan 12, 2022

Full Review

Richard Propes

TheIndependentCritic.com

For those willing to invest heart, mind, body, and some semblance of soul this is a unique, inspired, intelligent, and impossible to forget cinematic experience.

Rated: 3.5/4.0

Jan 5, 2022

Full Review

Emilie Black

Cinema Crazed

For those willing to pay attention and really watch this film, it leads to an interesting payoff and feels like a new thing, a new style, something they've not seen that many times before, if at all.

Rated: 4.5/5

Dec 11, 2021

Full Review

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Schmickens D

Absolutely incredible. Well paced, and beautifully shot. Almost like “found footage” of an intelligent recluse who’s analyzing and documenting his medical condition. We, as the viewer, are gradually and subtly shown that this narrator/main character is already unhinged mentally (and getting worse). Frighteningly realistic in its portrayal of how someone with mental illness can rationalize their behavior and actions, “Masking Threshold” speeds up consistently and intensifies until the manic crescendo (the last 5-10 minutes will have you glued to the screen).

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/11/25

Full Review

livio g

I hadn’t heard anyone mention it—found it on a random list and saw it was free on Tubi. It’s a slow burn, the protagonist can be grating (it’s just who he is), but the last 15-20 minutes were a wild trip. Easily one of the most intense films I’ve seen lately.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

12/17/24

Full Review

Cat K

If you enjoy hearing people complain and force their angry opinions on you in narration, sure. But this lacks everything it's hyped up to be. It's dull, monotonous, and has all of the tells of a covid film. Wasted time.

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

12/17/24

Full Review

gonzo g

A highly intellectual yet gut-wrenching film about madness and obsession.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

11/24/24

Full Review

helmer b

very interesting and fascinating watch. nerd goes nuts, pretty much, but it’s told in a completely new way.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

11/23/24

Full Review

Kyle M

Self-destructive descent into madness aside the film offers little to hold your attention, or even really inspire meaningful introspection. It aspires to pretentiousness as, the film at no point seems to recognize its protagonist as anything but a set piece for whom we have no attachment, no investment in, and, much like a group of school children watching a gaping fish perish on the pier, we invited along for nothing more than a spectacle. If you managed the first fifteen minutes I'm afraid there's little more to the film than the threadbare premise, and, while the experimental aspects of the film are certainly interesting enough in theory the film manages to feel like a one-person soliloquy with a character you will never feel more than a fleeting distant attachment to at best. It belongs in a college theater class, which, I suspect is where it would be best received. It is a film. It's not really worth your time. It probably wasn't worth the review, but, my goodness, if I can spare you the time, watch something with substance instead.

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

11/22/24

Full Review

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Masking Threshold: Trailer 1

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Synopsis

Frustrated by a constant ringing in his ears, a paranoid data analyst documents his obsessive attempts to cure his own debilitating tinnitus through a series of home experiments conducted in a make-shift lab. But as his research becomes increasingly dark and macabre, a horrifying secret behind his maddening condition is revealed with a potential cure more sinister than he could have ever imagined. A deeply philosophical horror film inspired by Lovecraftian weird fiction and cosmism, experimental filmmaker Johannes Grenzfurthner takes us on an unsettling journey into the paranoia of the human mind to reveal the disastrous consequences of the relentless pursuit of knowledge.

Director: Johannes Grenzfurthner
Producer: Günther Friesinger, Julianne Gabert, Johannes Grenzfurthner, Jasmin Hagendorfer
Screenwriter: Johannes Grenzfurthner
Distributor: Drafthouse Films
Production Co: Monochrom Propulsion Systems
Genre: Horror, Mystery & Thriller
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Sep 30, 2022, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Oct 7, 2022
Runtime: 1h 30m

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