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

62%

Popcornmeter

Fewer than 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

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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

jack t

holy sht is all I have to say!

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

11/17/24

Full Review

Motte L

Calling it a slow burn doesn't quite do it justice. It's slow and exasperating like watching someone drown in molasses. Grenzfurthner makes a more suffocating and oppressive atmosphere than any horror movie I've seen in a minute. The climax suffers a bit from amateurish line delivery but it still packs a deeply unsettling punch.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

11/15/24

Full Review

gregg b

horrifying decent into madness. very unique.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

11/12/24

Full Review

Jay F

Watching Masking Threshold had me laughing—it’s a bold, absurd exploration of madness, control, and sound, pushing boundaries in ways most won’t be ready for. It struck me as the wild cousin to Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Memoria, another sound-driven film that would be Oscar-worthy if the Academy dared.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

11/09/24

Full Review

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Johannes Grenzfurthner

Director

Ethan Haslam

Protagonist

Johannes Grenzfurthner

Protagonist (Corporeal)

Jason Scott Sadofsky

Sadofsky, M.D.

Bronwynn Mertz-Penzinger

Mother

Caroline St. Clair

Mother

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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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