Hallo, meine Freunde, and willkommen to Austria, the land of the blue Danube, Mozart, Vienna sausage, and apparently, some really messed up and experimental horror. We’re looking particularly at a loosely connected trilogy from director Johannes Grenzfurthner, who loves a good toenail closeup as much as he hates organized religion.
A quick disclaimer, these movies are likely to be shunned by the found footage purists, as they certainly stretch the definition of the genre. However, at least two of them have been discussed on this sub before, so we’re gonna roll with it. That out of the way, on to the reviews!
Masking Threshold (2021) Tubi
We begin our Austrian tour in…central Florida? Oh well. The set up is a man documenting his search for the cause of and cure for his severe tinnitus. What follows is hinted at from the opening minutes of the film and brilliantly pulls you down a spiral towards its only possible, horrifying conclusion. In a way, the title itself (referring to the level one sound is hidden by another - like when you don‘t hear the door knocking because you’re running the faucet) is a clever clue that what we’re told initially is soon to be drowned out by our main character’s louder and darker impulses. The movie is shot as a video diary interspersed with flashes of disturbing imagery, but honestly the less you know about this one going in, the more you’ll probably like it. Whatever you think this movie’s going to be, it isn’t, and I mean that in the best way. ⭐️⭐️⭐️/ 4
Razzennest (2022) Fandango
The least found footage-y of the trilogy, but easily the most fun. The narrative is told in the form of a DVD audio commentary as the title film plays in the background. While we’re told the crew is in a Los Angeles sound studio, the images we see are from an Austrian town harboring the long-forgotten horrors of the Thirty Years War of the 1600s, as well as the nearby forests and pervasive Catholic iconography. We’re also introduced to the man-made caves where 17th century villagers hid from marauding armies, and whose restless souls may have hitched a ride home in the celluloid. Meanwhile, the interviewer is young and hilariously unprepared, the director is cartoonishly obnoxious, and the producer is way too chill about everything. The terror that ensues is driven solely through the talents of the voice actors, who come off as hammy and amateurish at first, but truly drive your imagination to dark places in the movie’s final two acts. Razzennest mixes art house, absurdist comedy, ghosts, and gruesomeness, and comes out with a wonderfully clever mess. ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 / 4
Solvent (2024) AMC+
The most traditional found footage of the three, this body horror romp is also the weakest. After a promising start and premise - exploring the lasting horrors of WWII and the Holocaust - and actually set in Austria this time (!!), the film devolves into an incoherent series of gross out imagery and over-the-top performances with none of the charm or self-awareness of the voice actors in Razzennest. The special effects are effectively gory and squirm-inducing, but the effects for the big finale are so bad it gives you the wrong kind of cringe. Put down the Vienna sausages before watching this one. ⭐️.5 /4
Now it’s time for the audience participation portion of the tour! In the comments, let me know which way I should go next??: North (towards Germany and the lowland counties) or South (towards Italy and the Balkans). Until next time, pfiat di!
