[agentwiggles]

Oh man, I could not agree more about the audio description subtitles. It was particularly annoying when I was watching Cabinet of Curiosities. Something about having the musical cues and weird sound effects described in text on the screen completely takes their effectiveness away. Instead of subtly increasing the tension of a spooky scene with a gentle crescendo or something it's all [DISCORDANT MUSICAL NOTE PLAYS] or [SUBTLE SQUELCHING SOUND] or [HAUNTING VOICES SING]. It's like the horror equivalent of holding up a "CROWD LAUGHS" sign or something.

I get why the accessibility version is nice, but I just want dialogue - I do not need the show's sound described and it actively works against the show.

[InfamousRece]

And it is fun when the movie has some foreign language dialogue with subtitles but the subtitles are covered by “[SPEAKS MANDARIN]”.

[nkristoffersen]

Even better when it says "[SPEAKS FOREIGN LANGUAGE]"

[dahdum]

I've always taken that as the characters not knowing which language is being spoken. If it's been established I expect to see [SPEAKING MANDARIN] or some such.

They don't subtitle it because the audience isn't expected to know what's being said.

[CRConrad]

But when it's subtitled in the movie itself (which is then covered by the TV's closed-captioning system), the audience is clearly expected to get to know what's being said.

[dahdum]

I love those additional details and always watch with subtitles. Often enough the subtitles provide additional information about something left otherwise ambiguous or undefined. Names of characters are a common one, but in horror/mystery you can narrow down the plot or supernatural mechanics.

I don't remember specific moments from Cabinet of Curiosities but 1899 definitely had some subtitle details that narrowed the plot possibilities.