Released: April 28, 2017
Director: Liam Gavin
Screenplay: Liam Gavin
Tagline: "Not everything can be forgiven"
Cast:
Catherine Walker as Sophia Howard
Steve Oram as Joseph Solomon
Susan Loughnane as Victoria Howard
First Time View?: Yes
A determined young woman and a damaged occultist risk their lives and their souls to perform a dangerous ritual that will grant them each what they most wish for, assuming they can survive the ritual's demanding procedures and sinister consequences. This simple summary does nothing to convey the brilliance and the chilling ennui of the film, so I shall do my best to capture what exactly makes this film one of the best new horror films I've seen this year.
A Dark Song is that rare horror film, indeed that rare film in general, that can live comfortably in either the commercial sector or the arthouse world. It's grounded and attainable yet still experimental and unusual. It's a slow burn, and I'll admit I'm partial to those types of horror movies (love me some Session 9 and some Let's Scare Jessica to Death), but it's so psychologically engaging it feels like a blockbuster thriller. You'll get your stabbing and your gore and your scares, but it all comes packaged with well-crafted visual design, emotional storytelling, and raw performance.
Catherine Walker is brilliant as Sophia, conveying such a profound sense of deep trauma at Sophia's loss of her only child, and the almost pitiable desperation she has to get even the most minute moment of closure. It's very difficult for an actor to portray grief for any sustained period of time on camera, let alone for an entire film, but Walker's portrayal is one that is always believable and nuanced. She's aided by an equally great performance from her co-star Steve Oram, who plays the sleazy occultist Joseph. He's a detestable character, for the most part, and Oram commits wholeheartedly to the unsavory persona of his character while also managing to bring out the light in Joseph and tease the audience at the possibility of redemption for the purported occult expert.
Aside from a brief scene with Sophia's sister, Sophia and Joseph are the only characters of the film, so a whole hell of a lot depends not only on Walker and Oram's performances but on their chemistry as well. Their relationship must carry the story. Lucky for us viewers, nothing is simple or easy between these two, and the drama and tension are plentiful. In order for Sophia to reach the altered state where she can communicate with the dead, she must partake in a grueling ritual guided by Joseph, involving fasting, water torture, Latin chants, and a myriad of others means of "purification." It's all very BDSM, with Sophia agreeing never to refuse Joseph's instructions and follow his rules and regulations to guarantee the success of the ritual. There's an uncomfortable sequence where Joseph tells Sophia that ritual sex will be involved and we can see Sophia wonder the same thing we are at that moment--is it really part of the magic, or is it all just for Joseph's sick pleasure? Does it even matter? Because a grieving mother will do anything to see her child again. It's fascinating to watch the dynamic shift between these two as the film plays out.
And of course, we're driven forward by the question of how this charade will end. The film is careful to provide just as much cause for doubt as it does belief, so the audience is never sure if the ritual is actually working. Until the ending, that is. It's a very mystical and intriguing finale that at first glance might seem to confirm the veracity of the magic, but on closer inspection, there's many explanations for what Sophia experiences and what she finds at the conclusion of her journey. Either way, it's not at all what she was hoping for...
I've seen A Dark Song compared to a Rembrandt painting and I think this is an excellent and accurate descriptor. It's a very meditative, very Baroque sort of movie, with shades of Hitchcock and Fisher and a little Bergmann, using lots of linear shot progressions to heighten the gothic atmosphere reminiscent of those old Hammer films so many of us watched on TCM during late nights at our grandparents. Everything is calculated and nothing is superfluous in the screenplay, yet the film still retains emotional heft and doesn't come off as cold or technical in the least. It's a hypnotic, rare, and beautiful masterpiece, and I suggest you invoke it at your earliest convenience...
A Dark Song
5-Totally Terrifying
4-Crazy Creepy
3-Fairly Frightening
2-Slightly Scary
1-Hardly Horror
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