HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

''A Dark Song'' is a 2016 Welsh-Irish-British
independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...
horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit physical or psychological fear in its viewers. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with Transgressive art, transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements of the genre include Mo ...
, written and directed by Liam Gavin and starring
Steve Oram Stephen John Oram (born 1973) is an English actor, comedian, writer, and filmmaker. He is known for his role in the multi-award winning 2012 film ''Sightseers'', which he also co-wrote. His other credits include '' People Like Us'' (2001), '' It ...
and Catherine Walker. It was released to select theatres and digital streaming platforms on 28 April 2017. It is Gavin's directorial debut.


Plot

A bitter and grieving Sophia Howard rents an isolated house in rural
Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...
to convince short-tempered
occultist The occult () is a category of esoteric or supernatural beliefs and practices which generally fall outside the scope of organized religion and science, encompassing phenomena involving a 'hidden' or 'secret' agency, such as magic and mystic ...
Joseph Solomon to lead her in a grueling, months-long rite dictated from ''
The Book of Abramelin ''The Book of Abramelin'' tells the story of an Egyptian mage named Abraham, or Abra-Melin, who taught a system of magic to Abraham of Worms, a Jew from Worms, Germany, presumed to have lived from to . The system of magic from this book regai ...
'' to summon her guardian angel, whom Sophia can then ask to speak with her dead seven-year-old son. Solomon explains that once they begin, if they leave the house before the ritual is finished, they will be in grave peril, and that Sophia must endure months of punishing exercises in which they will deal with real demons and angels. She agrees. She then complies with dozens of painful, harrowing exercises, but refuses to do the forgiveness ceremony. To compensate for her refusal, Solomon insists she must drink his blood, and also says they must have sex as part of the ritual. After manipulating her into taking off her clothes, he masturbates, then tells her it was just for his own release, not for ritualistic purposes. Sophia gets revenge by urinating in his breakfast the next day. They begrudgingly get to know one another over time. However, after months, a frustrated Sophia complains that it’s taking too long, and Solomon accuses her of impairing the ritual by not being honest about something. She admits that the real favor she will ask the angel is revenge upon whoever kidnapped and killed her son. That night he awakens her and says that because her dishonesty has made her impure, a re-birthing ritual in the tub is required. However, he drowns her, recites a spell, and revives her with CPR. Angered, she pushes him and he accidentally falls on a large kitchen knife, impaling him in the side. As she treats the wound with their meager medical supplies, he explains that this is a sign that the ritual is beginning to work, and that she will have her revenge. He discloses that he will ask the angel to make him invisible for the rest of his life, to be away from people as he “want some quiet before the howl.” As Solomon soldiers on with the wound, Sophia begins seeing and hearing menacing presences in the house, including the voice of her son. When Solomon's wound becomes infected, he begins to fail and eventually dies in his sleep. When Sophia goes back to his books for further instruction, everything has been crossed out, unreadable. She steps beyond the perimeter of the house but her car won't start. After walking down an empty road, she is disturbed to realize that she has arrived back at the mansion. She re-enters to discover various demons appearing. They drag her to the basement, torment her, and cut off a finger as she tells them how sorry she is. They retreat as a brilliant white light fills the house. She finds a massive, beatific angel in armor awaiting her. She asks it for the power to forgive, and it smiles. Later, she performs a water burial of Solomon, then drives away.


Cast

*
Steve Oram Stephen John Oram (born 1973) is an English actor, comedian, writer, and filmmaker. He is known for his role in the multi-award winning 2012 film ''Sightseers'', which he also co-wrote. His other credits include '' People Like Us'' (2001), '' It ...
– Joseph Solomon * Catherine Walker – Sophia Howard * Mark Huberman – Neil Hughes *
Susan Loughnane Susan Patricia Loughnane (born 16 February 1987) is an Irish people, Irish actress and author. She is known for playing Debbie in drama ''Love/Hate (TV series), Love/Hate'', for which she won the 10th Irish Film & Television Awards, 2013 Irish F ...
– Victoria Howard * Nathan Vos - Jack


Release

''A Dark Song'' premiered 8 July 2016 at the
Galway Film Fleadh The Galway Film Fleadh (; Irish for "festival") is an international film festival founded in 1989 as part of the Galway Arts Festival. Describing itself as Ireland’s leading film festival, the event is held every July in Galway city in Ire ...
in Ireland, and was shown at the 2016
Fantastic Fest Fantastic Fest is an annual film festival in Austin, Texas, focused on fantasy, horror, sci-fi, action and cult films, the largest genre festival in the United States. It was founded in 2005 by Tim League of Alamo Drafthouse. Lisa Dreyer ...
, the 2016
BFI London Film Festival The BFI London Film Festival is an annual film festival held in London, England, in collaboration with the British Film Institute. Founded in 1957, the festival runs for two weeks every October. In 2016, the BFI estimated that around 240 fe ...
and the 2016
Boston Underground Film Festival The Boston Underground Film Festival (BUFF) is an annual event held in the Boston area that specializes in alternative film and video. BUFF is the largest underground film festival in New England, spotlighting short films and feature-length films ...
. It was released on 28 April 2017 in select theatres, video on demand and via digital streaming platforms.


Reception

The film received mostly positive reviews. On review aggregator
Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...
, it holds approval rating based on reviews, with a rating average of . Its consensus reads: "''A Dark Song'' offers atmospheric, unsettling horror — and marks writer-director Liam Gavin as one to watch." Tara Brady of ''
The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It was launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is Ireland's leading n ...
'' called it "a nifty, novel Irish horror." Stephen Dalton of ''
The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...
'' wrote that the film is a "classy effort throughout, from cinematographer Cathal Watters' beautiful vistas of the rugged Welsh landscape to Ray Harman's spare, brooding, dread-filled score. Oram's typically sour, surly, slyly comic performance also grounds the plot in a grubby realism that serves its more fantastical elements well." Haleigh Foutch of
Collider A collider is a type of particle accelerator that brings two opposing particle beams together such that the particles collide. Compared to other particle accelerators in which the moving particles collide with a stationary matter target, collid ...
wrote, "''A Dark Song'' spins many webs of mystery and keeps you puzzling out every mystery up until the audacious ending you definitely won't see coming." Scott Weinberg of
Nerdist Nerdist Industries, LLC (also simply known as Nerdist) is part of the digital division of Legendary Entertainment. Nerdist Industries was founded as a sole podcast ( The Nerdist Podcast) created by Chris Hardwick but later spread to include a net ...
wrote, "Two complete strangers cutting themselves off from the world inside of 'sic''a dilapidated mansion? That's already a movie I want to see. But once ''A Dark Song'' starts delving into issues like love, loss, faith, and the natural human reaction to sudden tragedy, that's when it blossoms from a novel concept to a truly powerful piece of genre filmmaking."


See also

* Bornless Ritual *
List of films about angels This is a list of films where angels appear. Angel films are sometimes discussed in relation to Peter L. Valenti's definition of the 'film blanc', a variety of fantasy film characterised by "1) a mortal's death or lapse into dream; 2) subsequent ...


References


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dark Song Irish independent films Irish supernatural horror films Films set in Wales Films shot in Wales 2016 horror films 2016 films 2010s supernatural horror films Films about magic Films about angels Films set in country houses 2010s English-language films English-language horror films