A Dark Song (2016) - Movie Review

What do you get when you take two world class actors and force them to reenact a modern satanic ritual inspired by real rites performed by Alistair Crowley and then lock them inside a creepy Welsh manor house?

One of the most emotionally jarring, riveting pieces of horror cinema I’ve ever seen.

A Dark Song is a 2016 mystery / occult / horror film brought to us by writer / director Liam Gavin. It’s a powerful feature film debut for a relatively unknown director. To this date, this is his own feature film credit on IMDB. The only notable credits on his resume for directing are two episodes of the sublime Haunting of Bly Manor. It’s a shame, because it’s obvious he’s got immense talent. This film is shot with an attention to detail that would have made Kubrick blush.

The film focuses on Sophia, a distraught mother looking for vengeance for her son who was recently murdered. After the police failed to bring the killers to justice, she decides on a different path. She walks the crooked path of magical retribution and finds a rite that will give her the ability to have her wish granted. It’s an arduous task that most in the modern occult community will not assist her with. All roads point to a single man who would do anything for a buck. A man who has done this rite before, and who has very little qualms. Together they seal themselves within a remote Welsh manor for the months long journey into the ethereal. Casting this spell takes a physical, emotional, and spiritual tole of which neither of them were prepared. Will they make it through the gauntlet ahead of them or will they collapse under the weight of A Dark Song?

There are few films that stick with me over the years. The Eyes of My Mother is chief among them as I still have waking nightmares any time someone knocks on my door inspired by the film.

A Dark Song is a different film. I’m struck by the guttural beauty of the movie. It’s shot in a dust, creepy manor. The house is surrounded by a beautiful landscape that is a stark opposition to its deteriorating interior. The characters are both dislikable, but at different points you find yourself rooting for either or.

It’s strange.

The film manipulates you in various ways. It plays with your senses.

Which wouldn’t work without the brilliant acting.

Catherine Walker has that traditional and haunting Irish beauty that often graces seascape paintings. Her voice is so beautiful, so controlled, which makes the moments in which she breaks all that more jarring.

Her comrade and foil in equal measures is played by Steve Oram, a prolific English actor who has made a name for himself in the horror genre. He brings a reality to every role he’s in and this is not exception. He makes the movie real. His acting, his character’s unhinged personality, it all works. It’s uncanny how much he vanished inside this awful person he played.

These actors put themselves through the wringer for this film. Each of them loses a huge amount of weight throughout the film. It’s one of the most drastic physical changes this side of Christian Bale in The Machinist.

The film uses special effects sparingly. The majority of the magic is through in camera tricks and audio wizardry.

Which is genius!

Real magic, and magical rites in our world are not flashy. They are dirty, grimy, and often gross performances done in dark places by ugly people. This film illustrates that perfectly. The film deprives you of color, of light, and of warmth. It makes you feel as deprived as the characters so in those moments when the veil break, you’re as blown away as those two sad people inside the screen.

This movie is a masterclass of occult cinema.

If you had told me that a filmmaker was going to make a film inspired by the rites of Alistair Crowley, especially the induction rituals of the Golden Dawn, I’d say it would be a boring affair.

But in this case, I was wrong.

Please give this one a shot, it’s a slow burn that really pays off.

It’s streaming exclusively on Shudder.

Now Then: SPOOOOOOOOOIIIIIIIILLLLLLLLEEEEEERS!

For those in the nosebleeds: SSSSSSSSSSSPPPPPPPPPPOOOOOOOIIIIIILLLLLLEEEEEEEEEERS!

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This is a film with an ambiguous ending.

To say the least…

But honestly, I think the answer was there the entire time—at least once Sophia reveals her true intentions.

I’ve seen a lot of explanations online and people arguing over the ending, but to me it’s fairly clear.

First, let me disclose that I am a religious and spiritual person. I’ve personally witnessed occult rituals and satanic rites in my youth. I’ve been exposed to this stuff in real life, and for the most part—nothing really happens. Save for a few, rare circumstances magic in this world is flaccid and/or fake. It’s a trick of the mind through exhaustion, sleep deprivation, starvation, and drug use. The human mind can create amazing things when you spend 8 to 18 months locked in a single dark place, depriving yourself of water, food, and sun. When you focus all of you dwindling energy on archaic texts and the ideas of magic, it’s no surprise that your mind will finally make it happen when you’re on the doorstep of death.

I believe this is one of the truths of the movie.

Sophia first discloses that her son was killed by occultists performing a rite. Then she changes it to teenagers who were playing with magic. This is after two other lies for why she needs to do this specific ritual.

So why did she lie?

Because she knows who killed her son.

She reveals that she had spoken to many people within the mystical community searching for someone to perform the ritual, but that was also a lie. She was asking who among them would do a ritual involving human sacrifice.

And all of those people pointed to one man—Mr. Solomon.

So she planned it out. She picked a ritual that would keep them locked in a single location. A practice so dangerous that it would be the perfect cover if her plan was discovered.

She lied to him over and over again to cover her tracks.

She never believed anything would happen. She only wanted to break him mentally, because she knew he was a believer in his own lies. She knew once they started, he’d be fully committed, but she never expected anything to happen. This is why she kept it going, why she tried to keep her rage under control.

But there were signs.

Multiple times she loses her temper, she snaps and the rage comes out.

But she keeps it level enough.

There’s a telling moment when Solomon asks her if she thinks he had something to do with her son’s death. She says it was teenagers, but she declines to make eye contact with him, in fact she looks down when she says it. An act most would take as deception.

Her plan worked, Solomon died a long, agonizing death to blood poisoning, but she couldn’t escape the ritual.

So she completes. She escapes the clutches of hell in which she leaves the body of Solomon behind. She meets her angel, and gets her wish to forgive.

However, none of that was real.

A small act at the beginning of the film altered Sophia’s plans. Solomon went through her bag and not only took her son’s goblin toy, but also her anti-psychotic medication.

You see, it’s implied multiple times that Sophia is severely mentally ill. Her sister even offers to take her in so that she can keep an eye on her due to her past “episodes”. Sophia doesn’t realize that the medication is missing until at the end of the film she finds it in Solomon’s room.

By then it’s too late and she’s in full blown delusion mode.

She justifies the murder of Solomon as the sacrifice of the ritual. She buries his body in the pond behind the house and leaves the episode behind her.

Not realizing that she is no better than him, as her act of murder mirrors the murder of her son.