Zombie Driller Killer

Dark Souls, a strange movie to review because it looks like a compilation of the best of horror so far. We have a killer, we have in fact a driller killer. That did ring a bell, The Driller Killer (1979). I can go on and on. There are so many references towards the classics that you forget to watch the flick itself.

The whole story itself is strange. There's not that much explained and towards the end it changes into something like, here we go again, The Crazies (1973). In between we see what happens with the people being attacked by the driller killer. The father tries to take care of his daughter who's being attacked. There's a lot of stuff (no pun intended) coming out of the mouth of the victims being transformed. And there's even an ode to the Italian classics by showing how a drill can enter a face or a body.

It never bored me although the acting wasn't always convincing but it's really the story that sucks you into Dark Souls. It will not be for everybody but if you are willing to see a strange story then this is for you.

Gore 2/5 Nudity 0/5 Effects 3/5 Story 3/5 Coemdy 0/5

This is the definition of a real classic movie.

I just have goosebumps when ever I watch the movie, it's a piece of art.

Directors and writers Mathieu Petuel and César Ducasse obviously know their horror. There's a deliberate, unhurried pace from start to end and, as with so many other effective horror movies over the years, the pacing is used to build tension and to unsettle the viewer. This isn't your average American slasher, filled with jump cuts and loud bursts on the soundtrack in a vain attempt to summon up scares, everything here is designed more to pick at your nerves and unsettle, apart from the occasional head drilling, of course. The acting is generally fit for purpose, so while it won't win any awards, it does engage your sympathy in all the right ways, and Morten Ruda is the stand out, carrying more of the narrative as the movie progresses and allowing the mix of off-kilter laughs to blend perfectly with the feeling and the pain.

Alwasys liked the thriller movie, and this movie has full of thriller, suspens and twist. I liked this movie, hopefully you also. In narrative films, story refers to the account that film narrates. It also refers to events that the audience infers and assumes to have taken place in the film. In narratives, the story appears in chronological order with a duration and frequency. The Story differs from the plot because the plot presents specific events in a narrative. Some stood out more than other and some were even worse or better than other. Many things were learned such as the art that goes into these movies and not to mention.

"Dark Souls" starts out like dozens of other horror movies do, namely quite typical and straightforward, with an attractive female jogger getting killed in the woods by a psycho with a drilling device. Less typical, though, is that the girl's corpse comes back to life in the morgue and return home where she continues roaming around as a zombie and pukes up black goo. In the following month, 37 (!) similarly inexplicable murders/resurrections occur that baffle the Oslo police, and only the father of the first victim undertakes action.

Sounds intriguing, doesn't it? I thought so too, and I had reasonably high expectations for this seemingly morbid and original Norwegian horror flick, but the sad truth is that "Dark Souls" never truly takes off. The plot never surprises and there appear to be more holes in the logic and structure of the script than in the heads of the victims. There are a couple of nice gory bits, like when the prostitute in the abandoned factory receives an extra hole in her face, but the budget is too low to do much more. The pacing is slow, the entire middle-section is boring, and the conclusion is disappointing. Give it a miss.

The Pitch: Oily Vomit Of The Living Dead.

The Review: I will be honest, this, in nearly 100 reviews I've written, has been one of if not the most difficult one line pitches to write. Part of that is down to how much is going on in this quiet little Norwegian chiller, which while running to only just over an hour and a half covers an awful lot of territory in that time. The one substance in abundance in this movie is oil, but it's not the only black entity around, as much of the humour is of the dark variety. Dark Souls attempts to put a smile on your face as it drills into your brain, and it succeeds to a large extent in that endeavour.

We start with a young girl, Johanna (Johanna Gustavson), who is attacked by a man in an orange boiler suit with an electric drill and left for dead, found face down in the mud by the police who pronounce her dead and have her taken to the mortuary. This comes as a surprise to her loving father, Morten (Morten Ruda), who's seen her walk in the door not moments earlier. But there's something not quite right about Johanna any more, and she's not alone. While detective Askestad (Kyrre H. Sydness) attempts to uncover the truth behind these mystery murders, and the local doctor (Jan Harstad) attempts to uncover the truth behind these rather lively corpses and their strange symptoms, Morten attempts to re-establish family life with Johanna as best as possible, but is slowly but surely drawn into the secret world behind it all.

Directors and writers Mathieu Petuel and César Ducasse obviously know their horror. There's a deliberate, unhurried pace from start to end and, as with so many other effective horror movies over the years, the pacing is used to build tension and to unsettle the viewer. This isn't your average American slasher, filled with jump cuts and loud bursts on the soundtrack in a vain attempt to summon up scares, everything here is designed more to pick at your nerves and unsettle, apart from the occasional head drilling, of course. The acting is generally fit for purpose, so while it won't win any awards, it does engage your sympathy in all the right ways, and Morten Ruda is the stand out, carrying more of the narrative as the movie progresses and allowing the mix of off-kilter laughs to blend perfectly with the feeling and the pain.

The use of oil is also an interesting motif, but its allegorical use pales in comparison to the body horror of watching it exude from every pore of its victims, and it gives them a distinctive and effective look. There are also a lot of references to other horror movies thrown into the mix (more than this casual horror fan could ever detect), but the overall narrative, while taking occasional tangents, hangs together very effectively, and the abiding impression is of a deliciously dark movie that will creep under your skin like the oil in its victims.

Why see it at the cinema: There's plenty of effective imagery, both subtle and in-your-face, and of course this is at its core a horror movie, so why not guarantee yourself a dark room with a large screen to make the most of the chills?

The Score: 8/10