A Dark Song

Prepare yourself for another slow, slow, incredibly slow burn. Apparently, you need to be an occultist to fully appreciate this! I felt like A Dark Song worked on a couple levels, though I'm not certain this was this writer/director's full intention. I enjoyed the character study aspect -- two people holed up in the same house for months on end, and second, this is sort of a mystery -- as in, is this guy just some psycho? Drama/mystery, not a horror movie. Ultimately, you're looking for a great payoff with a slow burn... and frankly, I don't know if sitting through this particular 100 minutes is worth this particular payoff.

Hey, critics loved it!

At first, I was interested by the ambiguous circumstances, i.e. is this guy really helping her do magic or is he just some weirdo that's tormenting her for some reason? The premise and characters are solid enough that this is compelling enough to string you along for a while, despite a glacially slow pace, but then the big questions are answered and the mystery disappears and then things just start kind of meandering for an uncomfortably long while.

There are many more attempts to build suspense later on, but none of it really stands out. Things do take a turn that I did not expect near the end, which I won't mention, but by this point you're already 1h20m into a 1h40m movie. The "payoff" is brief and handicapped by some really lackluster effects, and the final scene will just leave you scratching your head wondering why. No, not in the sense that it's confusing in any way, it's very simple and straight forward, but it's one of those endings that's just TOO simple and sappy. So much that it makes you wonder just what the hell the point of everything the characters did over all that time was. All of that effort? For that? Ugh.

Edit: P.S. Who else is wondering what exactly all the reviews calling this movie intelligent and cerebral are about? I notice people love to throw around terms like that when referring to movies like this, yet somehow never seem to get around to explaining what was so clever about them. The movie had good dialogue and acting, but the plot couldn't have been simpler and the underlying message of the film is one we've all seen many times before across various genres, so I'm at a real loss trying to see what exactly anyone found intelligent about this movie. A lack of creatures and gore doesn't automatically make a movie intelligent, kids.

This writer has always felt that the job of a reviewer was not merely to whine and prattle about what does (or does not) happen on screen, but rather to try to introduce the film to the discerning viewer in a way which assists the decision as to whether to see it ... or not? It is projects like Dark Song, however, that make such a simple ambition seem ever so complex.

For starters, I will suggest that the best (and most recent) analog I can name is the excellent 2016 Autopsy of Jane Doe. Both films are clearly of the horror genre, both films work their magic by confining two strong personalities (and superb actors) in a confined space, and both films follow the Prime Directive of possibly every horror film ever made, namely "whatever can go wrong will go wrong."

But that's where the similarities end. Autopsy of Jane Doe is merely a solid and workmanlike exposition of a clever, entertaining, theme. Dark Song is simultaneously the debut of a writer/director with a distinct, clear and uncommon "voice"; and, at the same time, a horror tale so intricately involved with the minutiae, the moment-to-moment, of true ritual magic (is there any other kind?) that at times you almost, just for a split second, wonder if you are watching a reality show instead of a fictional drama?

No small feat, that. Especially from a country that can lay legitimate claim to having produced one of the only genuine, verified, ritual occultists in western history (Aleister Crowley). To watch a film like this aware that there are individuals who literally dedicate their lives to such practices takes the viewer to new levels of awareness ... and terror.

The end result is something about as distant from the dozens of currently popular "found footage" films ... as the earth is from the moon.

Plainly put, to appreciate this film, to drink in and savour every nuance, the viewer himself (or herself) must be willing to commit to the movie to the same extent that the central characters commit to the core ritual.

That is to say, lock yourself in, don't leave your seat, and, whatever happens, do not break the circle of salt.

If you do all that, you may not get to meet an "angel" willing to grant your special boon, but you will get a film experience you will likely never forget.

Seeking revenge is a pathway of darkness but forgiveness is absolving and divine.

Not a bad film but very slow. More creepy than horrific.

A really unusual idea; just 2 people stuck in a house performing a ritual. The realism of the setting and acting creates a foreboding atmosphere and you're left unsure if this film is about the supernatural or just human psychology. The final quarter of the film goes at a slightly different pace and overall I preferred what comes before but this film was really trying something new and different and is a really effective horror.