For a pure undiluted horror experience, gather no more than a handful of cast members, go to a British location, throw them all into isolation in a small country house that is cut off from civilisation, add some salt and pepper and leave to stew.
It’s a winning formula that requires nothing other than a really good script and some solid acting, something I felt A Dark Song provided in abundance. Sophia is so utterly bitter and Joseph so unforgiving, there is enough tension to compel any supernatural backbone.
Sophia is a grieving mother who has deprived herself of any forgiveness stemming from the kidnapping and subsequent disappearance of her seven year old son. She enlists the services of occultist Joseph who starts a month long series of gruelling rituals so as to summon an angel so that they may request special favour.
It is an addictive tale that really does strive off the relationship of the two protagonists, leading us through often uncomfortable, always eerie and sometimes violent outcomes. Their unwavering distrust and selfish endeavours create such an unpredictable outcome nothing is really expected and certainly not the ending which was utterly magnificently depicted.
A gritty, dirty, uncomfortably eerie Irish tale of attachment.
8/10
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