A Dark Song Review (Film, 2017) #31DaysofHorror
Content warning: A Dark Song features scenes of violence against women and sexual assault.
A Dark Song is a film about truth and perception. A woman, grieving the loss of her son, is willing to do anything to feel a sense of relief from the pain of her loss. She hires an occultist to take her through a dangerous ritual that will allow whoever participates to be granted one wish from their guardian angel. You just need to survive the ritual and not quit. Quitting is bad. Very bad.
Sophia is willing to do anything to get a chance to fulfill her deepest desire regarding the loss of her child.
This is the debut feature length film from writer/director Liam Gavin; it doesn’t feel like it. Gavin has a strong directorial voice and gets exactly what he wants out of every moment in the film. The screenplay tends to drag a bit when the characters aren’t actively working on the ritual, but they’re clearly intentional pauses to allow for some relief from the onslaught of everything happening around them.
Honestly, the biggest problem Gavin creates for himself is one of likability. Neither Sophia, the grieving mother willing to do anything for the chance to speak to her son again, nor Joseph, the occultist, are easy characters to watch. They are both antiheroes in their own stories happening at the same time. Joseph is a much more severe character than Sophia, though Sophia’s moments of uncontrollable anger and inability to open herself up for the sake of the ritual don’t make her particularly sympathetic, either. It’s a very strange dynamic to see in a horror film and it’s definitely used against the audience for shock value.
The real star of A Dark Song is the production design. Conor Dennison slowly transforms a large empty house into an inescapable invocation to the other side. He pulls on iconography from around the world—glyphs, symbols, magical rituals, folklore—to make every inch of the floor a desperate cry for attention. It starts simple enough with a few chalk outlines, then quickly starts to grow and expand to more complicated shapes formed out of symbols and alphabets far different than the Roman Alphabet we see on a daily basis. It’s a reflection of both dedication to the goal of making contact with a guardian angel and a terrifying act of desperation from two people who just want any sign that what they’re doing is real.
This simple layout of candles and interconnected shapes is nothing compared to the depth and complexity of the ritual as Sophia and Joseph cycle through it again and again and again looking for results.
Many of the trials these characters put them through are of their own creation. Joseph is a stern taskmaster who takes things too far over and over again. Sophia goes from staunchly following every rule to doing whatever she can to speed up the process because of Joseph’s horrible choices. For example, he warns her at the start that ritual sex is necessary to complete the ritual, but doesn’t warn her that it’s just to make him feel good while they’re working.
Once that line of trust is betrayed, neither character actually trusts the other to really complete the ritual anymore. They become trapped in a cycle of passive aggressive behavior that can’t even be broken by leaving the grounds and ending the ritual. If they break the protective circle encasing the house before succeeding, they will be trapped together forever, repeating steps of the ritual with no chance of release. It’s quite literally an abusive relationship they agree to participate in that only grows more toxic and harmful to themselves the more they have to rely on each other.
A Dark Song is a slow burn, character-driven horror film about two people who don’t like each other. It’s a beautifully detailed film with an unexpected narrative structure, but it’s also a difficult film where no one gives you any reason to really care about whether they succeed or not. You become trapped in the ritual yourself, unable to walk away until some form of resolution is achieved. The final result isn’t as important (or rewarding) as actually finishing the task you signed on for by watching the introduction that tells you exactly what you’re dealing with for the rest of the film.
A Dark Song is currently streaming on Netflix.
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