VOD Review: A Dark Song (2017)

"Quite an enticing conjuring."

There are always Horror flicks about people trying to make contact with the spirit world, and most of them tend to cater to teen audiences, and don't really ever bring anything new to the table. Ouija, we're looking at you!

With A Dark Song though, we get to see the subject of otherworldly conjuring handled in a mature and realistic way, and it's about damn time.

*There will be ENDING SPOILERS below. My advice is to not read them until you've seen the movie, then come back and read them, and see if they jibe with your take on things.

Sophia is a woman on a mission. Following a tragic loss, she's rented out a mansion in the remote Welsh countryside where she plans to make contact with her dead son with the help of local occultist (sorcerer, even), Mr. Solomon. We're not going to lie, her intentions seem a little bit shady, but she's a grieving mother, so we're willing to give her the benefit of the doubt and feel some sympathy for her.

SHE IS NOT PLAYING AROUND. NOT AT ALL.

Mr. Solomon is a cranky, overbearing arsehole of a human being, who tells Sophia that he can help her make contact with her dead son via a ritual in which the two will construct a series of magic circles, each one serving a specific purpose. In the final circle, a celestial being from beyond will appear and grant them both a gift, or wish if you will. Is he a charlatan out to make a quick buck or maybe just crazy? Well, he seems to know what he's about, so again, benefit of the doubt.

THE GORDON RAMSEY OF MYSTICS.

Mr. Solomon is exacting in his demands and instruction: they both have to be purified before they begin; they can't leave the house until the ritual is complete (which could take months); and everything has to be done perfectly down to the final detail, or they're both doomed. When doors begin to open by themselves, and strange voices can be heard echoing throughout the hallways at night, Sophia isn't phased in the slightest, because she will stop at nothing to reach her goal.

And that's all we've got to say about that.

SERIOUSLY, SHE'S ALL BUSINESS.

A Dark Song was great for a few different reasons. First, it's a meticulously crafted look at two people trying to perform an occult ritual that as far as I know, was absolutely realistic insofar as if occult rituals were real, this is exactly how one would be done. What the two main characters go through is a process, and an intense one, and it felt forbidden just watching them performing each step of the dark rites.

The movie also does a great job of keeping things fairly ambiguous as to the authenticity of the ritual itself. For a while there, I was wondering if Mr. Solomon was stringing Sophie along, having no knowledge of rituals, in an attempt to bilk her out of a large sum of money. On the same token, Sophie seemed to be less-than-honest about her intentions at times, which added another layer of "what the hell is going on here?" to the proceedings. It's all subtly done, and it makes for one hell of a compelling watch.

And then you have the characters, of which there are really only two. Catherine Walker plays distraught mother Sophie, and she was simply fantastic. Why she isn't a bigger name I have no idea, but the quiet ferocity of her performance here begs that she get bigger and better roles. Steve Oram was equally great as a guy who we couldn't stand, but had tons of sympathy for at times. These two carried the movie, and they did so brilliantly.

And let us not forget that not only is it a well-shot and gorgeous film, but that it's captivating as hell, and it's genuinely unnerving. 

***ENDING SPOILERS***
The one thing that kept this movie from being an A+ for me was the ending. Now, I actually like the ending as is, so bear with me.

So having crossed the barrier before the ritual was completed, Sophia was basically trapped in the house of the dammed for eternity, as Mr. Solomon had warned. When the Angel appears in the fifth circle, instead of the revenge that she's been on about for the whole movie, she asks for the ability to forgive, which the celestial being smiles at, and which also saves her from damnation and allows her to escape to live her life. I dig it, but after all of the creepy build-up, I really wanted some sort of horrific shit to go down. It just felt... anticlimactic, if spiritually appropriate.

Petty, I know, but it sticks out in my mind, so it's relevant. 
***END SPOILERS***

SHE'S CLEARLY HIGH ON SOMETHING.

A bloody song this is not, although there is one particularly gory and intense scene that made us cringe.

PRAYING HELPS. USUALLY.

Catherine Walker bares it all in the pursuit of the dark arts.

AND THIS CREEPER WANKS ONE OUT AT HER EXPENSE!

The love of a mother apparently knows no bounds. Also, when someone places a salt line around your house and tells you not to cross it, listen to them.

YEAH, THAT MATCH OUGHT TO HELP...

A Dark Song really is a finely crafted film from top to bottom, and aside from the small issue I had with its ending, it's one of the best movies that I've seen in 2017. It's creepy, it's anchored by two top-notch lead performances, and it offers up a far better look into the world of "summoning the dead" than most Horror flicks tend to give.

Rent it, and don't look back.

A

A Dark Song is available now on VOD.

Catherine Walker is really, really hot.

VOD Review: Sacrifice (2016)

"As is usually the case, the book was probably better than the movie."

(aka The Shetland Mysteries.)
Release Date: April 29th.
Country: UK.
Rating: NR.
Written by: Sharon Bolton and Peter A. Dowling.
Directed by: Peter A. Dowling.
Starring: Radha Mitchell, Rupert Graves, Ian McElhinney, and David Robb.

Sacrifice is based on a popular book of the same name by S.A. Bolton, and so we went into it expecting the movie to be something special.

I mean, all of those book readers can't be wrong, right?

Well...

After suffering four miscarriages, Dr. Tora Hamilton and her husband move to a small Shetland Island community, in hopes of adopting a new baby. She's heartbroken over her losses, but her new home is beautiful and full of hope, so things are looking up. *Cue dramatic music.

[COFFEE INTAKE INTENSIFIES]

When a horse drops dead on her property, she decides to grab a backhoe and dig a massive grave for it  (because what Doctor wouldn't do exactly that), which leads her to discover a corpse buried in the soil. The corpse is missing its heart, and is covered in some sort of Satanic symbols, so she's pretty sure that something is amiss.

THAT'S NO HORSE!

When the local Police don't seem to give a shit about her discovery, she sets out to discover the identity of the corpse, and whoever killed her, because again, what Doctor wouldn't do such a thing, especially after moving to a foreign place where everyone looks at her as outsider to begin with? Over the course of her investigation, she discovers a secret society that likes to sacrifice women (to the God of Wheat, or something), and it's not long before she becomes a target herself.

SHE'S ON THE SNEAK.

The location is gorgeous, and it's captured very well on camera; the cast is solid (Radha Mitchell is always a welcomed sight, and it was great to see Ian McElhinney in something other than Game of Thrones); and the ritualistic  murder plot is interesting enough (if over-complicated and silly); but at the point where Radha Mitchell, whose character has just moved to a small Shetland community, finds a body and confronts the local D.I. with the "Are you really going to turn your back on a ritual murder!" dialogue gem, we knew that we were in for a long 90-minutes.

By the time the movie ended, we were convinced that the producers knew that the movie didn't turn out all that great, and that they just pieced together whatever footage they had to try recoup some of the money that they spent on its production. The ending scene is the perfect example of this: ***ENDING SPOILERS*** After all is said and done, two characters are standing there surveying a crime scene, having a discussion about what happened, and one of them says "They were all someone's daughter!" Then, there's a 5-second shot of a car driving away, and the credits roll; credits which oddly only took a minute or so to scroll by. ***END SPOILERS***

This movie was just too busy, didn't focus and build on the interesting parts of the story, and it was plagued by some bad dialogue and ridiculous character motivation.

"KHALEESI!"

A human corpse, a dead horse, and some knife violence. It's all pretty tame though.

[SEARCHING INTENSIFIES]

Nope.

SHE WAS A QT THOUGH.

Sacrifice plays and feels like a movie of the week that you would have found on one of the Big 4 Networks back in the 70's & 80's; it looks great, and has a solid cast, but the plot is safe and familiar, you can see its twists and turns coming well before they occur, and it doesn't pack much of a punch at all.

Catch this one for free on Netflix or Cable (when it gets there), if you really feel compelled to see it.

D+

Sacrifice is on VOD now.

Radha Mitchell has been one of our faves since Pitch Black.

VOD Review: The Hallow (2015)

This review was originally started back at the beginning of November, but due to a sudden emergency, it was never finished. It doesn't feels a bit light in the middle to me, and without revisiting the movie, there's not much I can add to that section, but I wanted it finished, and so here it is. 

The director of the upcoming remake of The Crow made a movie about evil baby-stealing fairies in the Irish woods? And it stars two fantastic actors from Game of Thrones? And it features the crazy hotness of Bojana Novakovic?

Alright, we're intrigued...

When an English conservationist, his wife, and their newborn baby move to the Irish Countryside to save trees or some such bullshit, they get more than they bargain for! Sounds exciting, right? Well, If you think that fairies, banshees, and other Fair Folk falling upon a couple, stealing their baby, and trying to kill them is exciting, then yes, it is.

"WHY DID WE MOVE TO FUCKING IRELAND?!?"

You see, the Fair Folk in the woods that surround their new home apparently don't like humans all that much. The locals try to warn them about the danger, which you know does no good or there would be no movie, and soon after their arrival, the couple is set upon by the evil Fae of the woods, and not even iron or oatmeal can stop them! *The oatmeal thing is real, btw.

THEY WANT BABIES!

Can Adam save his wife and baby before they turn the wee one into a changeling? Will Roose Bolton help them? Is Bojana Novakovic the hottest Serbian-Australian actress alive? Far be it from us to spoil anything for you here, but maybe, no, and hell yes.

EYE KNEW THAT NOTHING GOOD WOULD COME OF THIS.

The Hallow was a solid flick that felt more mature than most other Horror movies of its kind; it had a strong ecological message behind it, it focused on a man trying to save his family, and dare we say that it was also about the power of love. It was all a nice break from the standard "kids head off into the woods to party, and die painfully" thing.

It's good to switch up the tropes every once in a while, you know?

"LISTEN, LADY, WHEN I SAY MARCO, YOU HAVE TO SAY POLO!"

This was a well-made movie that boasted some strong performances by its small cast (two of whom are Game of Thrones alumni), and the creatures looked great; we're glad that they used both practical FX as well as CGI instead of totally going the digital route. Also, Bojana Novakovic is hot as sin. SIN!

It was also a fairly creepy movie, although it was probably more of an intense experience than it was a truly scary one. 

It wasn't without its share of overly-familiar tropes, and the plot wanders a bit, but overall this was a solid effort.

BENJEN STARK LIVES! AND HE'S PISSED OFF!

The Hallow is a solid creature feature that spun an interesting story, even if the tropes it used to do so felt overly-familiar at times. I'm not really sure why they don't make movie about evil fairies and other mythical creatures, but after seeing this one, I'd be willing to watch them if they did.

This one is definitely worthy of a rental.

B

The Hallow is available now on VOD.

Bojana Novakovic can get it.