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A Dark Song

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A Dark Song

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Summary

A grieving woman hires an occultist who claims he can put her in contact with her dead son. They shut themselves in a rural mansion for the months-long and ancient Abramelin Procedure, which includes days without sleep, fasting, backbreaking rites and ritual sex - and cannot be abandoned safely before its completion. Psychological horror, starring Catherine Walker, Steve Oram and Mark Huberman.

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Review

A star rating of 3 out of 5.

David Parkinson

Budgetary restraints too often undermine the efforts of ambitious film-makers like Welsh-Irish debutant Liam Gavin, whose disturbing psychological horror is frustratingly let down by the effects designed to give the dénouement its awe-inspiring grandeur. Until the last reel, however, this is a gripping study of black magic ritual and the terrifying potency of human emotion, which sees alcoholic occultist Steve Oram accept grieving mother Catherine Walker's commission to travel to an old dark house in North Wales and summon a guardian angel so that she can commune once more with her recently murdered seven-year-old son. Seething with a sexualised tension that is made all the more atmospheric by the creaking setting and the power shifts between the sourly sadistic Oram and the ruthlessly cunning Walker, this benefits greatly from the gritty imagery of Cathal Watters and Ray Harman's laudably restrained score. But the primary allure lies in the way Gavin keeps us guessing - is Walker imagining the increasingly creepy occurrences during her gruelling ordeal, has Oram stage-managed them or are they real?

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6.2/10

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Credits

Cast

rolenameJosephSteve OramSophiaCatherine WalkerNeil HughesMark HubermanVictoria HowardSusan Loughnane

Crew

rolenameDirectorLiam Gavin

Details

Theatrical distributor

Kaleidoscope

Released on

2017-04-07

Languages

English | German | French

Guidance

Violence, swearing

Available on

DVD

Formats

Colour

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