A Dark Song

Every­one deals with death dif­fer­ent­ly, but it’s safe to say that not every­one would choose to seek help from an alco­holic occultist. After mak­ing a strong impres­sion with his short films, direc­tor Liam Gavin goes all out for A Dark Song, and intense cham­ber thriller that offers a con­cep­tu­al take on occultism.

The film’s stripped-down visu­al style ampli­fies its already moody tone as bereaved moth­er Sophia (Cather­ine Walk­er) seeks out anti­so­cial, boozy black mag­ic prac­ti­tion­er Joseph Solo­man (Steve Oram). Her hope is that he will con­nect her with her guardian angel, and in turn enable her to com­mu­ni­cate with her dead son.

The pair take refuge togeth­er for a num­ber of months in a remote manor house. They are cut off from soci­ety and quite pos­si­bly real­i­ty. In order for the rit­u­al to work they must adhere to a set of strict rules, which includes Sophia obey­ing what­ev­er her enig­mat­ic accom­plice tells her to do. For the mag­ic to work they are also not allowed to leave the house – or rather the cir­cle of salt poured around it – for the entire duration.

A Dark Song works almost as an open man­u­al to occultist tra­di­tions, while also explor­ing themes of domes­tic abuse, alco­holism and depres­sion, which lends the sto­ry sat­is­fy­ing depths. Although things get pret­ty graph­ic at cer­tain points, the men­tal strain of the char­ac­ters as they strug­gle, both phys­i­cal­ly and psy­cho­log­i­cal­ly, to reach the end of the process is what makes the film so affecting.

Oram can add this per­for­mance to his list of omi­nous yet dark­ly humor­ous roles, fol­low­ing his quaint man­ic in Ben Wheatley’s 2012 film Sight­seers. As (almost) the only two char­ac­ters in the film, Oram’s Joseph and Walker’s Sophia are ren­dered so truth­ful­ly that it makes it even more shock­ing when every­thing they have built togeth­er is quick­ly torn down as the film reach­es its climax.