Review of A Dark Song (2016) by Farah R — 06 Aug 2017

The best Horror film of 2017 thus far -- and it isn't even close.

We had some wonderful entries in early '17 for the genre, and as fantastic as "Get Out" was as a film that doesn't need to be labeled into a genre to be successful in its marketing campaign, it choose the horror demographic because a film that is critically acclaimed in the month of January -- not to mention a horror film -- is definitely going to turn some heads and bring in the box office cash.

But A DARK SONG will not touch box office numbers that are even worth mentioning, as it will be a selected screening for certain cities & art house/international cinemas. Which is too bad, because if you take the audience from, say, SPLIT, or the criminally underrated 2017 sleeper horror hit, THE MONSTER, and had them watch A DARK SONG, only then would understand what "true horror" & "weird fiction" genres have to offer...and they'd be so psychologically disoriented, they would likely need a few months of intense psychological counseling, as they realize Horror Films are NOT gory, torture porn. They aren't about virgin teens or monsters that go bump in the...well of you're James "Jump Scare" Wan...then lame loud screeches and tame acoustics in the day time would be what you're used to but listen....

A DARK SONG IS, stay with me here, so potent as a Horror film because it takes the strongest, [read: most powerful and mortifying] human emotion & explores it through a lens we rarely see so expertly done. That emotion of course -- grief.

The last film to even come close to capturing the agony, isolation, and powerlessness that grief always brings in spades was Alfonso Curion's expertly produced, "GRAVITY.".

WARNING: A DARK SONG DOES NOT PRETEND THAT IT WILL MAKE YOU JUMP AND SCREAM IN THE THEATRE -- THAT'S NOT EVEN WHAT GOOD HORROR DOES. THIS IS FULL TILT, KUBRICK-INSPIRED (WITH SOME DAVID LYNCH NIGHTMARE FUEL SEQUENCES), PRESENTED AS IS. WHAT YOU SEE IN THE TRAILER IS MOSTLY WHAT YOU GET VISUALLY IN TERMS OF CREEPY IMAGERY.

THEREIN LIES THE MASTERY. WHAT WE DON'T EVEN BEGIN TO UNDERSTAND OR KNOW ABOUT THIS INTENTIONALLY "VAGUE-ON-THE-TYPE-OF-DARK-RITUALS-AT-PLAY" PLACES AUDIENCES IN THE LEAD PROTAGONIST (Female's) POSITION, WHO IS GRIEVING -- TO SAY WHAT OF WOULD RUIN THE GUT PUNCH REVELATIONS.

WHEN THE CREDITS ROLL, YOUR HEART IS FULL, BUT YOUR HEAD IS LIKE A PERFECTLY SOLVED RUBICK'S CUBE THAT HAS BEEN COMPLETELY REORIENTED, AND THAT LINGERING DISORIENTATION OVER WHAT YOU CAN'T PLACE YOUR FINGER ON IS WHAT CONSTANTLY KEEPS THIS FILM ENTHRALLING WHEN A LESSER DIRECTOR & CAST COULD HAVE BOTCHED THE THING & NONE OF IT WOULD WORK.

A DARK SONG IS SO CONFIDENT IN ITSELF, AND SO CLEVER, SO SELF-AWARE IN THE ASSUMPTION THAT IT WILL EVOKE AWE & WONDER FROM AUDIENCES OF ALL KINDS, THAT YOU'LL NEVER SEE IT'S NASTY, SINISTER ENTITIES THAT OF COURSE MAKE A HELL OF AN APPEARANCE IN THE THIRD ACT, BUT ONLY AFTER AN HOUR OF PRIMING YOU WITH THE TERROR AND WONDERFULLY CAPTURED PATHOS.

JUST AS A MAGICIAN FLAUNTS ONE HAND IN FRONT OF YOU WITH THE OTHER BEHIND HIS BACK, THIS FILM DARES YOU TO COMMIT TO FOCUSING ON - IN THIS METAPHOR - EITHER HAND YOU'RE CONFIDENT IS JUST PUTTING ON A SHOW, AND YOU FIND OUT WHAT HAPPENS NEXT.

5/5 - I AM ON THE VERGE OF RANKING THIS HORROR MASTERSTROKE IN MY PERSONAL GOD-TIER LIST AMONG THE LIKES OF RECENT RELEASES SUCH AS: THE VVITCH, IT FOLLOWS, and even the single-take Heist genre film out of Germany in 2015, "VICTORIA," ARGUABLY MY PERSONAL FAVORITE FILM SINCE, "THERE WILL BE BLOOD.".