Forget
Clarence from It’s a Wonderful Life.
Bells never ring when these Holy Guardian Angels get their wings, but they are very
real and they really do accompany humans through life. However, demons are also
very real—and they are easier to interact with through supernatural means. A
grieving mother hopes to call her Guardian Angel to request a final
conversation with her murdered son, but the risks are fantastically high in
Liam Gavin’s A Dark Song (trailer here), which opens this
Friday in New York.
If
you know anything about Aleister Crowley and the occultist movement, you might
be familiar with the Abramelin Ritual. Reportedly, Crowley started one, but
left it unfinished, with disastrous consequences. According to esoterica,
anyone who completes the long, grueling procedure will finally see their Holy
Guardian Angel, who will them be compelled to grant whatever wish the
supplicant asks for. Of course, whatever unseen demons might be in the area
will do their best to disrupt the ritual and doom the practitioner, body and
soul.
To
complete the ritual, Sophia Howard will need a wingman. The alcoholic Joseph Solomon
is not perfect, but he has extensive experience in the occult. He conducted a
prior Abramelin Ritual. Though unsuccessful, he lived to tell the tale. Once
the ritual starts, occult things start going bump in the night, but the
situation really turns dire when Solomon begins to doubt her motives.
There
is no need to mince words—A Dark Song is
absolutely terrifying. You have to go back to the original Exorcist to find a horror film that is equally serious when
addressing themes of good and evil. It is the kind of movie that feels like it
is pulling back the curtain surrounding our materialistic existences, giving us
a peak at the deeper, darker truth beyond.
Gavin’s
execution is unremittingly tense and eerily evocative of occultist archetypes.
He adroitly capitalizes on the claustrophobic location and sinister trappings.
Once the circle of salt is circumscribed around the house, we can just feel bad
things will happen inside. He also gets invaluable assists from Catherine
Walker and Steve Oram, who are absolutely electric playing off each other.