A DARK SONG is a British indie horror flick made with limited resources. Almost all of the tale is set in a dingy old house occupied by two characters, a woman who is desperate to contact her deceased child and a volatile occultist who tells her he knows the ritual which will allow her to do so. What follows is one of those greyed-out, slow-burning tales with a lot of sitting around and a lot of time spent in the company of a pair of unsympathetic characters. The incidents which do occur are quite unpleasant and depressing. I have to admit that I'm not a fan of Steve Oram after seeing him in this and SIGHTSEERS; he always seems to play cold characters with little acting involved. The script mistakes profanity for wit and is one f-word after another, which soon becomes monotonous. The ending is as predictable as they come too.

Sophia Howard (Catherine Walker) rents a house in the countryside of Wales and hires the occultist Joseph Solomon (Steve Oram) to contact his son that was kidnapped and murdered by teenagers practicing black magic. Along the days, Sophia follows the guidance of Solomon in rituals to purify her soul. However Sophia has a hidden agenda that jeopardizes their lives.

"A Dark Song" is an independent low-budget horror movie by the unknown Liam Gavin. The boring and theatrical screenplay is promising until the awful and messy conclusion but goes nowhere. The only good point are the performances of Catherine Walker and Steve Oram, but it is not worthwhile watching this film. My vote is three.

Title (Brazil): Not Available

The film takes place in a large isolated manor in Wales. Sophia (Catherine Walker) was in a psychiatric hospital over the loss of her son. She consults with Solomon (Steve Oram) a disagreeable oculist. Her desire is to hear her son's voice again. Solomon will also get a wish. He has performed the dark ritual before with mixed success. Much of the film concerns the preparation for the ritual and then performing it over a number of days.The two do not get along. Neither trusts the other one. He questions her honesty. She questions his methods.

The ritual was interesting. Someone spent some time researching to create something unique. They invoke the name of "Horus-Orpheus-Baal-Christ" during the rite. Outside of a couple of scenes, the whole feature is two people in a house. The ending was perhaps "art house" to be kind. It really could have been shortened by a good 10 minutes. It really didn't build up suspense by extending it that long. And you can't fast forward because it is audio based.

Guide: F-word. No sex. Nudity (Catherine Walker) Winner of 5 International film awards as of this writing.