All You Need Is Death
Directed by Paul Duane
A young couple who collect rare folk ballads discover the dark side of love when they surreptitiously record and translate an ancient, taboo folk song from the deep, forgotten past.
A couple discover the dark side of an ancient folk song.
Cast: Simone Collins, Charlie Maher, Catherine Siggins, Nigel O'Neill, Olwen Fouéré
Member Reviews
A total original. Loved it.
A solid effort: I think the director's ambitions exceeded his means and skill, but worth checking out!
I developed an interest in folkways long ago, but have never done any field recording. It is true that old stories, crafts, occupations, languages and customs are being lost with the decline of rural life and encroachments of modern technology. The folk horror genre, which you can see in movies like The Wicker Man, Unwelcome, Wake Wood, The Oddity, Pyewackett, Hagazussa, A Field in England, The Blood on Satan's Claw, The Cursed, The Awakening,The Alchemist Cookbook, The Skeleton Key (2005), The VVitch, The Witch's Bath--indeed, just about anything with "witch" in the title--can, if done right, convey a growing sense of dread. Folk horror and Lovecraftian horror dovetail in the sense that both genres evoke feelings of something primal that is both lost and feared. The M. R. James stories hear represent that same sort of unease. Eggers' Nosferatu re-instills the folkloric abhorrence of vampires that has been lost through parody and paranormal romance. We are being reeducated about the sinister nature of witches and ghosts, thanks to so many haunted house stories. All You Need is Death, similarly, reminds us that old songs have power. They can be incantatory as well as enchanting. The same idea, with the spoken word, inspired the Evil Dead franchise. People believed that words were magical and brought actual things to be. While the movie could have explored its ideas further (what if another old song, for example, conjured worse horrors), it kept me engrossed. Maybe we need a sequel.
this is not a good movie, and i wouldn't even really call this folk horror. like, 45 minutes in i was forcing myself to finish it. don't recommend.
this is not a good movie, and i wouldn't even really call this folk horror. like, 45 minutes in i was forcing myself to finish it. don't recommend.