A Dark Song

 The Abramelin ritual is a taxing, months-long set of occult processes performed with the aim to purify yourself enough to contact and ask a boon of your Daemon - or, in more traditional, theurgic versions of the ritual, your holy guardian angel. It's probably best known for being a ritual Aleister Crowley bailed out of; he was reportedly never the same again afterwards.

 This ritual is at the center of A Dark Song's story - and that, in and of itself, is pretty pretty impressive! But even better, the whole of the film makes an effort to portray occult practices in a somewhat realistic light*. Realistic being a relative term here, of course**, but I'm heavily predisposed to like a movie that mentions Gnosticism and then calls its main character Sophia.

 Sophia (Catherine Walker) hires a house out in the Welsh countryside to perform the ritual (which can take anywhere from six months to a year and a half, and can't be safely interrupted once started) and the services of Solomon (Steve Oram), a Brit occultist for hire, to guide her through the process. He gets almost one hundred thousand euros, plus the chance to also ask a boon of the daemon at the end of the rite. She says she does it to talk with her dead infant son; The truth is, of course, a little more complicated.

 The meat of the movie revolves around a complex set of evolving rituals as Sophia migrates between the different circles scored on the living room floor in a slow trawl towards purification - all the while enduring both ritual-mandated deprivation and abuse from her chosen guru, who may be as much of a danger as the occult forces they're playing with.

 An occult psychological horror chamber piece, then - how's that for a subgenre label?

 Writer/director Liam Gavin, production designer Conor Dennison, set decorator Ciara O'Donovan and cinematographer Cathal Watters carefully mark out the progress of the ritual by making the magic(k)al diagrams on the living room floor ever more intricate and messier. There's a little bit of blood and a few special effects later on as the ritual kicks in and unmoors either the house from reality or poor Sophia from her senses, but the film is carefully calibrated to work well within its small-ish indie budget. A wonderfully effective scare is achieved with just shadows, a cigarette ember, and great sound design; It's a beautifully crafted movie.

 You may find the film's slow-burn approach a bit, well, slow if you're not interested in the procedural detail of hermetic magic, but the central relationship is intense, dramatic and well-drawn enough that I think the film should still work. Both actors are excellent, and I found Sophia's arc very moving. Outstanding.

 

*: The only other movie I can think of that pays this much attention to the nerdier aspects of the occult is The Alchemist's Cookbook, also from 2016; The stars were obviously right that year.

**: For obvious reasons. Also, I'm sure it's not an entirely accurate portrayal of the workings involved, not with Reiki symbols making an appearance... though that sounds to me like exactly the sort of syncretic practices occultists do all the time. In any case, I don't know enough about it for it to bother me.