All You Need Is Death

This movie wasn't what I thought but it's a heck of a concept. The beginning is slow. There are several "had to rewind and read that again" (I suggest subtitles) some is very old Gaelic. The story telling is masterfully done. The makeup and special effects, tho minimal, are well done as well. There are a few things that caught me off guard that I would suggest to not let young viewers see, so viewer discretion is advised. Love is a knife with a blade as a handle... the song is haunting, the folk story was done well to me. You were able to see what the curse was. The ending was unusual, not bad but different. All in all, I liked it. It was done well.

This is not a movie that it is easily defined. It is part folk horror, part Gothic horror and unique in its own right. Two people. Anna and Aleks search for old folk songs the rarer, the better. They visit an old woman, Rita who sing them an ancient and forbidden song. The song in an ancient and unknown language is creepy and the way the old woman belts it out is actually quite unnerving. This is the bare bones of the story and I am not going to go further into depth as this needs to be experienced without knowing the plot of outcome. This is a wonderful film that explores all the darkness that the song describes. There is a bleakness to this film that gives the sense that nothing good is going to come from discovering the song or the story behind it. There is a real sense of unease and dread as the story unfolds and towards the end, it is not for the faint of heart. This is a movie that really ups the stakes in the horror genre, it is well acted and well told, a visual treat that while some might find slow and a little confusing, other will love. Give it a watch and decide for yourself.

All You Need is Death isn't an amusing horror comedy as the title might suggest being a word play on the Beatles folk song. Instead it starts out with a very drab and boring couple who chase annoying old songs from Irish people in rural areas. They're mostly in it for the money, like people who only trade in art because it pays a lot. There's a weird demographic who wants these old folk tunes because they're rich and crazy. I mean to say that the songs aren't even appealing or beautiful, most are repeated off-key by a mediocre singer without any help from a musical instrument or a back-up chorus, which makes the songs even less beautiful. Why the director made this appalling decision is far beyond my comprehension. It would have heightened the haunting atmosphere and/or made the chase for these songs more relatable if they were extremely pleasing or strangely ethereal to the audience. As it is, they might as well be singing dumb country songs for all these tunes are worth. Finally they encounter an evil haunted ballad that has been protected through generations. Somehow keeping the ballad alive but hidden from the general public trapped a demon who collects human souls through tricking people that they're "in love" to the point of insane desperation so they'll be consumed by the demon. I mean, that's a great idea too bad the execution is by turns underwhelming or ridiculous.

Holy Crow this is a horrible movie. It's interminably slow. Never really gets going. I get the feeling g the director thinks he's the next David Lynch, but to be that you need talent. And he has none. It's sort of an unfolding mystery that has more layers than an onion and stinks twice as much. The "actors" deliver their lines in monotone which makes watching this flick even more excruciating. According to IMBD, this movie made about seven grand off a budget of around 200K US. There is no wonder no one went to see it. It's genuinely unwatchable. And this is coming from someone who is a fan of Irish horror flicks. Miss it. It won't miss you.

All You Need is Death: Searching for rare traditional songs is an art, you can't just be a chancer, you have to understand and appreciate the topic, but there is money to be made, rich collectors will pay for previously unheard variations but will pay a lot more for lost songs, so the trade does attract some mercenary characters. A couple, maybe mid twenties, Anna (Simone Collins) and Aleks (Charlie Maher) travel around bars, houses and towns, looking for old folk songs. They'll even stage mock fights in an attempt to draw out more information, with Anna being the damsel in distress. They get some garbled account of a folk singer who has unknown songs but the trail peters out. They attend a seminar of like minded song hunters, run by Agnes (Catherine Siggins) who informs all participants that she might only be able to set them on the road to finding the rare songs. Impressed by Anna's singing she provides them with the name of the singer. Rita Concannon (Olwen Fouéré), and her hometown, Crossmaglen but claims she is dead. When they finally get to Rita's house they find Agnes already there, speaking to the hard drinking Rita who is very much alive and in a wardrobe. Coming out of the closet she sings a song for Anna which is in an unknown language, containing elements of Old Irish. While Anna doesn't record the song, Agnes clandestinely does so. This seems to unleash powerful malign forces. Music and song is very important to this film, how old songs are handed down, in this case over millennia from mother to daughter. The main song 1s by Lankum's Ian Lynch and Paul Duane, is really magnificent. The forces summoned up are seen as smudges at times but can forcefully slay their victims, indeed this a gory film with some very disturbing scenes but a lot of the horror is psychological. There are also elements of body horror introduced as the narrative unfolds and we see flashbacks to an ancient time when the events in the song took place. It would probably be a spoiler to reveal much more of the plot except to mention Rita's son, Breezeblock (Nigel O'Neill) a puppeteer and children's entertainer who is as highly-strung as his marionettes as he goes on a murderous rampage across Ireland. Though Olwen Fouéré's role is little more than a cameo it is central to the film as she convincingly portrays a wisewoman/keeper of secrets who is plagued (quite literally) by her demons. Simone Collins is impressive not least in her singing abilities and her change in character half way through the movie. There are some problems with pacing but this is a worthy addition to the Irish Folk Horror Film Canon. Written & Directed by Paul Duane. 8/10.

You know when you watch a movie for the first time, and you can tell that it's a new favourite even though you've not had a repeat viewing yet? This was one of those times. The atmosphere and weight and interminable sense foreboding that this film has is incredible, and it's inventive in every way that I wanted it to be, and it's a a film that I'm going to enjoy coming back to in the future Part folk horror, part body horror, part quest for music that will change your perception and open you up to new experiences (be they good or bad), All You Need Is Death follows a pair of folk song archivists as they track down an obscure song that has never been recorded, only to discover that bad things happen to everyone who hears the song The sound design is everything; it's peak Lynch in terms of ominous background noise, and the actual music, very importantly for a film about music, hits the mark every time.

A young couple who collect rare folk ballads discover the dark side of love when it's secretively recorded and translated an ancient, taboo folk song from the deep, forgotten past. Engaging in its eerie disturbing uniqueness, certainly accomplishing its label of horror, unfortunately though there's little else here. Finding things of value from the past that have been overlooked is kinda what I do too, hehe. The problem here is when the value or reward's removed, it becomes less interesting, as they're merely vessels and if that's the case, the reason it was being sought after in the first place needs to be stated. Could've done without the end as well, Anna seemed sound of mind, not sure why she lets herself be a sacrifice.

So it's always interesting to go into a film based on the reviews and accolades it has gotten and the fact that it's a foreign film. There's a certain allure to its potential and ability to give us something new. Sadly I can't really speak to any of that being a function of this film. It just never feels like anything is really happening outside of the engagement with the actual music being sourced and the characters it's sourced from. I really did want this to be a Lynchian world of bizarre visuals and a truly uncomfortable exploration of the human plight through attaining that which we shouldn't. It never rose to that level but I think there's the possibility they can attempt again to get there on the next go around.

Learning of a potentially intriguing story, a pair of documentarians committed to recording long-forgotten folk songs learn of a potentially long-forgotten song in the Irish countryside and set out to capture it against the wishes of the locals, unleashing a bizarre curse that envelops them both. This was a rather problematic genre effort. Most of the film's positive points stem from the central setup and atmospheric touches running throughout here which provide a genuinely engrossing sense of mystery. The main idea of relying on the power of traditional and even sometimes generaltional customs, in this case regarding the nature of the mythic song in question, offers the kind of fascinating insight into the past that this one relies quite heavily on. With the majority of the middle half devoted to how this plays out regarding how to honor the traditions of the past that has used a specific medium over time, this kind of corruption makes for an intriguing setup looking at the way it unfolds involving the king of unraveling curse thtat takes place. That allows for some rather chilling scenarios to take place here as a result with the way it all comes to include various gruesome attacks and cofrontations to let the curse play out. Outside of this, though, there's just not much going on here to remain interesting. Far too much of the film is reliant on the idea of the curse coming to fruition but it's never given much of any care of orinterst in what that means or why they're interested in getting the song recorded. The whole concept is so wacky and bizarre that there's no real grounded form in play here to make things have an emotional attachment to it so that comes off rather flimsy and awkward, especially as this one goes along with the aspects of the curse as that doesn't get explored in the slightest so it all makes for a confusing time. When it's not concerned with the aspects of the curse, it's just flat-out dull as very little happens so the pacing here is completely stiffened to the point of plodding blandly along to where it's nearly impossible to care about the story going forward. There's so little life or energy in what's going on that it just doesn't register anything but boredom, all of which hold this down overall. Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Language and Violence.

One of the best horror movies I've seen in a long time yet I'm unable to give it a higher rating due to the lackluster screenplay. But it's a got a strong plot and I loved Simone's performance. I'm also shocked to know that a movie like this has received such minimal coverage cause it's a really good movie. The movie is about cursed Irish folklore songs and the darker aspects of love, unconventional and surreal kind of presentation, excellent dialogues. The ending is probably going to leave you a bit disappointed but when you put the pieces together, you'll realise that the movie is a masterpiece, yet, it's unusual storytelling style gets little points from me. Its a Must watch..