All You Need Is Death
- 2023
- 1h 30m
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 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 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.
- Awards
- 1 nomination
Photos
Roisin Barrett
- The Old Singer's Daughter
- (as Roisin Barret)
Benedict Stewardson
- Aleksagnes
- (as Ben Stewardson)
- …
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Featured review
A Dark Song Of Love And Death
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.
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.
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- Pairic
- Apr 22, 2024
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Всё, что тебе нужно, это смерть
- Filming locations
- Dublin, Ireland(on location)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- €150,000 (estimated)
- Gross worldwide
- $7,245
- Runtime1 hour 30 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
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