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Darren (1599 KP) rated A Dark Song (2016) in Movies

Jun 20, 2019

A Dark Song (2016)

2016 | Horror

7.0

(3 Ratings)

Movie Rating

Story: A Dark Song starts as Sophia Howard (Walker) rents a remote house in the countryside, she hires occultist Joseph Solomon (Oram) to perform a yearlong ritual so Sophia can communicate with her late son, one more time.

With the rules set, the ritual begins leaving the two to need to be prepared for anything good or evil that they would summon from the other side.

Thoughts on A Dark Song

Characters – Sophia is the lady that wants to communicate with dead child, she has turned to an occultist to help her, she will go through as many different rituals to achieve her desired outcome. Joseph Solomon is the occultist that reluctant agrees to help Sophia with her ritual, he has plenty of experience and even when he knows she is lying he will help her.

Performances – Steve Oram and Catherine Walker are the main two stars of this movie, their performances need to be strong for this movie to work. They both give us captivating performance where you are wondering where the characters will be going next.

Story – The story dives into the idea of how far would you go to communicate with a dead loved one, would you turn to the occult knowing it wouldn’t be the best idea because of what else you could summon, or would you let the police punish the people responsible, these are the main questions being asked in this movie. When we follow the ritual side of the film doesn’t give us a full scale of the time the two are performing them, but then again the story doesn’t focus on the rituals that much, rather focusing on what would be the correct decision made by the Sophia.

Horror – The horror involved in this movie is mostly about what could happen with rituals are performed, we only get a moment of actual horror late in the film.

Settings – The settings keep the two in one house for up to a year which gives the characters the much-needed isolation for the rituals to happen.

Special Effects – The effects used in the film are save the few moments that need them and seem to be great practical use of them too.

Scene of the Movie – Cross the line.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – While you are left waiting for something to happen, not much does happen.

Final Thoughts – This is a horror that focuses more in the drama of what could happen and following to people that need to focus on letting the past lay over trying to scare us.

Overall: A horror that lacks the scares.

https://moviesreview101.com/2018/10/18/a-dark-song-2016/gnree/

Kudos

Ivana A. | Diary of Difference (1171 KP) rated A Single Thread in Books

Feb 3, 2020

A Single Thread

Tracy Chevalier | 2019 | Fiction & Poetry

9.0

(2 Ratings)

Book Rating

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When the team from LoveReading UK contacted me regarding A Single Thread, all I knew was that I loved Girl With A Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier and would therefore read any other book she writes.

A Single Thread follows the life of Violet, during the year 1932, a few years after the First World War. Violet has lost her brother and fiance in the war and is still learning to cope. She is labelled as a ”surplus woman” by the society, a woman that in unlikely to marry.

With the grief, the society label and the suffocation of her mother, Violet starts a journey that will change her life.

She is determined to find where she belongs and who she truly is, in a time where being a woman and succeeding on your own was not praised by others.

Her journey starts with a long walk in a few towns, something she used to do with her late father and brother, and it continues with her learning canvas embroidery (today knows as needlepoint), and the beautiful art of bell ringing (which pleasantly reminded me of The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo, a book I read in high school and one I should re-read).

With Tracy’s writing, it is always so easy to lose yourself in the book and teleport to the past and re-live every scene as if you’re there. It is such a pleasurable experience.

I loved Violet, and I loved how she coped with all challenges of that era. Post First World War times were extremely hard, with too many men dying and too many women not being able to ever marry. Violet’s courage and hope kept moving her forward!

This novel yells courage. It yells freedom. It yells independence. And standing along Violet, while she finds courage when you least expect to was a moment I will cherish.

I recommend it to you, if you love novels in the war time period, or novels that talk about courage!

Thank you to the team at LoveReading UK, for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

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