2024
All You Need is Death has only been on my radar for a few months or so, but the more I stared at the creepy movie poster, the more certain I was that I had to watch it sooner rather than later.
The film follows Anna and Aleks, a shady couple traveling around Ireland, recording rare folk songs to sell to collectors. Because apparently there are collectors of such things? Their pursuit of an ancient, never-before-recorded ballad leads them to Rita Concannon, an eccentric old woman who knows a rare—and most importantly—original—song. Meaning not a variant of something familiar, but something that’s never been sung by anyone else outside the women of the family. But they’re not alone in this quest. Agnes, initially introduced as a potential mentor to the couple, is actually a coldly calculating competitor and is also after this elusive tune.
Olwen Fouéré’s portrayal of Rita is mesmerizing – she’s mysterious, slightly unhinged, very inebriated, and utterly captivating, especially in the scene where she insists on singing from inside a wardrobe. But then she eventually emerges to sing for the small group, which, on the one hand, is hilarious, considering her initial crotchety wardrobe-creeping stance, but on the other is actually quite terrifying in light of her intense performance singing the brutal song, sung in a pre-Irish language that no one in the room understands.
Rita eventually explains that the song is called “Love is a knife with a blade for a handle.” And unbeknownst to all in the room, despite warnings that the songs are not to be passed on, Agnes is recording the forbidden song with the intent to translate it and, in doing so, unwittingly unleashing a malevolent force. Agnes is deeply unsettling and a bit of an asshole, although…as the story unfolds, one almost begins to feel sorry for her. Almost.
But first, we have to feel sorry for Rita, who, once everyone clears out of her home, is gruesomely dispatched by a shadowy assailant, leaving her son Breezeblock (yes, that’s his name) to discover her body in a truly shocking scene. Nigel O’Neill plays Breezeblock with a complex mix of menace and tragedy that’s quite compelling. His character starts as an aggressive, somewhat one-dimensional antagonist, but as we learn more about his childhood trauma and witness his grief, he becomes a much more nuanced and sympathetic figure. The murder sets off a chain of increasingly bizarre and horrifying events, as the power unleashed by the recording of the forbidden song begins to manifest in nightmarish ways. The film treads an interesting line between the allure of preserving lost cultural artifacts and the potential horrors of unearthing things best left forgotten. It’s an interesting take on folk horror that doesn’t just rehash the usual “don’t mess with old rural traditions” trope. Instead, it questions our modern obsession with documenting and commodifying every aspect of culture, even (and especially) the parts that might be dangerous or sacred.
I loved this film. The atmosphere is utterly drenched in dread, and Ian Lynch’s nerve-wracking score only amplifies that feeling. Duane mixes Irish folklore, the power of oral traditions, the consequences of unearthing long-buried secrets, and some unexpected body horror into something I haven’t quite seen before. All You Need is Death creates a world where music holds terrible power, and the climax, involving possession and gruesome practical effects, is both shocking and oddly poetic. Also, I absolutely need that poster by Haley Marie Hennier hanging on my wall!
Day Six of 31 Days Of Horror in years past: 2023 // 2022 // 2021
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