Editorials
[31 Days of Halloween] Day Seventeen: The Occultism of ‘A Dark Song’
It’s another Witches Night Out, and for this entry, we’re going with an nontraditional cinematic witch. For writer/director Liam Gavin’s feature debut A Dark Song, he did extensive research into the occult, making for arguably one of the more accurate depictions of occultism and dark rituals in horror.
His lead character, Sophia, seeks out an expert to help her complete the arduous Abramelin rite, based on The Book of Abramelin. Though Gavin purposely avoided depicting the ritual as described in the book, perhaps a little bit out of superstition. In a way, Sophia’s desire to perform and complete the ritual makes her a bit of a modern witch. Released in 2017, Gavin’s feature debut marked him as one to watch as it delivered one of the most unique horror movies of the decade.
Synopsis: Sophia Howard rents an isolated house in the countryside and contracts unsavory occultist Joseph Solomon to implement the Abramelin Operation, a grueling 18-month magical ceremony to attain knowledge and conversation with one’s guardian angel in order to have their wish granted. But Sophia has a hidden agenda that puts their very lives and souls at risk.
Key Players: This film rests squarely on the shoulders of Catherine Walker as Sophia, and Steve Oram as Joseph Solomon.
Why It’s on the List: Black magic and witchcraft are rarely, if ever, depicted like they are in A Dark Song. That alone makes it a breath of fresh air. But Gavin demonstrates a knack for crafting eerie atmosphere and some spine-tingling moments of horror, too. It’s a suspenseful slow-burn with an ending that might prove polarizing, but the devil really is in the details of this moody horror movie.
The Trailer: The film’s trailer gives a good sense of the grueling nature of this ritual, but it really highlights the abrasive, mostly antagonistic relationship between Sophia and Solomon. Being stuck in a house for 18 months with these damaged souls makes for a lot of tension and fire.
Where You Can Watch: A Dark Song is available to stream on IFC Films Unlimited, and available to rent on digital.
Judging from the unprecedented box office success of Kane Parsons’ Backrooms adaptation, you’ve likely already seen the liminal horror hit that managed to make audiences afraid of empty hallways and bad wallpaper. And now that so many of us have already entered the yellow labyrinth (some of us more than once), the time has come to discuss the spoiler-filled details that make the movie so fascinating in the first place.
And if there’s one element here that makes the Backrooms movie stand out from any previous lore/mythology, it has to be the genius addition of the Still Life entities. Warped recreations of real people that somehow wandered into the Complex, these misremembered creatures are responsible for some of the most disturbing imagery of 2026 – as well as laugh-out-loud memes created by one of the film’s very own concept artists.
However, true to Parsons’ word that the movie would rely heavily on practical effects, each of these distorted monsters was brought to life by real actors under heavy layers of makeup and prosthetics (with the occasional splash of CGI enhancements). While Anora and If I Had Legs I’d Kick You actress Ivy Wolk wasn’t among these performers, despite what Letterboxd might have you believe, the creature cast did benefit from veteran players with plenty of genre experience.
For starters, Alien: Romulus alumni Robert Bobroczkyi (who previously brought that film’s horrific Offspring to life during its most memorable sequence) plays the flick’s main antagonist, the Still Life version of Captain Clark. And though there was some obvious CGI involved in making the character’s peg-leg and nightmarish face more believable, Bobroczkyi’s monstrous performance and his natural 7’7″ frame helped to make that final chase sequence a clear highlight among this year’s genre offerings.
The film’s Texas-Chain-Saw-inspired “dinner” scene also features a freaky collection of less-aggressive Still Life creatures in the form of the Bearded Man, the Red-Headed Woman and, strangest of them all, the cheekily named “Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life” (who earned this title among fans and crewmembers as a reference to his apparent affinity for lamps).
While this was the first major horror outing for both Patrick Baynham (The Bearded Man) and Dana Mahmood (Archibald), Rhiannon Roberts has worked as a stunt performer in everything from Yellowjackets to HBO’s The Last of Us adaptation – which is probably why The Red-Headed Woman is the most active out of Clark’s impromptu “family.” That being said, the Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life is my personal favorite of the bunch simply because his anachronistic outfit suggests that the Backrooms phenomenon might be a lot older than the Async Foundation. I also love how hard he tries to be helpful with that little light of his!
That might be it for the Still Life entities, but I think horror fans will also be pleased to hear that the film’s Found Footage prologue stars none other than Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City star Avan Jogia as Naren Warne – and American Mary herself Katharine Isabelle also shows up in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo at Mary’s house party towards the middle of the story (though I have a feeling that she originally had a bigger part that was likely cut for time).
At the end of the day, Parsons’ Backrooms may have been an auteur-driven project motivated by the young director’s unique take on the classic creepypasta, but film has always been a collective artform, so it’s fun to see just how many talented performers it takes to bring this kind of supernatural nightmare to life in a way that connects with so many people.
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