Review of All You Need is Death
All You Need is Death (2024) Dir. Paul Duane
Paul Duane’s All You Need is Death explores one of the more difficult to film aspects of folk horror – how these tales are passed through the generations. It follows Anna and Aleks (Simone Collins and Charlie Maher) who travel around Ireland collecting rare folk ballads.
When they encounter Rita Concannon (Olwen Fouéré), who performs an ancient song that has been passed down through word of mouth, they – along with Agnes (Catherine Siggins) – unwittingly unleash an evil being.
Duane is clearly not short of ideas with this picture, and as such there are some plot threads that are not fully explored. One is the shadowy organization that Anna and Aleks are selling these ballads to – a quirk in the story that disappears after one scene. The entity brought into the world is also a little inconsistent, appearing as a physical, malevolent spirit in some cases, and then possessing others. It’s never egregious but dropping a few scenes to better explain this would have benefitted the film overall.
That isn’t to say the lore feels lacking – in fact mining the rich history of folk balladry provides a very tangible point for the film to build on. It also delves into the Irish language itself, which phrases love as something that possesses a person, rather than something that can be simply felt for another.
This love manifests itself differently in the characters, with good performances in particular from Collins and Siggins. Another standout performance comes from Nigel O’Neill, who plays Rita’s son. His role starts as an overly aggressive antagonist, but cleverly shifts as Duane explores the character’s childhood trauma. It’s a neat piece of character acting, which adds real depth to the film.
There are some bumps in the road as the film rattles towards its climax, but it makes up for this with some excellent practical effects as it veers into body horror. It might not always stand up to scrutiny, but All You Need is Death is a smart, at times very gruesome, horror movie.
★★★★
4 / 5
Matthew Tilt
Twitter @Matthew_Tilt
All You Need Is Death is in cinemas 19 April
