Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2019
Images from the Internet
Dark Sister (aka Sororal)
Directed by Sam Barrett
Nakatomi Pictures / Wild Eye Releasing / MVD
Entertainment
96 minutes, 2014 / 2019
www.facebook.com/sororal
As I said recently,
sometimes you just want some cheesy flick, but at other times, you may want a
more thoughtful piece, like this one.
This particular Australian
(Perth, to be precise) release was originally named Sororal, meaning “sisterly”;
Dark Sister is a much better and easier to remember title for us in the West
who had public education. Wise move.
 |
| Amanda Woodhams |
We are introduced early
on to “troubled artist” Cassie (Amanda Woodhams), who paints wild images from
her dreams, which we learn early on are actually visions of real murders,
always from the killer’s perspective, even though each vision is a different
killer. And yet, of course, they are all somehow connected.
Rather than being kind
of a straightforward story, the director, Sam Barrett seems to have taken notes
on early David Cronenberg, mixing science, emotion and psychic abilities (where
to begin… The Brood and especiallly Scanners is a good start).
He also uses quite a
bit of primary colors in his lighting, giving this a Dario Argento-ish giallo
feel that makes the high-emotion more palpable. This has been a bit overused
lately, but it is actually quite effective here, as are the extreme close-ups.
Most of the film goes
at a slower pace with long shots, but occasionally uses Russ Meyers’ style of
micro-editing in certain spots to keep up the energy. Barrett focuses some on the
mundane, which is a drawback to some of the modern slash-and-burn velocity
films that are drawing attention spans to nil, but I feel he uses it wisely as this
is not just another slasher film, but more of a surrealistic approach to
cinema. This is no surprise to me considering the Australian cinema history (The
Last Wave, Picnic at Hanging Rock, etc.… it can’t all be the high-octane
level of Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior). There also is a high employment
of the fisheye lens.
While Cassie’s visions
are violent, and there is a fair amount of blood flowing, there is no gore,
which makes it viewable to most audiences except the exceptionally squeamish. There’s
more violence and gore on most television crime shows, which has made life a
lot easier to watch these kinds of films with the family.
 |
| Megan Palinkas |
There are a lot of
Greek mythology names from The Iliad, such as Hector (fighter),
Cassandra (psychic), Diana (goddess of hunting) and Apollo (sun god), which is
highly abstractedly to do with the storyline. It’s a cool idea, but you need to
watch the whole film to kind of get the connection, though even if you don’t,
it can be seen as just a clever device; in other words, if you make the link or
not will not affect the story for the viewer.
As for the accents, I
have seen other Australian films where I had trouble making out what they were
saying, but this is pretty clear; that being said, there is also a caption
option on the DVD which I employed, and that helped here and there more for my
own hearing issues than accents.
The female characters are
way more interesting that the males. Cassie is a strong woman under duress, and
her best friend Kelly (Megan Palinkas under a ridiculously large wig reminiscent
of somewhere between Dolly Parton and Farrah Fawcett), a flawed human for
certain, is compelling. This is also true of Cassie’s monotone-speaking psychologist,
Dr. Sosa (Nicola Bartlett). The three male leads, including Kelly’s fiancée Trent
(Liam Graham), are kind of whatever (though Jeremy Levi’s Hector does
come off the best of them). It’s not the acting, which is fine all the way
around, but rather the male characters tend to be boring meat puppets.
 |
| Liam Graham |
While I don’t remember
it being discussed in the film, I want to talk a bit about the fashions and décor
(too much HGTV on my family’s part, perhaps). This looks like it was ripped from
the late ‘70s disco phase. The clothes are full of tight checkered pants and colorful
polyester shirts, and even the furniture is totally retro. There are no cell
phones or computers, and even the recording devices are reel-to-reel. Definitely
a further homage to the Italian giallo ethic. Either way, it looks way cool.
The extras are the
captioning and the trailers, including for this film and a couple of other Wild
Eye releases. Then there is the director’s commentary, which I’m actually looking
forward to (yes, I tend to write the review proper before the extras, not to be
overly influenced). Barrett is joined by Christopher DeGroot, who did the music
to the film. Needless to say, there is a strong focus on the soundtrack, but mixed
in there are a lot of stories about the making of the film. I was looking more
for the meaning behind the story; there is some, which proved to be quite
helpful in little touches, but I would have liked more about the overarching plot
than the amount we are fed about the music (said the reviewer that used to run a punk 'zine...).
This is a thoughtful piece,
both in inception and to mull about afterwards. If that’s your pace, it’s a
nice addition. If you want a turbo-fueled slash-a-thon, there’s a new Chucky / IT / Annabelle / etc.
movie out.
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