‘All You Need is Death’ Review: Irish Folk Horror with a Lyrical Quality

What is All You Need is Death About?

All You Need is Death, written and directed by Paul Duane, is a cross between folk horror and the mind-shattering themes of Lovecraftian horror. At the heart of the film is an Irish folk song passed down from mother to daughter over centuries. The song tells the story of a love that turns into a curse, and it is sung using words that predate the modern Irish language. The melody is not meant to be heard outside of the lineage of women who pass it down to each other through memory. All You Need is Death explores what happens when the music is heard by the wrong ears.

Anna (Simone Collins) and Aleks (Charlie Maher) are a couple who travel around Ireland searching for—and secretly recording—unique folk songs. The more rare the tune, the more money they can receive from collectors. They happen upon some information that could lead them to their most important discovery yet, but their tip is acted on first by Agnes (Catherine Siggins), a mysterious woman with an intense interest in rare folk songs. Anna, Aleks, and Agnes all arrive at the home of Rita Concannon (Olwen Fouéré) who reluctantly shares her song, mostly because of a connection she feels with Anna. But now that the music is out, the lives of everyone involved are forever changed by the power of the song and the mental and physical effects it has on them.

All You Need is Death Review

Watching All You Need is Death is like listening to a song sung in a language you don’t understand—your enjoyment is going to be based more on the feeling it gives you rather than the story it tells you. That’s not to say that the story in All You Need is Death is as incomprehensible as the lyrics of the film’s cursed song initially are. What it means is that the movie is less interested in explaining everything that’s happening on screen, and it’s more concerned with instilling a sense of growing dread in the viewer.

All You Need is Death excels in setting a grim mood. The movie is filled with long, quiet shots that create a somber aesthetic. With notable exceptions, most of the characters’ actions and reactions are subdued, sometimes to the point of leading viewers to wonder about their motivations. The visuals and actions combine to give the film an impression of inevitability, even if neither the characters nor the audience know for certain exactly what dark fate they are heading towards. They just know they are inching closer and closer to something awful.

The measured pacing and the ambiguous nature in which the movie handles many of its details are methods of storytelling that won’t necessarily connect with all audiences. There is a plot thread of revenge that is much easier to grasp, but that thread ultimately feels like a plot device meant mostly to usher the characters towards the finale rather than to play much into the movie’s overarching themes. To be fair, the revenge story line does initially connect with the main idea of All You Need is Death, but it turns into something else by the end.

So what is the main idea of All You Need is Death? Love that takes form of a curse. Or, as it’s stated in the movie, “love is a knife with a blade for a handle.” At least, that’s part of it. It’s a bit more complicated than that. Enough is left open to interpretation that different viewers will take away different meanings from what they’re watching. This is the biggest strength of All You Need is Death, but it’s also the film’s biggest hurdle for viewers looking for more direct engagement.

Who Will Enjoy All You Need is Death?

Personally, All You Need is Death didn’t come together for me. The visuals are consistently good, the music is haunting, and the central idea is interesting, but the way the story is presented is a bit too sparse for my tastes. The dread that the movie builds never really settled in for me, so it was like I was just waiting for something that never fully developed. I did enjoy the ending, but overall I never connected with the film.

Further Reading

• Folk Horror Movies
• Cosmic Horror Movies — Lovecraftian Cinema
• Horror Movies With The Best Love Story Plotlines
• Bag of Lies Review: An Effectively Unsettling Supernatural Drama
• Night Shift Review: Creepily Good Times at a Rundown Motel