Folk music is the music of evil people.

That’s something that I’ve been saying for years.  Of course, as is usually the case with such pronouncements, I was only being half-serious when I originally said it.  The first time I said it, it was to an older relative who had just forced me to sit through a 20 minute performance of I’ll Fly Away.  The second time I said it, it was to a friend who was really into Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, and all those commies  After that, I found many excuses to say it because I was going to college that was renowned for its music program.  It was one of those colleges where you couldn’t turn a corner without potentially running into someone who was taking a class in folk music.  They were always a bit annoying.  For folkies, it wasn’t enough to tell you that their music was better than your music.  They also had to tell you why listening to the Weavers on scratchy vinyl made them better human beings than you.

That said, I was never totally serious about folk music being the music of evil people.  That seemed like a far more appropriate thing to say about prog rock.  But, having watched All You Need Is Death, I’m now not so sure.  Folk music may very well be evil.

All You Need Is Death tells the story of Anna (Simone Collins) and Aleks (Charlie Maher), a couple who live in Dublin.  Anna is a gifted singer and, when we first see the two of them, Anna and Aleks appear to be deeply in love.  They work for an academic named Agnes (Catherine Siggins), whose goal is to find the oldest known versions of various folk songs.  Their work brings them to an apparently demented old woman named Rita (Olwen Fouere), who is rumored to know a song that is in a language the predates the Irish language.  Rita reveals that she does indeed know the song, which was apparently inspired by a romantic betrayal and a brutal death.  She explains that the song has been passed down from one woman to another over the centuries.  It can never be recorded and men are not allowed to hear the song.  After Aleks excuses himself, Rita sings the song to Anna.  As they drive back home, Anna tries to sing the song from memory but struggles, which isn’t surprising considering that the song isn’t even in a living language.  However, they’re stopped by Agnes who reveals that she secretly recorded Rita singing.  Meanwhile, Rita is herself gruesomely murdered by a mysterious force.

Things get progressively stranger from there, as Anna finds herself being targeted by Rita’s unhinged son (Nigel O’Neill) and Anna and Alek’s previously blessed relationship suddenly seems to be cursed.  There’s even a touch of Cronenbergian body horror as the film plays out.  The film’s plot is not always easy to follow and that’s not a bad thing.  This is one of those horror films that works because the audience never feels quite secure in their understanding of what they’re seeing.  The story plays out at its own pace, putting an emphasis on atmosphere over easy shocks and jump scares.  It’s about as close to a filmed dream as the viewer is likely to find.  It’s a horror film that sticks with you after the end credits role.  You’ll never listen to another folk song.