Niamh is the lone survivor of a bloody massacre after the furniture and objects in her family’s isolated house take on a monstrous life of their own. The police ignore her wild stories and the family friends and social worker that take her in try to introduce a new life. But in this psychological thriller, Niamh is unable to leave her violent past behind her, endangering everyone who crosses her path.
Dark Touch is a British supernatural horror film that was directed and written by Marina de Van. The film had its world premiere on April 18, 2013 at the Tribeca Film Festival and stars Missy Keating as the sole survivor of a bloody massacre that caused the deaths of her family.
In a remote town in Ireland, eleven-year-old Neve finds herself the sole survivor of a bloody massacre that killed her parents and younger brother. Suspecting a gang of homicidal vandals, the police ignore Neve’s explanation that the house is the culprit. To help ease her trauma, dutiful neighbors Nat and Lucas take her in with the supervision of a social worker. Neve has trouble finding peace with the wholesome and nurturing couple, and horrific danger continues to manifest. Haunted objects, an eerie score and a moody, oneiric look complement this intense and frightening peek into child abuse and the searing imagination of writer / director Marina de Van.
If you don’t know Marina de Van’s work, you should. She has written with Francois Ozon (8 Women), and her daring first feature, In My Skin, included her main character eating her own flesh. Her second feature, Don’t Look Back, screened at Cannes in 2009. De Van’s films are intense, intellectual and brutally honest. This newest film is a viciously drawn and taut supernatural thriller that adds to her growing body of bold work.
Dark Touch Review (2013)
Following the massacre of her family troubled Niamh moves in with a neighbouring couple and tries to put her life back together. But, when unexplained occurrences start labelling her a suspect in the murders, things take a sinister turn.
Dubbed “the Irish Carrie” – presumably by someone who’s never seen De Palma’s seminal, coming-of-age shocker – Dark Touch follows Missy Keating, daughter of Ronan, as the child blessed/cursed with telekinetic powers in unforgiving, small town Ireland. If that sounds like a weird premise, it’s because it is. And it works about as well as one might assume.
After the massacre of her entire family, young Niamh (Keating) moves in with a couple of kindly neighbours in an effort to move on with her life. But, when spooky things start happening, Lucas (Delaney) starts to suspect Niamh is to blame, and that she may have had more to do with the murders than she’s letting on. His wife (Plunkett) remains convinced that, as a victim of child abuse, she is simply disturbed and unused to normal life, and refuses to believe anything sinister is afoot, even when the evidence mounts against Niamh.
Ireland isn’t exactly known for its horror – the less said about the disgraceful Shrooms the better – and it’s interesting to note that writer/director De Van actually hails from France. The film is actually a Swedish, French and Irish co-production, with the remote area in which she sets her story remaining unnamed.
It doesn’t really resemble Ireland, in spite of the torrential rain plaguing the film’s opening moments, and there’s no spatial awareness, so it’s never clear how big the village is, how far the houses are from each other, or even where the local school is. Most of the action is limited to one, rather grand house but there’s no sense of how big it is, where any of the rooms are in relation to each other or how easily it would be escaped.
The heavy accents make everything unintentionally funny too, especially considering the very, very British social worker (sporting the fakest pregnancy belly in the history of cinema) over-pronounces even the simplest words, making everyone else sound like a yokel in comparison. The central cast isn’t helped by a ropey, exposition-heavy script and there are some dodgy, overly-dramatic performances on show here as a result. Plunkett and Delaney, who deserve much better than this, are likeable enough as the couple who unwittingly take Niamh in, but their parts are reduced to background noise as the kid takes centre-stage, while the social worker does little besides sit and listen quietly, offering no resolution to the poor child.
Keating, to her credit, does a decent job communicating her inner anguish, with what few lines she’s given, but even she can’t make her role as the instigator of a bloody, telekinetic massacre in the middle of the bog seem believable. As an actress, she more than holds her own, but she requires a far meatier role than this to really show off what she can do. However, at the very least, she’s already outshone her Da, who has thus far performed Postman Pat’s singing voice, in a widely-panned kids’ film, along with the husband of a wannabe singer in the tonally weird Goddess.
Dark Touch has two, very distinct, Major Moments that take place at the beginning and the end, with a bloated middle consisting mainly of knowing looks and overlong silences. The massacre is the most well-handled and shocking sequence of the entire film, grisly and gory and horrible, so it’s a shame that it happens within the first half hour. It almost feels as though the movie has shot its load too early, because although it aims to end on just as high a note, it takes too long to get there and the road is much too clearly signposted.
The final shot is brave and arguably quite shocking, too, but it doesn’t make any sense whatsoever. It’s nothing particularly new either, and even casual genre fans will poke holes in it. Christophe Chassol’s nicely tinkling score is perhaps the only element of the film that really works, and it does lend an element of atmosphere to certain key sequences – particularly when juxtaposed with a barking dog and a screeching baby – but it cannot elevate the cliché-ridden material.
Towards the final act, it becomes apparent that De Van cannot decide whether Niamh is inherently evil, or just a messed up kid. She becomes something of a saviour for abused children, but then acts out by burning everyone’s dollies at a birthday party. It’s a weird contradiction for a character who already cannot stand to sleep alone and who moves things, as she admits herself, “when I cry” suggesting deep-seated emotional issues that would possibly be best solved through therapy. As one character matter-of-factly notes, there are a lot of unanswered questions here, and De Van doesn’t seem quite sure which side to take. Niamh is, therefore, neither heroine nor villain.
Dark Touch (2013)
Directed by: Marina de Van
Starring: Marie Missy Keating, Marcella Plunkett, Padraic Delaney, Aidan Gillen, Charlotte Flyvhom, Ella Hayes
Screenplay by: Marina de Van
Production Design by: Tamara Conboy
Cinematography by: John Conroy
Film Editing by: Mike Fromentin
Costume Design by: Lara Campbell
Set Decoration by: Cecilia Jalakas
Music by: Christophe Chassol
MPAA Rating: None.
Studio: Element Pictures, Eurimages
Release Date: September 27, 2013
Visits: 77
