The luck of the Irish is veering into unhinged territory thanks to Irish folklore-based horror film, “All You Need Is Death.”
The indie feature filmmaking debut from Dublin-based director Paul Duane, the film centers on a young couple (Simone Collins and Charlie Maher) who are part of a mysterious, secret organization. The duo believe that modern alchemy is contained in old, forgotten songs. When they find an elderly, mysterious woman (Olwen Fouéré) who sings songs that have never been heard before, recording it opens the door to an ancient evil and madness.
The film had its World Premiere at Beyond Fest in Los Angeles, followed by an Irish Premiere at Cork International Film Festival.
Director Duane told Film in Dublin that he was inspired by “spooky” childhood fairytales and the “weirdness of Irish ballads” to pen the original horror movie.
“One of the things that I hate about the funding model of filmmaking, particularly with genre films, is that they want you to compare it to something else all the time,” Duane said. “They ask what is your film like that has been successful in the last few years and I think, if it was just like something that’s been successful in the last few years, why would I fucking bother making it? Why would I spend two years of my life doing a film that’s just derivative of something else?”
Duane continued, “It does make it harder, that’s why I had to self-fund the film, nobody would make it because it’s not easily compared to something that already exists and that scares people. Now it looks tentatively like being a success, I hope that opens the door to other people taking chances and making weird fucked up movies, because the world needs more weird, fucked up movies.”
As for the difference between Irish and American horror movies, the filmmaker called U.S.-based genre films “of the new world and we’re the old world,” adding of his fable-centric feature, “I think it serves us best when we embrace that rather than try to be more modern.”
“All You Need Is Death” premieres April 11 in select theaters from XYZ Films and VOD. Check out the trailer below.
