Dark Souls (2010)

SPOILER: Mørke sjeler AKA Dark Souls is bit different compared to most horror films, which is a good thing in my book. It's always good to see people trying something new with the genre, the whole movie's about the struggle of a father who tries to take care of his daughter who became sick after she got attacked for unknown reasons. Her appearance slowly disintegrates as the film continues including heavy vomiting of a black liquid, and what's with these men in orange jumpsuits attacking women with a drill. It's all part of the mystery hahaha, it's a interesting film but there were some moments that i was thinking that i was watching a made for TV crime film (Which it isn't). I don't want to spoil too much but there were a few scenes (especialy the scene near the end in the hospital) which slightly reminded me of Fulci, which is always a good thing. If anyone would ask me how to describe the film i have to say, a horror/thriller with a bit of drama. Go have a look for it yourself if you're interested, anyway you won't get bored.

A toolbox killer is running loose in Oslo with a nasty drilling habit. After screwing a hole in his victims' skulls, he injects something strange into their brains which kills them. But not for long. They come back to life, their gradually rotting bodies producing a mysterious new hydrocarbon, like crude oil, a foul, caustic, bilious substance which they vomit up in great abundance.When his daughter (Broch) is found dead with a drill hole in her cranium, Morten (Ravn) receives a call from the police requesting him to identify her body. But he can't, he answers, there must be some mistake. She's perfectly alright, right here at home, just came in the door.But Morten's daughter Maria is anything but alright. Her face is rotting and she's barfing oil. When perplexed doctors ask to experiment on her, Morten decides to take Maria back home, covering all his furnishings with protective plastic to guard against her, um, frequent spills. Brain damaged, deranged, Maria stumbles about the apartment and stares blankly at the dinner table, repeatedly banging her spoonful of mashed potatoes into her cheek and forehead instead of into her mouth.Meanwhile, the victim count rises as the mad driller strikes again and again throughout Oslo. Following a chance encounter in which the culprit attacks Morten, Morten, with Maria in tow, begins tracking the maniac. Morten discovers a ghastly connection to a sinister North Sea, deep drilling oil disaster, as he unearths a bizarre, nightmarish, dark plot.Dark Souls is a Norwegian effort, and North Seas oil production is a major nationalized industry in Norway. Eighty percent of Norwegian petroleum production is owned by the government, which retains 85% of net petroleum revenues. The Norwegian government effectively distributes the benefits of its oil wealth, regionally and throughout its population. Due also in part to a generous social welfare system, an equitable labor relations system and a progressive tax system, Norway can boast one of the lowest levels of income inequality in the world.The benefit comes at a cost; Like any country, Norway has had its share of shameful petroleum mishaps, from the June 2000 Project Deep Spill, the first ever international deep sea oil spill, to the more recent 2007 Statfjord oil spill, and the 2009 Full City oil spill. Norway has strong government oversight of oil exploration and extraction. Citizens expect accountability from their governing bodies. Controversial courses of action by Norway's Ministries of Industry and Petroleum and Energy have been the subject of major environmental protests and lawsuits. An example stems from the Norwegian government's go-ahead for continued Arctic drilling despite appalling, hazardous 2007 and 2008 StatoilHydro leaks in the Barents Sea.It's little wonder then that Norway's Dark Souls' finds its inspiration in the viscous black well of its own petroleum industry. The film's prominent themes are familiar ones. The concept of environmental bad karma and mysterious substances which once ingested, wreak recombinant DNA havoc strongly smack of movies we've seen before. To wit: H.G. Wells' The Food of the Gods (1976), The Children (1980 and 2008 -previously reviewed here), and The Stuff (1985). In each of these films, malignant industries go too far in the name of greed. Fallout ensues in the form of a grotesque backlash where monsters dole out horrid retribution upon the society which passively stood by while corporate outrages were committed against nature.Some subtle tongue-in-cheek posturing lets us know that Dark Souls doesn't take itself too seriously, yet it is never campy or silly. The film manages to combine some chills with delightfully disgusting revulsion. Featuring an abundance of Steadicam shots, Dark Souls imposes a close-in, almost documentary-style, gritty feeling, without straying into the realm of cheap "found footage" style movies. While more mysterious and eerie than horrifying and scary, Dark Souls is a first rate production with a few memorable scenes, and a refreshing lack of a Hollywood-requisite "happy ending."

When I bought this movie from Amazon, it was because of the title "Zombie Driller Killer". And to make things even more interesting it also said "invasion of the flesh eating living dead" underneath the "Zombie Driller Killer" title. But the movie is Norwegian and it is titled "Mørke Sjeler", which means "Dark Souls".Anyway, I sat down to watch the movie, and was frankly speaking more than a little disappointed. The "Zombie Driller Killer - Invasion of the Flesh Eating Living Dead" is nothing more than a cheap trick to lure in people looking for a zombie movie. This is nothing at all like a traditional zombie movie in any way possible. This movie is about some man in an orange jumpsuit that drills into women's brains and injects some liquid that initially kills the victim, but makes them come back from the dead. As zombies? Well, perhaps, but there is no flesh eating participating anywhere in the movie at all. False advertising on the cover in the worst degree.Story-wise, then this Norwegian horror/thriller movie is fairly weak, especially compared to "Død Snø" ("Dead Snow"). The movie trots ahead t a fairly monotone pace, as we follow Johanna's father in his search for the one who turned his daughter into a brain-dead 'vegetable'. The story doesn't really offer any scares or surprises.The movie is not all bad though, there are aspects of it that are great. There is a good continuous flow to the movie, as it trots on. And the dialogue is alright as well - just know that it is in Norwegian (if you don't enjoy foreign movies).The acting in the movie was good as well, of course not really award-winning material, but people did good jobs with their given roles. And not having seen that many Norwegian movies or television, then it was good to have a whole bunch of fresh faces that weren't associated with previous roles and characters.A warning to gore-hounds and zombie aficionados out there, this movie is by definition NOT a zombie movie, and you might up just as disappointed with this movie as I was.

Dark Souls, a strange movie to review because it looks like a compilation of the best of horror so far. We have a killer, we have in fact a driller killer. That did ring a bell, The Driller Killer (1979). I can go on and on. There are so many references towards the classics that you forget to watch the flick itself.The whole story itself is strange. There's not that much explained and towards the end it changes into something like, here we go again, The Crazies (1973). In between we see what happens with the people being attacked by the driller killer. The father tries to take care of his daughter who's being attacked. There's a lot of stuff (no pun intended) coming out of the mouth of the victims being transformed. And there's even an ode to the Italian classics by showing how a drill can enter a face or a body.It never bored me although the acting wasn't always convincing but it's really the story that sucks you into Dark Souls. It will not be for everybody but if you are willing to see a strange story then this is for you.Gore 2/5 Nudity 0/5 Effects 3/5 Story 3/5 Coemdy 0/5