DARK SOULS

Johanna is jogging in the woods, when she’s suddenly attacked by a man in an orange jumpsuit. Her assailant drills a hole in her skull and leaves her for dead. When the police call Johanna’s father Morten to ask him to come over and identify his daughter’s body in the morgue, he tells them that she has just walked in and is sitting in front of her pc. But there’s something wrong with Johanna. Black oil is flowing from her eyes and the only message she’s able to type on her screen is one long cry for help. And she’s not alone. All over town, people are attacked by men in orange jumpsuits with electrical drills. The victims all suffer from the same symptoms, with their bodies slowly disintegrating in front of their loved ones. The authorities are baffled. Morten can no longer bear to see Johanna’s suffering and decides to find those who did this to his little girl. Dark Souls is an original zombie movie from Norway, directed by two French genre freaks : Mathieu Petuel and César Ducasse. The duo clearly knows how to build up tension. They allow their disturbing story to slowly unfold and center everything around their very unusual protagonist : an ordinary, middle-aged single father; a fine performance by Morten Ruda ( O’Horten ). Besides lots of body horror, Petuel and Ducasse even manage to give an ecological dimension to their debut feature. Dark Souls is one very dark movie that slowly creeps under your skin… just like the oil in Johanna’s body.