# Folk Horror Appreciation Thread



## RileyOBlimey (May 16, 2021)

_Them up ‘em selves city folk, come ‘round these parts? Their fancy ways won’t help them ‘ere._

A thread for all things folk horror.

What’s you favourite films of the genre?


Mine? 2 of Ben Wheatley’s Kill List




….and A Field in England




…and The Wicker Man


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## RileyOBlimey (May 16, 2021)

Just been watching Witches (1966) a pre-Wicker Man, pre-Blood on Satan’s Claw Hammer Horror. Below par but worth a watch if you like the genre.









						The Witches (1966 film) - Wikipedia
					






					en.wikipedia.org
				




“She put Linda’s hand in the mangle!”


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## RileyOBlimey (May 16, 2021)

Apaches (1977) Scarfolk public information film on the danger of playing around farms: Watch Apaches - BFI Player


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## Mation (May 16, 2021)

RileyOBlimey said:


> Just been watching Witches (1966) a pre-Wicker Man, pre-Blood on Satan’s Claw Hammer Horror. Below par but worth a watch if you like the genre.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



I'm just going to skip over the dreadful whatthefuckery of the premise and get to what was that going on in the last few seconds of the trailer?!


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## RileyOBlimey (May 16, 2021)

Mation said:


> I'm just going to skip over the dreadful whatthefuckery of the premise and get to what was that going on in the last few seconds of the trailer?!



isn’t it!? Don’t get too excited, it’s only a 12


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## RileyOBlimey (May 16, 2021)

1970s kids program Children of the Stones: 





A proper kids show.


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## Mation (May 16, 2021)

RileyOBlimey said:


> isn’t it!? Don’t get too excited, it’s only a 12


I'm not sure that adequately explains the dolls, if indeed that's what they are.


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## RileyOBlimey (May 16, 2021)

Spoiler: Spoiler



It’s one of the witch’s cat





Mation said:


> I'm not sure that adequately explains the dolls, if indeed that's what they are.


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## krtek a houby (May 16, 2021)

If this isn't confined to the screen...


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## PursuedByBears (May 16, 2021)

Thistlebone has just finished its second run in 2000AD, thoroughly unsettling


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## RileyOBlimey (May 16, 2021)

krtek a houby said:


> If this isn't confined to the screen...



What issue is that?


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## krtek a houby (May 16, 2021)

RileyOBlimey said:


> What issue is that?



Not sure I can recall and the info is a bit blurry. Early 90s, possibly.


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## RileyOBlimey (May 16, 2021)

PursuedByBears said:


> Thistlebone has just finished its second run in 2000AD, thoroughly unsettlingView attachment 268510



Just read and enjoyed that. Good call.


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## Artaxerxes (May 16, 2021)

RileyOBlimey said:


> What issue is that?



It says no 25 on it


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## Ground Elder (May 16, 2021)

This radio programme is worth a listen  _Fear in the Furrows

Pogles Wood_ should get a mention - it had certainly prepared the ground for me by the time I got to watch The Wicker Man


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## Artaxerxes (May 16, 2021)

RileyOBlimey said:


> Apaches (1977) Scarfolk public information film on the danger of playing around farms: Watch Apaches - BFI Player



Holy shit they didn't fuck around.


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## QueenOfGoths (May 16, 2021)

RileyOBlimey said:


> Apaches (1977) Scarfolk public information film on the danger of playing around farms: Watch Apaches - BFI Player


Saw that recently on a BFI public information film compilation. 

It was filmed round here (Maidenhead)


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## Brainaddict (May 16, 2021)

These have appeared on other threads but:
The Stone Tape
Artemis 81
Robin Redbreast
Penda's Fen

The last is excellent.


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## RileyOBlimey (May 17, 2021)

Brainaddict said:


> These have appeared on other threads but:
> The Stone Tape
> Artemis 81
> Robin Redbreast
> ...



Penda’s Fen is quite something.


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## Knotted (May 17, 2021)

We had a bit of a folk horror chat on the Julie Burchill thread recently. Anyway you can watch Häxan on youtube. Real treat for you.



Other than the three mentioned in the OP, I would add The VVitch as the best the genre has to offer.


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## Ground Elder (May 17, 2021)

This should be the start of a folk horror tale - academic who has spent his career studying _witch marks_, starts a lockdown project to renovate an old door. Layers of paint and varnish are scraped away revealing long hidden ancient symbols...


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## cloudyday (May 17, 2021)

Andy Sharp (English Heretic) has a book that is well worth a read.






						The English Heretic Collection: Ritual Histories, Magickal Geography: Amazon.co.uk: Andy Sharp: 9781913462093: Books
					

Buy The English Heretic Collection: Ritual Histories, Magickal Geography New edition by Andy Sharp (ISBN: 9781913462093) from Amazon's Book Store. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders.



					www.amazon.co.uk


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## moody (May 17, 2021)

Mandy, nic cage goes nuts with a chainsaw in this retro, psychedelic thriller.


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## Doodler (May 17, 2021)

Angela Carter's short story The Erl King counts as folk horror (sort of). Reading it is like being hypnotised, she was a great writer.


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## A380 (May 17, 2021)

Dog Soldiers? I think it fits the genre.


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## Orang Utan (May 17, 2021)

A380 said:


> Dog Soldiers? I think it fits the genre.



Not quite.


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## Orang Utan (May 17, 2021)

Children Of The Corn is a good example of American folk horror


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## Yuwipi Woman (May 17, 2021)

Bette Davis FTW:









						The Dark Secret of Harvest Home (TV Mini Series 1978) - IMDb
					

The Dark Secret of Harvest Home: With Bette Davis, David Ackroyd, Rosanna Arquette, Rene Auberjonois. A young couple moves to a quiet New England village, only to soon find themselves mixed up in mysterious rituals.




					www.imdb.com


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## stdP (May 17, 2021)

I'm surprised no-one's mentioned _Midsommar_ yet. I don't think it's anywhere near as good as many people think it is (and it's not a patch on The Wicker Man to which it's frequently compared) but it's still a worthy entry in the canon. Florence Pugh is once again on top form even if I don't think the rest of the film came together as well as it should have done.

Ken Russell's _The Lair of the White Worm_, loosely based on the Lambton Worm, is a very Russell take on the tale - lots of black comedy for those who can tolerate his style.

I'm not sure if _The Witchfinder General_ counts, but it does in my book - albeit with witchcraft being the backdrop to the real horror.

Super-obscure, but there's a 60s portmanteau film from Japan called _Kwaidan_, IIRC all based on traditional Japanese folklore and presented in a very theatrical style - well worth seeking out.

Speaking of which, is it old enough now to consider _Ring_ as folk horror of the 90s? Watched this again recently (Eureka did a nice blu-ray of it) and still a stone-cold classic.



Knotted said:


> Other than the three mentioned in the OP, I would add The VVitch as the best the genre has to offer.



Robert Eggers' other film, _The Lighthouse_, also counts as a folk horror IMHO and is, in my opinion, an even more stonking film than The Witch.

Of course, an evening of folk horror wouldn't be complete without a showing of _Troll 2_, a horror in every sense of the word.


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## krtek a houby (May 17, 2021)

Doodler said:


> Angela Carter's short story The Erl King counts as folk horror (sort of). Reading it is like being hypnotised, she was a great writer.



Oh, The Company of Wolves probably counts, too.


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## krtek a houby (May 17, 2021)




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## Orang Utan (May 17, 2021)

krtek a houby said:


> Oh, The Company of Wolves probably counts, too.


No. Look it up folks ffs


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## krtek a houby (May 18, 2021)

Orang Utan said:


> No. Look it up folks ffs



It's a loose anthology of folk tales, referencing Red Riding Hood. And it's horror. That'll suffice for me.


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## Orang Utan (May 18, 2021)

krtek a houby said:


> It's a loose anthology of folk tales, referencing Red Riding Hood. And it's horror. That'll suffice for me.


It may, but it would be wrong


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## Ground Elder (May 18, 2021)

This is folk horror, _Company of Wolves_ isn't, hth


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## RileyOBlimey (May 18, 2021)

Ground Elder said:


> This is folk horror, _Company of Wolves_ isn't, hth




Excellent. Bill and Ben on a rough comedown. The size of their pupils.


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## krtek a houby (May 18, 2021)

Orang Utan said:


> It may, but it would be wrong



If you say so


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## seeformiles (May 18, 2021)

Ground Elder said:


> This radio programme is worth a listen  _Fear in the Furrows
> 
> Pogles Wood_ should get a mention - it had certainly prepared the ground for me by the time I got to watch The Wicker Man



The witch in Pogles’ Wood terrified me as a kid. She frequently put Tog into trances and made him do evil stuff 😳


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## redsquirrel (May 18, 2021)

Posted the Melbourne Cinematheque seasons on British Horror before but they are probably better placed on this thread. (The second set are not really folk horror but the two seasons went together) 

*OLD, WEIRD ALBION: BRITISH SUPERNATURAL AND GOTHIC HORROR CINEMA FROM THE 1950s TO 1970s*
Drawing upon a folkloric tradition with roots stretching back to before the Roman invasion, Britain has a rich heritage of supernatural tales. In cinema, this has translated to a powerful if eclectic body of work exploring the idea that something older, and undoubtedly malevolent, lies just below the modern surface (often literally, in an archaeological sense).
Once disturbed, these weird, unfettered forces will manifest as a direct threat to the precarious rationalism of our era’s disconnection from the natural world, folk traditions and the elemental fears of death and the afterlife. With the exception of Michael Reeves’ Witchfinder General, chronicling the brutal activities of a witch-hunter – played by Vincent Price – during the Cromwell era, the films chosen for this season follow in the tradition of the ghost stories of M. R. James (whose short story “Casting the Runes” forms the basis of the earliest film in our season, Jacques Tourneur’s extraordinary Night of the Demon), forsaking historical settings to reveal terror erupting amongst contemporary communities. This season – a sequel to our 2018 focus on British psychological horror – explores an atmospheric but similarly psychologically motivated legacy of eerie cinema. From Jack Clayton’s masterful and influential adaptation of Henry James’ The Turn of the Screw, The Innocents, onwards to The Wicker Man’s terrifying encounter between the old, pagan Britain and the veneer of modern Christianity that replaced it, this is a season promising lashings of cinematic strangeness, dread and unease.

THE HAUNTING Robert Wise (1963) 111 mins – PG
THE INNOCENTS Jack Clayton (1961) 100 mins – M
THE WICKER MAN: THE FINAL CUT Robin Hardy (1973) 94 mins – M
WITCHFINDER GENERAL Michael Reeves (1968) 86 mins – R 18+
NIGHT OF THE DEMON Jacques Tourneur (1957) 95 mins – PG
NIGHT OF THE EAGLE Sidney Hayers (1962) 90 mins – PG

*TWISTED NERVE: BRITISH PSYCHOLOGICAL HORROR OF THE 1960s AND 1970s*
Although the British horror genre is often defined by the rich legacies of gothic literature, Shakespeare, Bram Stoker, Mary Shelley, the ghost stories
of M. R. James, the films of Hammer and a range of other influences and precedents, there is also a rich vein of “psychological horror” that emerged in late 1950s British cinema and betrays the impact of Freudian and Lacanian psychoanalysis, the fractured post-war psyche, the reportage of true-crime mass and serial murders, shifts in censorship, and the arrival in the UK’s rapidly changing film industry of European and American directors such as Roman Polanski, Richard Fleischer and Wolf Rilla. This season focuses on a range of the most provocative, potent and obsessive of these films, exploring the dark and disturbed psychology and psychosis of modern British society. It opens with one of the most notorious and influential works of the subgenre, Michael Powell’s profoundly cinematic, deeply personal and patently disturbed Peeping Tom, a film that met with outrage and derision on its initial release. The film’s portrait of the damaged, murderous and poetic psyche of its lead protagonist, a focus puller working in the British studio system, provides a point of comparison and contrast with the other movies included in this season – such as Nicolas Roeg’s extraordinary Don’t Look Now and Fleischer’s truly chilling portrait of serial killer John Christie, 10 Rillington Place – and its focus on the impact of trauma, environment, sexuality and tradition on an increasingly cracked national consciousness. These films also reflect a deeper tradition of British horror literature, ranging from cryptographer Leo Marks’ original script for Peeping Tom to seminal mid-century writers such as Daphne du Maurier and John Wyndham.

PEEPING TOM, MICHAEL POWELL (1960) 101 MINS – M
10 RILLINGTON PLACE, RICHARD FLEISCHER (1971) 106 MINS – M
VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED WOLF RILLA (1960) 77 MINS – PG
SYMPTOMS JOSÉ RAMÓN LARRAZ (1974) 92 MINS – M
DON’T LOOK NOW NICOLAS ROEG (1973) 110 MINS – M
REPULSION ROMAN POLANSKI (1965) 105 MINS – M


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## Aladdin (May 18, 2021)

RileyOBlimey said:


> 1970s kids program Children of the Stones:
> 
> 
> 
> ...





Loved that series when I was a kid.


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## rubbershoes (May 18, 2021)

Any mention of Dead of Night yet? 

Highly recommended for anyone who hasn't seen it


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## Aladdin (May 18, 2021)

Not fiction..but worth a watch.


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## Orang Utan (May 18, 2021)

I think people need to look up Folk Horror


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## Orang Utan (May 18, 2021)

Where to begin with folk horror
					

A beginner’s path through the haunted landscapes of ‘folk horror’.



					www.bfi.org.uk
				











						Folk horror - Wikipedia
					






					en.m.wikipedia.org


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## Aladdin (May 18, 2021)

Orang Utan said:


> I think people need to look up Folk Horror



Nothing wrong with a bit of off topic tangential posting. 😝


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## cloudyday (May 18, 2021)




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## hitmouse (May 18, 2021)

Sugar Kane said:


> Nothing wrong with a bit of off topic tangential posting. 😝


What do you think about Julie Burchill? 

Anyway, a fairly niche question, but if anyone's read the short stories of EM Forster, particularly The Story of a Panic and Other Kingdom, I'd be interested to know if they think they count as folk horror, and why or why not. (For anyone who missed the other thread, did also ask about The Secret History but the consensus seemed to be that it wasn't.)


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## Aladdin (May 18, 2021)

hitmouse said:


> What do you think about Julie Burchill?


I don't.


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## krtek a houby (May 18, 2021)

Sugar Kane said:


> I don't.



She can folk off


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## hitmouse (May 18, 2021)

Very wise.


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## Aladdin (May 18, 2021)

hitmouse said:


> Very wise.



Was that a trick question then?


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## hitmouse (May 18, 2021)

Sugar Kane said:


> Was that a trick question then?


Not meant as a trick question as such, more a joke based on the fact that there was a Julie Burchill thread that got derailed and turned into a massive discussion of folk horror.


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## RileyOBlimey (May 18, 2021)

Folk Horror: A Beginners Guide


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## Aladdin (May 18, 2021)

hitmouse said:


> Not meant as a trick question as such, more a joke based on the fact that there was a Julie Burchill thread that got derailed and turned into a massive discussion of folk horror.




Oh. Ok. I didn't read that thread.


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## Aladdin (May 18, 2021)




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## hitmouse (May 18, 2021)

The Wicker Man chat starts somewhere around here, fwiw: Julie Burchill forced to apologise for twitter comments , and pay out a fat wedge . Although it does veer off from being a folk horror discussion to a kosher/homemade elderflower wine one at some point.


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## kittyP (May 18, 2021)

There was a recent updated adaptation of The Children of the Stones on BBC Sounds, I quite liked it. 









						BBC Sounds - Children of the Stones - Available Episodes
					

Listen to the latest episodes of Children of the Stones on BBC Sounds




					www.bbc.co.uk


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## rubbershoes (May 18, 2021)

kittyP said:


> There was a recent updated adaptation of The Children of the Stones on BBC Sounds, I quite liked it.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



So I'm hoping all you lot inform your family that tea is ready by flinging up your arms and announcing 

IT IS TIME 



Nope? Just me then


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## krtek a houby (May 18, 2021)

HTV's Robin of Sherwood could fit in there, especially with the episodes concerning The Swords of Wayland, Crom Cruach, etc.


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## Yuwipi Woman (May 19, 2021)

Sugar Kane said:


> Not fiction..but worth a watch.




Even though its on the wrong thread, thanks for that.  It was an enjoyable way to pass a couple of hours.  I liked the stone house toward the end, complete with storage areas and a little nook to set things next to the bed.


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## Aladdin (May 19, 2021)

Yuwipi Woman said:


> Even though its on the wrong thread, thanks for that.  It was an enjoyable way to pass a couple of hours.  I liked the stone house toward the end, complete with storage areas and a little nook to set things next to the bed.



I'm glad someone liked this. I found it great 🙂


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## RileyOBlimey (May 23, 2021)

There’s a lengthy documentary on the way: Home - Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched

Here’s an interview with the producer…


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## Knotted (May 24, 2021)

I found the Danish/Swedish film Koko Di Koko Da to be deeply disturbing. But I would recommend it.


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## killer b (May 26, 2021)

I just came across this guy, who sells folk-horror themed lino prints for a very reasonable price (he seems to be a graphic designer who's done a lot of work making things for Dr Who, that recent Dracula thing and the like. Nice stuff anyway)






						Slippery Jack
					

Art n' that by Richard Wells



					slipperyjack.bigcartel.com


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## killer b (May 26, 2021)

(oh he also did the poster for the new Ben Wheatley film)


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## Artaxerxes (May 27, 2021)

killer b said:


> I just came across this guy, who sells folk-horror themed lino prints for a very reasonable price (he seems to be a graphic designer who's done a lot of work making things for Dr Who, that recent Dracula thing and the like. Nice stuff anyway)
> 
> 
> 
> ...




Hare and Tabor do folk t-shirts if your fancy wearing something neat. I have the Mummers one and a couple of others, not sure where my Uffington one went...









						hareandtabor
					

Folk arts and esoterica for the discerning



					www.hareandtabor.co.uk


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## Knotted (May 27, 2021)

Did not realise there's a new Ben Wheatley film. Oh yeah!


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## Reno (May 28, 2021)

Knotted said:


> Did not realise there's a new Ben Wheatley film. Oh yeah!


I thought that like most Ben Wheatley films, it starts out great and then looses its way. Kill List is still the only film of his which worked for me from beginning to the end.

I watched The Blood on Satan's Claw (1971) for the first time a few days ago and really enjoyed it. Together with The Wicker Man and Witchfinder General it's considered one of the founding films of the genre. It's atmospheric and often creepy even if the plot gets a little muddled.


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## Reno (May 28, 2021)

I enjoyed the recent tv series The Third Day, which plays on expectations you may have if you've seen The Wicker Man and then often subverts them in interesting ways.


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## Knotted (May 28, 2021)

Reno said:


> I thought that like most Ben Wheatley films, it starts out great and then looses its way. Kill List is still the only film of his which worked for me from beginning to the end.
> 
> I watched The Blood on Satan's Claw (1971) for the first time a few days ago and really enjoyed it. Together with The Wicker Man and Witchfinder General it's considered one of the founding films of the genre. It's atmospheric and often creepy even if the plot gets a little muddled.
> 
> View attachment 270640



I believe it was Mark Gatiss who came up with the folk horror label and named those three films. We were talking about this on another thread. I honestly don't see Witchfinder General as folk horror. It's a film with lots of countryside but its not something in the countryside or the folk residing there that's the horror, it's plainly the witchfinder and his henchmen who are the badies. But then I'm not entirely sure what folk horror is exactly.

I really like four of Ben Wheatley's films - Kill List, Siteseers, A Field in England and Free Fire. I think there is something very special about Field in England though - the ambiance of it, and the characters - although I suppose it teeters on the pretenscious, I really, really enjoy it. I tend to really like the soundtracks to his films, they're definitely on my wavelength.


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## Reno (May 28, 2021)

Knotted said:


> I believe it was Mark Gatiss who came up with the folk horror label and named those three films. We were talking about this on another thread. I honestly don't see Witchfinder General as folk horror. It's a film with lots of countryside but its not something in the countryside or the folk residing there that's the horror, it's plainly the witchfinder and his henchmen who are the badies. But then I'm not entirely sure what folk horror is exactly.
> 
> I really like four of Ben Wheatley's films - Kill List, Siteseers, A Field in England and Free Fire. I think there is something very special about Field in England though - the ambiance of it, and the characters - although I suppose it teeters on the pretenscious, I really, really enjoy it. I tend to really like the soundtracks to his films, they're definitely on my wavelength.


I happily defer to Gatiss, he knows is stuff. I've come across these three films being considered among the founding films of folk horror in reference books and genre magazine articles before. There are a few films which came before and which could be considered folk horror, the Danish Häxän from 1922 for instance. It's a loosely defined genre but a rural setting and pre-christian religions like paganism (interpreted as satanism/witchcraft by christianity) tend to feature. The witches in Witchfinder General weren't of the satanic kind, they were healers, etc, innocent victims of christian persecution with no supernatural powers.

Jim William's scores are usually my favourite thing about Wheatley's films, my favourite score of his is from the excellent French-Belgian (non folk) horror film Raw.


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## killer b (May 28, 2021)

someone was raving about raw the other night, sounds great


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## Orang Utan (May 28, 2021)

killer b said:


> someone was raving about raw the other night, sounds great


That was me I think. So good and icky


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## Knotted (May 28, 2021)

killer b said:


> someone was raving about raw the other night, sounds great



Oh my god is it good. I actually find it insanely funny in a weird transgressive way. Also Jim Williams score.


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## Knotted (May 28, 2021)

Thinking about it, watching A Field In England for the first time last year and one scene in particular has propelled me on a folk oddessey that shows no sign of abating. I've gone the full Mulligan and O'Hare because of that film.


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## Orang Utan (May 28, 2021)

Knotted said:


> Oh my god is it good. I actually find it insanely funny in a weird transgressive way. Also Jim Williams score.


The waxing scene is so funny while also making you wince


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## Knotted (May 28, 2021)

Orang Utan said:


> The waxing scene is so funny while also making you wince



Yep. Enough to make you wax lyrical about it.


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## Reno (May 28, 2021)

The Witch qualifies. After the initial hype I found it a little disappointing but then it really grew on me on a second watch.


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## Knotted (May 28, 2021)

Mentioned the archival collection/folk horror film Arcadia on the Julie Burchill thread. Some of the footage is something else.


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## Reno (May 28, 2021)

A Dark Song is an underrated Irish horror film about a woman who employs an occultist to recreate a ritual from The Book of Abramelin to summon her guardian angel. Of course things go wrong. Steve Oram is great as the crankiest medium ever.




Mostly set in a suburb of Edinburgh, Outcast draws so much on Celtic mythology that I think it passes as folk horror.


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## Knotted (May 28, 2021)

Reno said:


> The Witch qualifies. After the initial hype I found it a little disappointing but then it really grew on me on a second watch.




I think it's a serious attempt to tell a 1630's puritan story about witchcraft as the characters in the story would have seen it, with their ideas, mythologies and biases. And that's why I think it's endlessly fascinating. But it does require a bit of atuning. I didn't think much of it on my first watch either.


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## RileyOBlimey (May 28, 2021)

Knotted said:


> Mentioned the archival collection/folk horror film Arcadia on the Julie Burchill thread. Some of the footage is something else.




Aye, there’s some superb footage dug out and spun in. Definitely worth a watch if folk horror works for you.


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## RileyOBlimey (May 28, 2021)

Knotted said:


> Did not realise there's a new Ben Wheatley film. Oh yeah!



I’m a fan of his but this was a disappointing effort. It didn’t feel like a Ben Wheatley, more like a Black Mirror episode that lost it’s way. In its defence it was filmed during lockdown which must have been a challenge.


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## cloudyday (May 28, 2021)

I'm probably casting the net a little wide for the puritans, but I think these two have suitable qualities (the genius loci playing a part).

The Shout



Psychomania


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## RileyOBlimey (May 29, 2021)

Reno said:


> I enjoyed the recent tv series The Third Day, which plays on expectations you may have if you've seen The Wicker Man and then often subverts them in interesting ways.




I appreciated the tripping scenes. Representation of LSD experiences are usually cartoonish or just not convincing. They did good.


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## RileyOBlimey (May 30, 2021)

A decent podcast episode covering 20th century folk horror:


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## RileyOBlimey (May 30, 2021)

The 70s didn’t have a monopoly on kids folk horror. Moondial (1988) ticks the right boxes (rural setting, outsider, isolation, and supernatural shenanigans). 











						Moondial (TV serial) - Wikipedia
					






					en.wikipedia.org


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## Reno (May 30, 2021)

One thing about the most famous folk horror films I've noticed is that there is no supernatural activity or if there is, then it's often experienced by characters subjectively. Even if there are supernatural shenanigans, superstition/religious zealotry still tends to the most destructive force.


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## Sprocket. (May 30, 2021)

RileyOBlimey said:


> Penda’s Fen is quite something.


I saw Penda’s Fen when it was first broadcast and still remember how much I enjoyed the story.


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## hot air baboon (May 30, 2021)

bit of a high-jack you may well be priviliged to be in at the birth of a new coinage here - "folk-sci-fi". Stuff that has "folk" over-tones but not strictly FH. 

Like FH it has a very strong 70's vibe to it & seems more of a tv thing - maybe because the British film industry was moribund at the time : - the bbc children's tv show The Changes based on the Peter Dickinson books. The Pertwee era Dr Who episodes like The Daemons. The 1979 Quatermass series. There was the Doomwatch tv spin-off film which had a strange Wicker Man vibe to it. Survivors at a pinch.

I think you could probably say Nigel Kneale was one of the orginators of the "genre" as he definitley liked to do mash ups of sci-fi & horror themes - like The Stone Tape

Back O/T : Eye of the Devil (1966) is an interesting one as its actually set in rural France rather than England & pre-dates the Wicker Man obvs. Sharon Tate met Polanksi while making it & self-styled king of the witches Alex Sanders acted as "adviser" to make sure it was all totally authentic !


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## RileyOBlimey (May 30, 2021)

Reno said:


> One thing about the most famous folk horror films I've noticed is that there is no supernatural activity or if there is, then it's often experienced by characters subjectively. Even if there are supernatural shenanigans, superstition/religious zealotry still tends to the most destructive force.



In Moondial superstition is certainly the most destructive force.


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## Knotted (May 30, 2021)

One film I feel keeps getting missed off the list is Roman Polanski's Macbeth. I suppose because it's Shakespeare, it's not thought of as horror nevermind folk horror. But Shakespeare can be horrifying and Polanski plays up that element.

---

One of the reasons I don't think of Witchfinder General as folk horror is that the soundtrack is a pretty typical 60's cinematic orchestral fair. It's excellent, it's even very atmospheric but it doesn't have a relation between cinema and folk music. The film feels like it's from an older more classic era rather than the earthier feel of films from the 70's. This relation between film and score is firmly realised in the Wicker Man. What you see but also what you hear are very much part of the experience of Summer Isle itself, it's not just there to prime the mood.

---

The soundtrack to The Blood on Satan's Claw is a definite move into something more genuinely unsettling. It's still an orchestral score but it's built around this very distinctive impish, piercing descending cromatic. A really simple but effective idea that changes the whole experience of the film. There's also avant garde noise passages, sliding strings, droning strings and a bit of theremin (or a theremin related instrument). It feels they're really pushing the boat out in creating an unnerving experience. It's something akin to then contemporary avant folk.

---

Polanski uses the Third Ear Band on Macbeth who I would loosely describe as a drone based folk rock group. And they create something even harsher, less melodic and at times ear splitting than Mark Wilkinson's score for Blood on Satan's Claw. It's a full on horror soundtrack, that doesn't sound self consciously unnerving, it just exudes terror and darkness in these harsh clashing tones which were simply part of TEB's musical vocabulary. It feels like a step beyond Blood on Satans Claw (I'm biased btw - I love TEB) albeit less memorable. Both films were released in 1971. But here there is a relation between the folk scene just as there is with the Wicker Man and Paul Giovanni and Magnet.

---

Mark Kermode said Bobby Krlic's soundtrack to Midsommar reminded him of Paul Giovanni's for the Wicker Man. I really don't know what he was talking about. I definitely see parallels between it and the soundtrack to Macbeth though. Midsommar is tonely anti-horror - bad things happen but they're not presented as horrifying, it's all about cult indoctrination and the empathy and support that can provide (for a time) while quietly informing you that the cult istelf is both murderous and fascistic. Consequently the soundtrack is full of warm orchestral music with swelling, earthy melodic bass. But it pulls out some disturbing high register drones to match the dissonance of the film itself. I definitely hear the Third Ear Band in that and to a less extent Mark Wilkinson's score.

So musically I see this version of Macbeth as being not just part of the folk horror tradition but as being one of its foundational keystones.


----------



## Knotted (May 30, 2021)

I don't think A Field in England is the best 2010's folk horror film - that would be The Witch IMO - but it's the film that best re-establishes the connection between cinema and folk music (that I know of).

Robert Egger's films The Witch and The Lighthouse are primarily concerned with time period authenticity and this window into the past. But that's pretty unusual. Most of these period horror pieces are saying as much about the present as they are about the past and are obliquely contemporary. Jim William's soundtrack to A Field in England feels like 2010's folk just as Paul Giovanni's Wicker Man soundtrack captures the 70's folk scene.

There are precisely three themes/songs in the Field in England soundtrack that I think are completely knock out.

Firstly there is Walking Here, Two Shadows Went,  which I think is the main theme of the film. It sounds plausibly 17th century but nevertheless very contemporary. And that captures the whole flavour of the film with it's period setting and it's odd and psychedelic stylistic choices.

Then there's Baloo My Boy, which again sounds plausibly 17th century and lisped/sung by Richard Glover. I really like that they didn't get a professional singer to sing it, it feels like music of the people, something maybe his grandmother taught him. But it's really a contemporary rediscovery of the folk story telling tradition. The way it's presented in the film is also something very special, it takes you out of the film, out of the time.

And finally there's Blanck Mass's magnificent Chernobyl. This is used in a particularly memorable scene and it's pure modern electronica. Ben Wheatley tends to use some of his favourite tunes in his films, and the danger in this case is that it would take you out of the period setting. But there is something abstract and timeless about the film. Not about the past but about making a connection with the past - I think this underlying theme is confirmed in the final scene.

Don't try to watch these moments out of context - that would count as spoilers. The film is a very interesting auditory/sensory experience and seeing these moments creep up on you should be experienced for the first time.


----------



## Knotted (May 30, 2021)

Knotted said:


> There are precisely three themes/songs in the Field in England soundtrack that I think are completely knock out.



Actually tell a lie, there's four. The Ring a Roses scene is also very special in a naive sort of way.


----------



## Orang Utan (May 30, 2021)

Anyone seen this?
Saw it at a festival but think I was too fatigued to take it in properly








						The Field Guide to Evil - Wikipedia
					






					en.m.wikipedia.org


----------



## Knotted (May 30, 2021)

stdP said:


> Super-obscure, but there's a 60s portmanteau film from Japan called _Kwaidan_, IIRC all based on traditional Japanese folklore and presented in a very theatrical style - well worth seeking out.



I keep meaning to watch this. I guess Onibaba counts as well (sort of).


----------



## Knotted (May 30, 2021)

RileyOBlimey said:


> A decent podcast episode covering 20th century folk horror:




Listening to that now. Big series of podcasts that's part of. May check some of the others out.









						Folk Horror — The Evolution of Horror
					

THE EVOLUTION OF FOLK HORROR




					www.evolutionofhorror.com
				




Looks like there's some odd but interesting entries into their discussion there - Seventh Seal, Green Room, Texas Chainsaw Massacre. All good stuff though.


----------



## Reno (May 30, 2021)

Knotted said:


> One film I feel keeps getting missed off the list is Roman Polanski's Macbeth. I suppose because it's Shakespeare, it's not thought of as horror nevermind folk horror. But Shakespeare can be horrifying and Polanski plays up that element.
> 
> ---
> 
> ...





stdP said:


> I'm surprised no-one's mentioned _Midsommar_ yet. I don't think it's anywhere near as good as many people think it is (and it's not a patch on The Wicker Man to which it's frequently compared) but it's still a worthy entry in the canon. Florence Pugh is once again on top form even if I don't think the rest of the film came together as well as it should have done.
> 
> Ken Russell's _The Lair of the White Worm_, loosely based on the Lambton Worm, is a very Russell take on the tale - lots of black comedy for those who can tolerate his style.
> 
> ...


Kwaidan is great but is far from super obscure. It won the Jury prize in Cannes at the time and is one of the most famous Japanese films of its era. Its based on the stories by Lafcadio Hearn, a Greek writer who lived in Japan and like the Brothers Grimm he collected local folk tales and put them down in writing. Its a long film at over 3 hours and when they released it in the US they cut my favourite episode "The Woman in the Snow". Visually stunning, it was a huge influence on Paul Schrader's Mishima.


----------



## RileyOBlimey (May 30, 2021)

Kwaiden is available on the BFI Player: Watch Kwaidan - BFI Player

There’s a free trial too.


----------



## RileyOBlimey (May 30, 2021)

Orang Utan said:


> Anyone seen this?
> Saw it at a festival but think I was too fatigued to take it in properly
> 
> 
> ...



Watched it this afternoon (it’s included on Amazon Prime). I enjoyed it!


----------



## RileyOBlimey (May 30, 2021)

Knotted said:


> Listening to that now. Big series of podcasts that's part of. May check some of the others out.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



The oddities are included due to their rural location, important scenes in bright daylight (I haven’t seen Seventh Seal so, exclude that), outsiders who think they’re above the yokels coming unstuck and violent happening.


----------



## Knotted (May 30, 2021)

RileyOBlimey said:


> The oddities are included due to their rural location, important scenes in bright daylight (I haven’t seen Seventh Seal so, exclude that), outsiders who think they’re above the yokels coming unstuck and violent happening.



I think I can see it in all of them for different reasons but they are a bit of reach. Which is fair enough.

If you have BFI Player you can get Seventh Seal. It's a real classic but not usually considered to be a horror film at all.


----------



## RileyOBlimey (May 30, 2021)

Knotted said:


> I think I can see it in all of them for different reasons but they are a bit of reach. Which is fair enough.
> 
> If you have BFI Player you can get Seventh Seal. It's a real classic but not usually considered to be a horror film at all.



Call me a heathen but the little of Bergman’s work I’ve watched has been  pretentious and/or depressing. I will, for the sake of this thread, give the Seventh Seal a watch.


----------



## Knotted (May 30, 2021)

RileyOBlimey said:


> Call me a heathen but the little of Bergman’s work I’ve watched has been  pretentious and/or depressing. I will, for the sake of this thread, give the Seventh Seal a watch.



It's a meditation on the inevitability of death involving a crusader playing chess on the beach with death himself. You'll love it.


----------



## Orang Utan (May 30, 2021)

RileyOBlimey said:


> Call me a heathen but the little of Bergman’s work I’ve watched has been  pretentious and/or depressing. I will, for the sake of this thread, give the Seventh Seal a watch.


Watch Virgin Spring and get back to us. A taut thriller - nowt pretentious about it


----------



## Reno (May 31, 2021)

Orang Utan said:


> Watch Virgin Spring and get back to us. A taut thriller - nowt pretentious about it


...and of course remade by Wes Craven as Last House on the Left.

Bergman isn't a favourite of mine either I have to admit, they deal with heavy emotional subject matter but they never move me. I can appreciate the craft and the artistry, I just don't enjoy them. I like his lighter early films better than his later ones and by the late 60s the heaviness of the drama becomes self-parody. A lot of what he did was revelatory then, but hasn't aged that well. The clunking symbolism of The Seventh Seal now always makes me think of Bill & Ted.


----------



## RileyOBlimey (Jun 5, 2021)

I’m throwing in La Bete (The Beast) into the Folk Horror pot: La bête (1975) - IMDb

It’s quite outrageous.


----------



## killer b (Jun 7, 2021)

Me and the youngest just watched the first episode of Granada's 1969 adaptation of Alan Garner's _The Owl Service _on youtube, and it totally belongs on this thread - has the mood just right. 

_Produced in 1969 and televised over the winter of 1969–1970, the series was remarkably bold in terms of production. It was the first fully scripted colour production by Granada Television and was filmed almost entirely on location at a time when almost all TV drama was studio-bound. It used editing techniques such as jump cuts to create a sense of disorientation and also to suggest that two time periods overlapped. For the series, the book was adapted in seven scripts (later stretched to eight) by Garner and was produced and directed by Peter Plummer.[1] The direction was quite radical and seemed to be influenced by the avant-garde, a noted contrast to what might be expected of a children's serial.__[2]_


----------



## killer b (Jun 7, 2021)

(also stars Gillian Hills, who had an interesting career in the 60s in French pop, as well as roles in Blow Up and Clockwork Orange)


----------



## butchersapron (Jun 7, 2021)

Old post:



butchersapron said:


> A shedload of old 'folk horror' stuff - concentrating on 70s BBC productions:
> 
> Robin Redbreast - fantastic (in the proper sense) play for today from 1970 that clearly had a big influence on the wickerman (though i suspect the original book the latter was based on had an influence on the former). All the tropes here - posh middle class urbanist moves to country and doesn't quite get it. Nice and creepy and a very sinister Bernard Hepton. The BFI re-released this with an excellent cover:
> 
> ...


----------



## Artaxerxes (Jun 8, 2021)

Ben Wheatley's latest looks promising


----------



## Reno (Jun 8, 2021)

Artaxerxes said:


> Ben Wheatley's latest looks promising



Discussed on page 3


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## Knotted (Jun 8, 2021)

One of those podcasts mentioned above mentioned some folk horror (or related) TV. I jotted down everything them mentioned.

The Owl Service
Robin Redbreast
Whistle and I'll Come to You
The Ash Tree
Stigma
Penda's Fen
Children of the Stones
Beasts
M.R. James (a warning to the curious)
The Pipkins
Worsel Gummage
The League of Gentlemen
Psychoville
Inside No. 9 (Trial of Elizabeth Gadge)
True Detective
One of the seasons of American Horror Story


I think we've covered most of these and some of them are... well OK. Most of the 70's stuff is on youtube.


----------



## killer b (Jun 8, 2021)

I came to The Owl Service when searching youtube for episodes of _The Tripods _fwiw - which is definitely not folk horror but felt a lot like it (Folk Sci-Fi?)... it's on Daily Motion if anyone else fancied checking it out


----------



## Reno (Jun 8, 2021)

Knotted said:


> One of those podcasts mentioned above mentioned some folk horror (or related) TV. I jotted down everything them mentioned.
> 
> The Owl Service
> Robin Redbreast
> ...


If we can add US productions, there was the mini-series based on Tom Tyron's novel Harvest Home, which ticks all the boxes for folk horror.


----------



## Artaxerxes (Jun 10, 2021)

Knotted said:


> I found the Danish/Swedish film Koko Di Koko Da to be deeply disturbing. But I would recommend it.
> 
> View attachment 270013



About halfway through this and wondered if it had been mentioned.


Fucking dark.


----------



## RileyOBlimey (Jun 30, 2021)

I’ve just watched the new epic Folk Horror documentary. Definitely worth a watch: Home - Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched


----------



## cloudyday (Jun 30, 2021)

1978 play for today Redshift is worth a look for some FH elements.









						"Play for Today" Red Shift (TV Episode 1978) - IMDb
					

Red Shift: Directed by John Mackenzie. With Stephen Petcher, Lesley Dunlop, Stella Tanner, Bernard Gallagher. Three men at three different times in history come to Mow Cop Hill in search of sanctuary from their troubles: a Roman soldier, an English Civil War rebel and a 1970s teenager. Somehow...




					www.imdb.com


----------



## djbawbag (Jul 6, 2021)

Murrain written by Nigel Kneale of Quatermass fame:


----------



## killer b (Jul 14, 2021)

Interesting blog post here about Cider With Rosie, a book I've never read but had assumed - similarly to the author - was a bucolic tale of country life for kids. Might have to track a copy down cause it sounds pretty dark.









						Reading 1959: Cider With Rosie and unexpected folk horror
					

The first moment when it occurred to me that I might have the wrong idea about Laurie Lee’s autobiographical novel of life in rural Gloucestershire between the wars was a casual, almost appro…




					precastreinforced.co.uk


----------



## Brainaddict (Jul 14, 2021)

killer b said:


> Interesting blog post here about Cider With Rosie, a book I've never read but had assumed - similarly to the author - was a bucolic tale of country life for kids. Might have to track a copy down cause it sounds pretty dark.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


It's an excellent book. It seems to have gained a reputation for giving a rose-tinted view of village life, but seemingly only because the world is full of people who prefer to only remember the nice bits and successfully block out things they don't like - it is described as 'enchanting' for example, despite the incest. It certainly has positive things to say about the final era of village life proper (before people could travel much more easily), but it definitely offers a mixed picture. I don't know if he understood much about the economics of the village he was brought up in, he seemed a bit sheltered from that, but other aspects are very good.


----------



## oryx (Jul 15, 2021)

killer b said:


> Interesting blog post here about Cider With Rosie, a book I've never read but had assumed - similarly to the author - was a bucolic tale of country life for kids. Might have to track a copy down cause it sounds pretty dark.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Interesting article. It's definitely worth reading (as are his other books), mainly for Lee's beautiful and lyrical prose, and most of it isn't dark. 

Lee touches on the darker issues in a matter of fact way, which is out of line with current sensibilities. It's almost anti-folk horror as he's narrating issues such as suicide, incest, bestiality etc. as a backdrop to his lived experience.


----------



## RileyOBlimey (Jul 24, 2021)

Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched is showing in London on the 29th August….at 10am!?





__





						WoodlandsDarkAndDaysBewitched
					

All the films and events in FrightFest 2021




					www.frightfest.co.uk


----------



## Artaxerxes (Jul 24, 2021)

How do I get tickets to a single film to watch online because theres a bunch there I might be interested in.

If you have to buy a pass... bugger that.


----------



## RileyOBlimey (Jul 25, 2021)

Artaxerxes said:


> How do I get tickets to a single film to watch online because theres a bunch there I might be interested in.
> 
> If you have to buy a pass... bugger that.



They have a variety of different tickets: Home


----------



## Artaxerxes (Jul 25, 2021)

RileyOBlimey said:


> They have a variety of different tickets: Home



All day passes for the physical event and I think it’s 40 quid for the digital offering with that. I see there’s a bit of blurb about more info on the digital stuff in August though.


----------



## Reno (Jul 25, 2021)

Artaxerxes said:


> All day passes for the physical event and I think it’s 40 quid for the digital offering with that. I see there’s a bit of blurb about more info on the digital stuff in August though.


Festival and day passes go on sale first, they then usually release tickets for single films a few weeks later. The Frightfest website for ticket sales has always been a bit shit.


----------



## Reno (Jul 28, 2021)

The Icelandic_ Lamb_ recently screened at Cannes, has been described as folk horror and was well received. Cute and scary are my two favourite flavours, so this looks like it was made for me.


----------



## Lurdan (Aug 28, 2021)

Severin have announced a US Blu Ray release for Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched on December 7th.

Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror [Blu-ray] (PRE-ORDER 12/7) – Severin Films

Says it's region free. If you don't fancy ordering from them direct, or from the US, other Severin documentaries have had UK releases, or have been available via Amazon.uk or else through Ebay resellers of course. It's a sought after film so I'd guess it will also be coming to a naughty corner of the internet pretty rapidly.

If you're feeling very keen and/or flush with funds it's also available as part of a very large multi-disk/cd/book package. Interesting list of films included. Yours for a mere $170.00 plus shipping.

All the Haunts Be Ours: A Compendium of Folk Horror [Blu-ray Box Set] (PRE-ORDER 12/7) – Severin Films


----------



## DaveCinzano (Aug 28, 2021)

Lurdan said:


> Severin have announced a US Blu Ray release for Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched on December 7th.
> 
> Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror [Blu-ray] (PRE-ORDER 12/7) – Severin Films
> 
> ...


The Bundle isn't an option available to international customers (those who are interested in paying around $100 just for shipping have to contact them direct to discuss  )


----------



## Reno (Aug 28, 2021)

DaveCinzano said:


> The Bundle isn't an option available to international customers (those who are interested in paying around $100 just for shipping have to contact them direct to discuss  )


I've gotten US blu-rays and box sets by niche labels via second sellers who imported them on Amazon or eBay before. It's all gotten much more difficult since the pandemic and the decline of physical media though. I'll keep en eye out for it, but I'm fairly broke at the moment anyway.


----------



## Lurdan (Aug 28, 2021)

DaveCinzano said:


> The Bundle isn't an option available to international customers (those who are interested in paying around $100 just for shipping have to contact them direct to discuss  )


True, but the 'bundle' which includes posters among other things is different to the 'basic' box set (if a 12 blu ray, 3 CD and book package can really be described as 'basic' ). Shipping on the box is only $30. However the total cost will still be above the £135 threshold so a customs charge may apply here in the UK, possibly plus additional carrier charges for collecting it.

It's fair to point out that I've seen people on another board expressing reservations about ordering from Severin direct. Never done so myself.
There will likely be UK based resellers on Ebay not long after the box is released but there will be a noticeable mark up.

Note that two of the Blu Rays in the box - 11 and 12 - are Region A locked. The rest are region free.

Buying just the documentary disc should be comparatively straightforward however. It may well become available through Amazon.uk. Some US goods are available from an Amazon.us marketplace store  although finding stuff in it via their search engine can be a challenge.  [Apologies: Even by my longwinded standards this was pretty crappily expressed. There is an amazon global store which you can order from through Amazon.uk. Although it won't affect the single disc, for more expensive items prices include an estimate of any customs charges due so in most cases there shouldn't be any surprise extra charges. I see an earlier Severin box set is currently available this way. Of course this does involve buying stuff through those cunts Amazon).

Or it may get a UK release - I think Severin's Al Adamson documentary did. I'd assume there would be more potential interest in this one.


----------



## Johnny Vodka (Dec 18, 2021)

Started watching this last night on Amazon Prime.  Some gorgeous imagery, but quite hard going.  I will watch the rest tonight.


----------



## Reno (Dec 18, 2021)

Reno said:


> The Icelandic_ Lamb_ recently screened at Cannes, has been described as folk horror and was well received. Cute and scary are my two favourite flavours, so this looks like it was made for me.



Really wanted to like this, but it didn't work for me.


----------



## Brainaddict (Dec 18, 2021)

I saw Border the other night, which I think kind of fits in this genre, in as much as it fits in any genre (i.e. not very well). I suspect the director would object to it being called horror. Anyway, it's very good and I recommend it. Raises very difficult questions about the costs of being both insider and outsider in society.


----------



## Reno (Dec 18, 2021)

Brainaddict said:


> I saw Border the other night, which I think kind of fits in this genre, in as much as it fits in any genre (i.e. not very well). I suspect the director would object to it being called horror. Anyway, it's very good and I recommend it. Raises very difficult questions about the costs of being both insider and outsider in society.


Its based on a novel by John Ajdvide Lindquist who also wrote the novel Let the Right One In. He keeps shoehorning the theme of pedophilia into his books without adequately dealing with it. The film of Let the Right One In was so much better than the novel for leaving it out and for me Border was so much worse for leaving it in. Border does fit into the folk horror genre though even if it leans more into low fantasy than horror.
​

​


----------



## manji (Dec 20, 2021)

This is on the Shudder Channel from January 10th via Amazon Prime. Annoyingly that’s another charge but there is a deal at the moment for £0.99 for three months then to £4.99.


----------



## manji (Dec 20, 2021)

Thoroughly enjoyed this thread. I have gone down the rabbit hole in a big way.


----------



## RileyOBlimey (Dec 20, 2021)

Reno said:


> Really wanted to like this, but it didn't work for me.



I watched this last night. I couldn’t get past the wife, not once, asking her husband if he fucked the sheep.


----------



## Knotted (Dec 20, 2021)

I paid 99p to Jeff Bazos and watched Robin Redbreast. Totally worth it.


----------



## Idris2002 (Dec 21, 2021)

Interesting thread.

We don't really have folk horror in Ireland.

If the Wicker Man had been set in Co. Mayo, it would have ended with Lord Summerisle being chased over the bog by the parish priest and a squad of Gardaí.

"Caught red-handed the pagan blaggard. Wait there 'til we get you".


----------



## RileyOBlimey (Dec 21, 2021)

Idris2002 said:


> Interesting thread.
> 
> We don't really have folk horror in Ireland.
> 
> ...



Here's one: 



It's OK.


----------



## Orang Utan (Dec 21, 2021)

Idris2002 said:


> Interesting thread.
> 
> *We don't really have folk horror in Ireland.*


Surely in a land where there lies banshees, leprechauns, muckies and bodachs, there must also lie folk horror?


----------



## Pickman's model (Dec 21, 2021)

Idris2002 said:


> Interesting thread.
> 
> We don't really have folk horror in Ireland.
> 
> ...


it's there if you look for it eg Bending to Earth
and any country which bore the likes of sheridan le fanu, lord dunsany and bram stoker must have a tradition of folk horror in books and short stories if not in film


----------



## Reno (Dec 21, 2021)

Two more Irish folk horror films:


----------



## Reno (Dec 21, 2021)

Shot in Ireland if not quite an Irish film, I enjoyed this stylish horror film based on what was a folk- and later became fairy tale.


----------



## Idris2002 (Dec 21, 2021)

Orang Utan said:


> Surely in a land where there lies banshees, leprechauns, muckies and bodachs, there must also lie folk horror?


Can it be horror if it's part of everyday life?


----------



## Pickman's model (Dec 21, 2021)

Idris2002 said:


> Can it be horror if it's part of everyday life?


yes. for example the horror of capitalism dwarfs anything dreamed up by stephen king.


----------



## Orang Utan (Dec 21, 2021)

Idris2002 said:


> Can it be horror if it's part of everyday life?


Of course, isn’t it always?


----------



## manji (Dec 21, 2021)

Reno said:


> Two more Irish folk horror films:



I have just watched the trailers for both. They appear to be horrendously derivative.


----------



## Reno (Dec 21, 2021)

manji said:


> I have just watched the trailers for both. They appear to be horrendously derivative.


Neither is very good, though they were reasonably well received. I just mentioned them as they are Irish folk horror films. I liked Gretel & Hansel, which is more idiosyncratic and inventive than either of those.


----------



## belboid (Dec 21, 2021)

Wake Wood’s a Hammer movie.  It has some Irish dosh and is set there, but it’s a hammer movie.


----------



## Reno (Dec 21, 2021)

belboid said:


> Wake Wood’s a Hammer movie.  It has some Irish dosh and is set there, but it’s a hammer movie.


The Hammer movies since its revival in 2007 have nothing in common with the classic Hammer films, they are mostly bland and they are merely flogging a classic brand name. Half of the films are set in the US, like the crappy remake of Let the Right One In and they look and feel like any other middling horror film.


----------



## kittyP (Dec 21, 2021)

manji said:


> This is on the Shudder Channel from January 10th via Amazon Prime. Annoyingly that’s another charge but there is a deal at the moment for £0.99 for three months then to £4.99.




Hang on I don't understand. 
It's not on Shudder. 
So you have to have a Shudder and Prime subscription at the same time to watch it? 
That is taking the piss


----------



## belboid (Dec 21, 2021)

Reno said:


> The Hammer movies since its revival in 2007 have nothing in common with the classic Hammer films, they are mostly bland and they are merely flogging a classic brand name. Half of the films are set in the US, like the crappy remake of Let the Right One In and they look and feel like any other middling horror film.


They are indeed crap.  And they are indeed not Irish.


----------



## krtek a houby (Dec 21, 2021)

Idris2002 said:


> Interesting thread.
> 
> We don't really have folk horror in Ireland.



This is quite terrifying, all the same


----------



## Reno (Dec 21, 2021)

belboid said:


> They are indeed crap.  And they are indeed not Irish.


...apart from Wake Wood, which was a British-Irish co-production with a mostly Irish cast and crew, by an Irish director and an Irish writer, set in Ireland and mostly produced there.

Most Irish films are co-productions with the U.K. and most European movies are co-productions with other countries


----------



## Knotted (Dec 22, 2021)

_Hole in the Ground_ is or was on Netflix. It's pretty good until the last act when it becomes incoherent bumbling about in the dark. Other than it's woodland setting, I wouldn't call it folk horror though. Midwich Cuckoo sort of the thing.


----------



## Reno (Dec 22, 2021)

Knotted said:


> _Hole in the Ground_ is or was on Netflix. It's pretty good until the last act when it becomes incoherent bumbling about in the dark. Other than it's woodland setting, I wouldn't call it folk horror though. Midwich Cuckoo sort of the thing.


I think the rural setting and especially the concept of 



Spoiler



a changeling,


 a common figure in folklore and which it shares with The Hallow, just about make it fit.


----------



## Knotted (Dec 22, 2021)

Reno said:


> I think the rural setting and especially the concept of
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Oh yes. Fair point.


----------



## Idris2002 (Dec 22, 2021)

Lads, it was a joke about the Irish folk horror thing, OK? 

I needed the point to set up the punchline about Lord S., the PP, and the  guards.


----------



## belboid (Dec 22, 2021)

Idris2002 said:


> Lads, it was a joke about the Irish folk horror thing, OK?



It’s okay, we’ve agreed Jesus is a donkey


----------



## Idris2002 (Dec 22, 2021)

I will say this, though, I think there may be a peculiarly English angle to a lot of this (not that I've seen much folk horror in my day) which dates back to the collective trauma of the enclosures and the industrial revolution - events that are ornaments of England's history, but not Ireland's.


----------



## Reno (Dec 22, 2021)

Idris2002 said:


> I will say this, though, I think there may be a peculiarly English angle to a lot of this (not that I've seen much folk horror in my day) which dates back to the collective trauma of the enclosures and the industrial revolution - events that are ornaments of England's history, but not Ireland's.


Not a joke after all ! 

You’ll find folk horror narratives and films from all around the world.


----------



## redsquirrel (Dec 22, 2021)

Idris2002 said:


> Lads, it was a joke about the Irish folk horror thing, OK?
> 
> I needed the point to set up the punchline about Lord S., the PP, and the  guards.


Forget your Irish folk horror Idris try Irish folk anti-horror(?), folk romance(?)


----------



## belboid (Dec 22, 2021)

Idris2002 said:


> I will say this, though, I think there may be a peculiarly English angle to a lot of this (not that I've seen much folk horror in my day) which dates back to the collective trauma of the enclosures and the industrial revolution - events that are ornaments of England's history, but not Ireland's.


The enclosures went hand in hand both with the massive shift in the role of women, and with colonialism. Which gave rise to both witchcraft and a much wider fear of the dark (skinned). The three things, combined with the final crushing of paganism at the same time, dovetail neatly together and make up a bedrock of much folk horror, or British folk horror, anyway.  Jacques Tourneur made the most similar non-English folk horrors, imo.  Other countries obviously also have them, but they are based upon their own myths and legends. Thai horrors are largely folk horrors (well, the two I've seen both were)


----------



## Knotted (Jan 2, 2022)

Here's a video by two youtubers with an interest in US history and esoterica with a commentary on The Witch. To be watched alongside the film itself, if you can stand their chatter. Historians and folklorists seem to really love this film, and I think they're right. Some interesting takeaway points - 

The puritan witch hunters had an apocalyptic point of view that saw witchcraft as evidence of the end times.
The imagery of the film is more influenced by continental European folklore rather than English/Scottish/American folklore.

Anyway witchout with this.


----------



## Orang Utan (Jan 5, 2022)

After noticing Jim Williams has just scored Titane (not folk horror), but also four of Ben Wheatley’s films, I IMDb’d him and noticed he’s also scored this recent doc:








						Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror (2021) - IMDb
					

Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror: Directed by Kier-La Janisse. With Linda Hayden, Ian Ogilvy, Kevin Kölsch, Sean Hogan. A thorough overview and dissection of the subgenre of 'folk horror, ' with contributions from many of the major creators and clips from cinema all...




					www.imdb.com


----------



## Orang Utan (Jan 5, 2022)

RileyOBlimey said:


> Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched is showing in London on the 29th August….at 10am!?
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Oops mentioned already


----------



## Pickman's model (Jan 5, 2022)

belboid said:


> The enclosures went hand in hand both with the massive shift in the role of women, and with colonialism. Which gave rise to both witchcraft and a much wider fear of the dark (skinned). The three things, combined with the final crushing of paganism at the same time, dovetail neatly together and make up a bedrock of much folk horror, or British folk horror, anyway.  Jacques Tourneur made the most similar non-English folk horrors, imo.  Other countries obviously also have them, but they are based upon their own myths and legends. Thai horrors are largely folk horrors (well, the two I've seen both were)


Yeh. I'm not sure how enclosures gave rise to witchcraft. Certainly doesn't explain anything happening before enclosures eg the malleus maleficarum. Maybe you could run through this again with respect to eg Scotland and Iceland. Or pendle. And the final crushing of paganism? I'd be grateful if you could elaborate


----------



## manji (Jan 19, 2022)

Watched this recently. Quite superb documentary, all 3hrs 12mins of it. Referenced nearly every film mentioned on this thread clearly a lot of work was put into it loads of film clips, made for the doc animation and score and took in folk horror from Asia, Russia, South America. 

I am going to watch it again and take notes.


----------



## Knotted (Jan 20, 2022)

manji said:


> Watched this recently. Quite superb documentary, all 3hrs 12mins of it. Referenced nearly every film mentioned on this thread clearly a lot of work was put into it loads of film clips, made for the doc animation and score and took in folk horror from Asia, Russia, South America.
> 
> I am going to watch it again and take notes.



It's on Shudder and I've kept my account. Awesome.


----------



## Reno (Jan 20, 2022)

I watched the documentary last weekend and really enjoyed it. I liked that it stretched beyond what would be considered folk horror and there are a few films which I wished it had mentioned. I've also downloaded a couple of films which are in the blu-ray boxset, but haven't gotten round to them yet.


----------



## manji (Jan 20, 2022)

Reno said:


> I watched the documentary last weekend and really enjoyed it. I liked that it stretched beyond what would be considered folk horror and there are a few films which I wished it had mentioned. I've also downloaded a couple of films which are in the blu-ray boxset, but haven't gotten round to them yet.


I was particularly taken by the Native American chap ( I don’t think I’m spoiling anything ) talking about the Indian burial ground trope "the whole of North America is a burial ground "


----------



## RileyOBlimey (Jan 20, 2022)

It would be grand to get a usable list of films referenced in this doc.


----------



## surreybrowncap (Jan 20, 2022)

RileyOBlimey said:


> It would be grand to get a usable list of films referenced in this doc.


Hope this helps








						Films mentioned in "Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror"
					

Every film mentioned in Severin Films' Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror. Works not listed on Letterboxd: · Bagpuss (1974) · Boris Karloff's Thriller: "Papa Benjamin" · Ich-Chi (2020) · Sweet Sounds: The Music of the Arkansas Ozarks (1954) · Tales from the Darkside...




					letterboxd.com


----------



## belboid (Jan 20, 2022)

Well, surely that can't be Emily's Bagpuss, that would be ridiculous.  Oh, it is, how ridiculously marvelous.


----------



## Reno (Jan 20, 2022)

belboid said:


> Well, surely that can't be Emily's Bagpuss, that would be ridiculous.  Oh, it is, how ridiculously marvelous.


The documentary is over 3 hours long, it touches on lots of other works which aren't folk horror for context.


----------



## Knotted (Jan 20, 2022)

Watched the Love Witch recently which I thought was great. It's a stunning 60's technicolour pastiche film with a feminist theme/discussion in a very on the nose sort of way. It's got a witch and a cult but not really folk horror until it suddenly and randomly folks things up immensely. So I'm going to count it.



Because that is indeed how you folk horror,


----------



## RileyOBlimey (Jan 20, 2022)

surreybrowncap said:


> Hope this helps
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Cheers!


----------



## Reno (Jan 23, 2022)

More folk horror starring Noomi Rapace coming up.











						You Won’t Be Alone review – spellbinding tale of a body-switching witch
					

A witch discovers life, love and death via the bodies of others in a beautifully made and moving treatise on what it it means to be human




					www.theguardian.com


----------



## RileyOBlimey (Feb 19, 2022)

I just watched the remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre so you need to.

That is all.


----------



## Reno (Feb 20, 2022)

RileyOBlimey said:


> I just watched the remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre so you need to.
> 
> That is all.


The remake from 2003 or the new film on Netflix ? The new one is a direct sequel to the original film from 1974. Not sure this slasher franchise qualifies as folk horror, despite a rural setting. The redneck slasher film is its own sub-genre, see also the The Hills Have Eyes and Wrong Turn films.


----------



## Orang Utan (Feb 20, 2022)

This just came up on my feed - an interesting list:








						The 15 Best Folk Horror Movies Ranked - /Film
					

Join hands and dance around the May Pole, ignoring that creeping sense of doom as we celebrate 15 of the best folk horror films out there.




					www.slashfilm.com


----------



## Knotted (Feb 20, 2022)

Orang Utan said:


> This just came up on my feed - an interesting list:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



I agree with the top two slots. The Witch is something really fascinating IMO and I'm more fascinated by it on each watch.

Eggers new film looks quite convention Viking saga sort of thing not sure if it's folk horror or any good. But its coming soon.


----------



## Knotted (Feb 20, 2022)

All folk horror lists should really mention Häxan.


----------



## Reno (Feb 20, 2022)

Orang Utan said:


> This just came up on my feed - an interesting list:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I don't get the feeling the compiler of the lists has more than a passing knowledge of folk horror but lists drive punters to websites, so these websites look at each others lists and just alter them slightly. (The 16 Best Folk Horror Movies Of All Time ) Several mediocre (and some good) new films, while a lot of essential older films are missing. Most of the people who work on these websites don't watch enough old films.


----------



## RileyOBlimey (Feb 20, 2022)

Reno said:


> The remake from 2003 or the new film on Netflix ? The new one is a direct sequel to the original film from 1974. Not sure this slasher franchise qualifies as folk horror, despite a rural setting. The redneck slasher film is its own sub-genre, see also the The Hills Have Eyes and Wrong Turn films.



The new Netflix one, it’s dismal.

It may not be an intuitive member of the genre but it ticks most of Adam Scovell’s criteria for folk horror:

1. Rural Location
2. Isolated Groups
3. Skewed Moral and Belief Systems
4. Supernatural or Violent Happenings.

In addition, folk horrors are mainly set in daylight and have an outsider protagonist with a sense of superiority. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre fits in.


----------



## Reno (Feb 21, 2022)

RileyOBlimey said:


> The new Netflix one, it’s dismal.
> 
> It may not be an intuitive member of the genre but it ticks most of Adam Scovell’s criteria for folk horror:
> 
> ...


The Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise has the least worthwhile run of sequels of the major slasher franchise, though I quite like the 2003 remake.

One horror franchise which reinvented itself as pure folk horror with the most recent instalment is Paranormal Activity and I quite liked that. It just has nothing to do with the films that came before, maybe further sequels will link it to events of of the previous films.


----------



## cybershot (Feb 21, 2022)

Reno said:


> The Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise has the least worthwhile run of sequels of the major slasher franchise, though I quite like the 2003 remake.
> 
> One horror franchise which reinvented itself as pure folk horror with the most recent instalment is Paranormal Activity and I quite liked that. It just has to do nothing with the films that came before, maybe further sequels will link it to events of of the previous films.



Hmm, I binned off watching that due to critic and general audience ratings were poor. But maybe I'll give it a go on your good word!


----------



## Reno (Feb 21, 2022)

cybershot said:


> Hmm, I binned off watching that due to critic and general audience ratings were poor. But maybe I'll give it a go on your good word!


I read those reviews too and considering that, I regard it as a pleasant surprise. I think one reason why it got poor ratings is because it's puzzling as to why it's part of the Paranormal Activity franchise and people expected something that continues the story. It has no connection to the other films and has a completely different look and  feel. Taken on its own, as a found footage take on the folk horror film, it's pretty good. Horror films, especially later entries in a franchise automatically tend to get a short shrift. I just watched the new Scream, which got middling reviews, but which I also thought was about as good as the 5th itineration of a premise gets.


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## Orang Utan (Feb 21, 2022)

Which is the latest Paranormal Activity movie? I haven’t seen any. Not really a fan of those types of ghosts/hauntings generally but if it’s gone full folk horror, I might be interested…


----------



## Reno (Feb 21, 2022)

Orang Utan said:


> Which is the latest Paranormal Activity movie? I haven’t seen any. Not really a fan of those types of ghosts/hauntings generally but if it’s gone full folk horror, I might be interested…


It's called Paranormal Activity: Next of Kin and it came out last year. It's a found footage movie (many people don't like those),  but unlike the rest, which take place in San Diego and LA, this one takes place in an Amish community.


----------



## belboid (Feb 21, 2022)

Reno said:


> It's called Paranormal Activity: Next of Kin and it came out last year. It's a found footage movie (many people don't like those)


Have you seen the Japanese one?


----------



## Reno (Feb 21, 2022)

belboid said:


> Have you seen the Japanese one?


I have but I don't remember much about it, I found it rather dull, it was an unofficial spin-off.


----------



## Orang Utan (Feb 21, 2022)

Reno said:


> It's called Paranormal Activity: Next of Kin and it came out last year. It's a found footage movie (many people don't like those),  but unlike the rest, which take place in San Diego and LA, this one takes place in an Amish community.


Found footage in an Amish community? Is it a series of lithographs?


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## Reno (Feb 21, 2022)

Orang Utan said:


> Found footage in an Amish community? Is it a series of lithographs?


It’s about an outsider making a documentary about them.


----------



## cybershot (Feb 21, 2022)

Reno said:


> I read those reviews too and considering that, I regard it as a pleasant surprise. I think one reason why it got poor ratings is because it's puzzling as to why it's part of the Paranormal Activity franchise and people expected something that continues the story. It has no connection to the other films and has a completely different look and  feel. Taken on its own, as a found footage take on the folk horror film, it's pretty good. Horror films, especially later entries in a franchise automatically tend to get a short shrift. I just watched the new Scream, which got middling reviews, but which I also thought was about as good as the 5th itineration of a premise gets.



Funny enough, also watched Scream (2022) over the weekend, and while it was nothing overly new, quite tongue in cheek to modern day, it was ok. Probably wouldn't go out of my way to watch it again, but it filled in a decent 90 minute boredom hole.


----------



## RileyOBlimey (Feb 22, 2022)

Reno said:


> It’s about an outsider making a documentary about them.



Good call, I enjoyed that.


----------



## killer b (Feb 24, 2022)

seems to be news abroad tonight of a new Tim Key starring Witchfinder General comedy show. Could be anywhere between good and terrible I guess.


----------



## killer b (Feb 24, 2022)

Folk Horror fans in my orbit are also keen on this new thing on Shudder, _Hellbender_


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## Brainaddict (Feb 25, 2022)

killer b said:


> seems to be news abroad tonight of a new Tim Key starring Witchfinder General comedy show. Could be anywhere between good and terrible I guess.



Hmm, I wonder though if it was made by people who thought Upstart Crow was good? I don't even know who those people are since I've never met any of them but they must exist and their existence worries me.


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## RileyOBlimey (Feb 25, 2022)

killer b said:


> Folk Horror fans in my orbit are also keen on this new thing on Shudder, _Hellbender_




Yea, it’s not as bad as the first 5 minutes would have you believe. In fact its pretty decent.


----------



## Reno (Feb 25, 2022)

killer b said:


> Folk Horror fans in my orbit are also keen on this new thing on Shudder, _Hellbender_



I saw their previous film The Deeper you Dig, which was a decent effort for a no-budget film. This was made by a family, father, mother and daughter, who direct, write and act in their own horror films and they seem pretty cool. This is the family would have loved to be born into !


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## Knotted (Feb 25, 2022)

killer b said:


> Folk Horror fans in my orbit are also keen on this new thing on Shudder, _Hellbender_




I watched half of it last night. Witchy woody goodness wrapped up in a coming of age film.


----------



## Knotted (Feb 27, 2022)

Hellbender is interesting. Not sure I liked where it ended up going. Not sure it quite earned it. But interesting and trippy.


----------



## neonwilderness (Mar 12, 2022)

killer b said:


> seems to be news abroad tonight of a new Tim Key starring Witchfinder General comedy show. Could be anywhere between good and terrible I guess.



I’ve watched the first couple of episodes and am quite enjoying it. He’s basically doing the same character he does with Partridge though (unsurprisingly given who’s involved), so I can see if why some people might not like it.


----------



## Reno (Mar 30, 2022)

The Irish horror film You Are Not My Mother may take place around a Dublin council estate but its supernatural elements are based in Irish folklore. A promising feature debut by its writer-director Kate Dolan and it's almost better as film about a girl dealing with a mother who appears to be bipolar than as a tale of the supernatural. Vibes of Candyman at the end. Worth checking out, even if it commits the sin where the title becomes a line of dialogue at a pivotal moment.


----------



## contadino (Mar 30, 2022)

killer b said:


> (oh he also did the poster for the new Ben Wheatley film)
> 
> View attachment 270401


Thanks for the heads up. I watched this one a couple of weekends ago now, and think it is excellent. The most accessible film by Ben Wheatley. Great use of colour, good balance of tension and grotty gory bits and a fascinating and little-understood  natural phenomenon to base a storyline on.


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## WhyLikeThis (Jun 16, 2022)

This is reviewed as being just about OK but I’m sure many of us a scraping the barrel atm…


----------



## kittyP (Jun 16, 2022)

WhyLikeThis said:


> This is reviewed as being just about OK but I’m sure many of us a scraping the barrel atm…



I really want to see it


----------



## WhyLikeThis (Jun 16, 2022)

kittyP said:


> I really want to see it



Me too, I’m taking myself to the flicks this weekend.


----------



## WhyLikeThis (Jun 18, 2022)

Just watched Men. They certainly laboured the point but I’m glad I watched it.


----------



## manji (Aug 3, 2022)

This is as good enough to be classed as Folk Horror. A bit Ben Wheatlyish. Witches, Scotland, Misty Landscapes. It’s on Amazon Prime going to give it a go tonight.


----------



## belboid (Aug 3, 2022)

manji said:


> This is as good enough to be classed as Folk Horror. A bit Ben Wheatlyish. Witches, Scotland, Misty Landscapes. It’s on Amazon Prime going to give it a go tonight.


Handy to give us the title, my eyesights got trouble with such small writing. 

I presume it’s called ‘She Will’


----------



## DaveCinzano (Aug 3, 2022)

belboid said:


> I presume it’s called ‘She Will’


Niche  









						Wilhelmina (TV Series 2001) - IMDb
					

Wilhelmina: With Anne-Wil Blankers, Mark Rietman, Mirjam Stolwijk, Geert Lageveen. Drama about the life of Queen Wilhelmina.




					imdb.com


----------



## manji (Aug 3, 2022)

belboid said:


> Handy to give us the title, my eyesights got trouble with such small writing.
> 
> I presume it’s called ‘She Will’


Well done


----------



## kittyP (Aug 3, 2022)

I watched Men the other night and really enjoyed it. 
I know a lot of people who didn't but IMHO you can't go wrong with Buckly and Kinneir (sp?)


----------



## WhyLikeThis (Aug 3, 2022)

manji said:


> This is as good enough to be classed as Folk Horror. A bit Ben Wheatlyish. Witches, Scotland, Misty Landscapes. It’s on Amazon Prime going to give it a go tonight.



I have to say I wasn’t impressed with this from the very beginning.

- Travelling on a sleeper train that’s ye olde wooden lined in a large cabin, isn’t a thing.

- There’s a shot that appears to be the Harry Potter viaduct which is on the opposite side of Scotland to their destination of Boat Garten.

- Sleeper trains arrive in Scotland first thing in the morning and yet they got off at Boat Garten and drove until the night to arrive at their destination. This is bollocks. The line the Cairngorm part of the sleeper train on goes until Inverness, if you had an epic drive the only place could be the very far north, where Inverness would be the sensible place to alight. Not in the middle of the Cairngorms.

- The plot was daft and lazy that a toddler could read like a Noddy book.

I would argue this isn’t folk horror. The supernatural was presented as fact and not superstition or left for the viewer to infer either which way. The outside city folk didn’t really come unstuck by their haughty ways. Most of the horror was at night, whereas folk horror draws on being exposed to nature in its full gaze. 

It was better than some of the stuff I’ve been watching of late so, not all bad!


----------



## kittyP (Aug 20, 2022)

Welsh folk horror, The Feast 

Looks like it could be worth a watch.


----------



## WhyLikeThis (Sep 7, 2022)




----------



## Reno (Sep 8, 2022)

Reno said:


> More folk horror starring Noomi Rapace coming up.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



I really enjoyed this. The short description would be that it's like Terrence Malick making a folk horror film, so if you don't mind that kind of style, give it a watch. It's also better than anything Malick has made in a couple of decades. 

It's about a girl in 19th century Macedonia who has been raised in total isolation to protect her from a witches' curse. This turns out to have been pointless as the witch finds her anyway on her 16th birthday and turns her into a shape shifting witch herself. The witches become whoever they kill and consume and by taking over other bodies, the girl tries to figure out how to live as a human.


----------



## Reno (Sep 12, 2022)

Moloch is a recent Dutch folk horror film and a decent enough watch, even if by the end it owes a little too much to Hereditary.


----------



## WhyLikeThis (Oct 8, 2022)




----------



## Part 2 (Oct 8, 2022)

Blood on Satan's Claw showing at Home in Manchester on Halloween. Very tempting.


----------



## Knotted (Nov 21, 2022)

Mark Jenkin who made _Bait_ is back with another Cornish film. This one looks very folk and very horror from the trailer. Really excited for it. _Enys Men

_


----------



## Part 2 (Nov 21, 2022)

Knotted said:


> Mark Jenkin who made _Bait_ is back with another Cornish film. This one looks very folk and very horror from the trailer. Really excited for it. _Enys Men
> 
> _



Saw a preview of it with Q+A last month. Not as easy to watch as Bait, lots of repetition and when it got weird I wasn't too sure what was going on. Luckily things were clarified a bit in the Q+A. I'll probably try it again.

He seemed like a nice fella and a woman in the audience was quite challenging in her questions that had nothing to do with the film. All very awkward.


----------



## DaveCinzano (Nov 21, 2022)

Part 2 said:


> a woman in the audience was quite challenging in her questions that had nothing to do with the film. All very awkward.


Was it Madz?!


----------



## WhyLikeThis (Nov 21, 2022)

Knotted said:


> Mark Jenkin who made _Bait_ is back with another Cornish film. This one looks very folk and very horror from the trailer. Really excited for it. _Enys Men
> 
> _




Looks great!


----------



## Part 2 (Nov 21, 2022)

DaveCinzano said:


> Was it Madz?!



She was clearly from Cornwall and had issues about the film making community there being very cliquey. She wasn't gonna leave it but the guy from film four had to shut her down.

I find Q+As often have a weirdo asking something only they would be interested in but she's the worst I've come across.


----------



## DaveCinzano (Nov 21, 2022)

Part 2 said:


> She was clearly from Cornwall and had issues about the film making community there being very cliquey. She wasn't gonna leave it but the guy from film four had to shut her down.
> 
> I find Q+As often have a weirdo asking something only they would be interested in but she's the worst I've come across.


It's _more of an observation than a question_... My question comes in three/five/ten parts... As an aspiring writer/director producer can you tell me how to get a project off the ground... Maybe after this I could show you my latest script and I could stand awkwardly close to you for two hours while you read it and then you could give me some helpful pointers and praise and tell me I'm a genius...


----------



## Sue (Nov 21, 2022)

Part 2 said:


> I find Q+As often have a weirdo asking something only they would be interested in but she's the worst I've come across.


They're a nightmare. There's always someone who asks:

a) A really dull techical question about the cinematography 

b) Something really long and convoluted that isn’t really a question but is designed to show off the asker's film knowledge and invariably name checks Tarkovsky

c) Something about their specific hobby horse that may or may not have something tangential to do with the film

d) Something completely inappropriate and/or racist/sexist/homophobic

🤷‍♀️


----------



## Reno (Nov 21, 2022)

I too find Q&As after movies excruciating. Many people don't ask a genuine questions, they seem desperate to look clever while revealing themselves to be utter idiots.


----------



## Part 2 (Nov 21, 2022)

My friend has a story of a Q+A with Mike Leigh where some fella wanted to know the date a particular film was due to be reeased on Blu Ray. Wouldn't take 'I don't know' for an answer.

I've also been to a few where the fawning fanboy who's asking the questions really doesn't want to open it up the audience.


----------



## DaveCinzano (Nov 21, 2022)

Reno said:


> I too find Q&As after movies excruciating. Many people don't ask a genuine questions, they seem desperate to look clever while revealing themselves to be utter idiots.


I was almost guilty of this...

Kevin Brownlow presented a programme of rarely seen silent shorts at a local cinema, and did a Q&A afterwards that went as one would predict. I didn't pipe up then (I'm not a monster), but at the end I did queue up behind a huge scrum of old dudes who _wanted to know what Louise Brooks was really like_ etc, until after about 20 minutes I was able to step up and... Mind went blank! "Uh... I just wanted to say I really loved _It Happened Here_!" Silence.

Think of something else, dammit! "Uh, where can I get a copy of it?" What? What?! You know where to get it, you literally checked this the other day, YOU CAN GET IT FROM THE BFI SHOP!!!

With a hint of irritation, he reflected the exact thoughts leaking out of my brain through my panicked eyes straight back at me... "You can get it from the BFI shop."

FIN.


----------



## Sue (Nov 21, 2022)

DaveCinzano said:


> Think of something else, dammit! "Uh, where can I get a copy of it?" What? What?! You know where to get it, you literally checked this the other day, YOU CAN GET IT FROM THE BFI SHOP!!!
> 
> With a hint of irritation, he reflected the exact thoughts leaking out of my brain through my panicked eyes straight back at me... "You can get it from the BFI shop."
> 
> FIN.


 I went to the screening at the BFI for the DVD launch. Seem to remember the Q&A was actually pretty decent for once...


----------



## DaveCinzano (Nov 21, 2022)

Sue said:


> I went to the screening at the BFI for the DVD launch. Seem to remember the Q&A was actually pretty decent for once...


I can see my copy right in front of me as the kid ogles Minecraft videos on YouTube


----------



## Sue (Nov 21, 2022)

DaveCinzano said:


> I can see my copy right in front of me as the kid ogles Minecraft videos on YouTubeView attachment 352415


Tbf to you, it was really hard to get hold of a copy before the DVD launch. I'd only seen it once before and that was on a really dodgy VHS tape.


----------



## SpookyFrank (Dec 4, 2022)

Knotted said:


> Mark Jenkin who made _Bait_ is back with another Cornish film. This one looks very folk and very horror from the trailer. Really excited for it. _Enys Men
> 
> _




Got tickets for a screening of this with a director Q&A in January


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## TheWolfshead (Dec 4, 2022)

I just recently procured a copy of the Oliver Reed film "The Devils".  It claims to be the completely uncut version, but we'll see.  I haven't watched it for some years so it'll be interesting to see how it holds up.  I'll take it with me to my friend's house at Christmas but I'm not sure it'll be fun viewing for Christmas Day especially for my friend's elderly (Catholic) mother.


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## DaveCinzano (Dec 4, 2022)

SpookyFrank said:


> Got tickets for a screening of this with a director Q&A in January


Can the group assist in formulating an excruciating _not so much a question but more of a comment_ for you to take to it? 🤣


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## Mattym (Dec 4, 2022)

We went to the Dennis Skinner Q&A session after his 2017 film. It was in Nottingham & kicked off with the son of a Nottinghamshire miner questioning the whole idea of 'all Nottinghamshire miners are scabs' and subsequently turned into a full blown row between Skinner & the man. Was very weird to say the least.


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## SpookyFrank (Jan 6, 2023)

Part 2 said:


> Saw a preview of it with Q+A last month. Not as easy to watch as Bait, lots of repetition and when it got weird I wasn't too sure what was going on. Luckily things were clarified a bit in the Q+A. I'll probably try it again.
> 
> He seemed like a nice fella and a woman in the audience was quite challenging in her questions that had nothing to do with the film. All very awkward.



We saw this tonight with Mark Jenkin's Q&A after. Really loved the film and the Q&A bit was good as well, with Jenkin completely mugging off the two or three film studies pseuds in the audience who just asked him to confirm that their waffling, unintelligible interpretation of the film was 'correct'. The people who asked actual questions got really good answers.


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## hippogriff (Jan 7, 2023)

Screenshot on Radio 4 yesterday evening was about Folk Horror, and included an interview with Mark Jenkin








						Screenshot - Folk Horror - BBC Sounds
					

Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode explore folk horror on screen.




					www.bbc.co.uk


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