EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT FOLK HORROR

As readers of WOM may have guessed, my interest in Folk Horror goes beyond the curious. As a result, I went all in and pre-ordered the box set of Folk Horror films from Severin. I eagerly await the release date of December 7.

In the meantime, the feature-length documentary, "Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror" was previewed earlier this year at the South by Southwest Film Festival. It will be a part of the box set, but will also be available as a stand-alone disc (pre-orders available at Severin). It's over 3 hours long and promises to be the most complete coverage of the topic yet.

The article below from ign.com is an advance preview from the SXSW Film Festival and explains the content of the documentary.

Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror Review

In-depth, extensive, and with a killer score, this documentary will teach you everything you need to know about folk horror.

By Rafael Motamayor | March 16, 2021 | ign.com

While most horror fans can name at least one folk horror film (most likely a British film like The Wicker Man), there is very little consensus regarding what exactly does or doesn't constitute a folk horror film. That's where Kier-La Janisse and her documentary Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror come in, as production company Severin Films takes a subject that may be familiar for horror fans and then explores it so in-depth that you start to realize how little you actually knew.

The film tracks the origin of what we call folk horror, focusing on just how loosely that term is defined. Sure, there's the trifecta of British films -- 1968's Witchfinder General, 1971's The Blood on Satan's Claw, and 1973's The Wicker Man -- that is largely accepted to be the height of the sub-genre, but even then those films have very little in common other than a countryside setting and a plot involving paganism or the supernatural. What Woodlands Dark does is not to give a proper definition or label for the sub-genre, but rather to prove that folk horror is more than just tropes and a setting; it's a tone, a feeling, something that isn't clearly described, and maybe shouldn't be. At its best, the documentary teaches about how folk horror can be used to explore different fears that change and evolve across borders and decades, commenting on the darker aspects of humanity like nationalism, classism, and colonialism to reflect and instruct about the cultural context of a given film or show.

Woodlands Dark is mostly told through archival footage of over 200 films intercut with talking-head interviews with over 50 filmmakers, scholars, film festival programmers, and journalists from different countries providing not only cultural and historical context but personal anecdotes and insights that paint a fascinating picture of how universal and expansive folk horror is — reinforcing the idea that it's more than just a label to put on a film and call it a day. Through the interviews, the film explores many movies you wouldn't instantly associate with folk horror, but share enough elements that it's hard not to see them as such — like 1974's The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and its exploration of the cultural divide between the urban and the rural, or even 1992's Candyman and its focus on a folkloric monster and psychogeography (how much of the action and character behavior happens because of the Cabrini Green projects setting).

If there's something to complain about here, it's in the choice of interview subjects. Though Woodlands Dark makes the effort to explore folk horror in many cultures and countries across every continent, a bit less of an effort is put into finding guests from said cultures that can talk with an added layer of cultural context. During a segment exploring Brazilian horror, focusing on the relationship between the genre and the history of racial and religious tensions against the Afro-Brazilian population, not a single Afro-Brazilian is seen explaining the different religions that so deeply affect the stories told through folk horror in the country. It's not a huge distraction, but with the film seemingly so concerned about representing films from different cultures and countries, it's hard not to feel like there was an opportunity missing to have interviews with people who actually belong to those communities.

This may be Kier-La Janisse's first feature-length film, but you wouldn't realize that based on the quality of this documentary. This is a massive endeavor, clocking at just over 3 hours, but it essentially serves as the best college course about the history, significance, and future of the folk horror genre. Woodlands Dark is cleverly split up into six distinct title parts, exploring the origins of the genre, its spread in popularity, how much of it is connected to witchcraft, as well as the international versions of it, and how the genre has resurfaced in recent years.

These segments are separated by beautifully animated sequences illustrating the pagan imagery and the folk tales featured in the films. Likewise, the documentary features a terrific soundtrack by Jim Williams, who is certainly not a stranger to folk horror, having scored films like Kill List and A Field in England. The score, as well as the original songs he writes for the film, do a fantastic job in creating a creepy atmosphere and easing the transitions between the talking-head interviews and the movie footage.

Verdict

This is a rare festival release that actually benefits from the at-home presentation, as audiences can actually pause and make a list of the hundreds of films they should definitely check out after the documentary. Though it's hard to recommend this film to people without at least a passing interest in folk horror or folklore, those who stick with Woodlands Dark will find an expansive, practical, entertaining history lesson in a popular yet ill-defined subgenre of horror and come out the other side with a newfound appreciation for it.

Follow this LINK for a video on director Eli Roth on THE WICKER MAN.

If you are interested in reading more about Folk Horror, I recommend the following books, all available at Amazon.

Adam Scovell's analysis of Folk Horror is a good place to start for understanding the intricacies of the subject. A bit academic in its style, it nevertheless offers deep insights into the architecture of the film form.

Howard Ingham's book is a sort of A-Z guide to Folk Horror movies. It's a good reference for which films are considered in the canon of Folk Horror.

If you prefer reading Folk Horror fiction, then you can't go wrong with this essential collection. A second volume has also been released.