Strange, isolated houses, villages and islands; closed communities, whose initial friendliness seems to mask something deeply sinister; people who have rejected modernity, or have simply been passed over by it; ritual practices; the uncanny; dark magic; pagan symbols; the threat of the old ways spilling over into the new, with devastating consequences…
Welcome to a special series of Warped Perspective articles on the phenomenon of ‘folk horror’.
We owe our use of the term ‘folk horror’, if I’m not mistaken, to the writer and actor Mark Gatiss who used the term in his History of Horror TV programme. Nevertheless, even if Gatiss came up with a pithy, recognisable shorthand, albeit that director Piers Haggard also referred to ‘folk horror’ in describing his own work, then his umbrella term took hold because it described a sub-genre already beloved of film fans. Those three key films chiefly associated with folk horror – The Wicker Man, Witchfinder General, The Blood on Satan’s Claw – established a new kind of uncanny cinema, where the vulnerabilities of established Christian thought were exposed to unreason. Considering the enlightened times in which these films were made, they seem to represent a hankering for a magical past, or at least for something both more powerful and mysterious than the current order had to offer. It’s possible, too, that the Age of Aquarius and the new wave of magical thinking found its portrait in the attic in at least some of the folk horror which emerged from the late 60s through the 70s. If magic was indeed back, and if young people were turning their backs on the norms of their parents’ generation, then what could all of this mean?
It’s certainly true that folk horror has garnered a considerable amount of attention lately, with some fine publications emerging and a range of interesting voices adding to the discussion. Some of this is undoubtedly nostalgia; perhaps some of it also stems from an appreciation of horror that is (at least seemingly) supernatural in origin, marking a move away from the bodily-fixated horrors of the nineties and noughties. Our fascination with the ghostly and the arcane never goes away for very long, certainly, and the renewed interest in folk horror testifies to that.
However, in the articles we are going to run, we’ll be looking further afield than a handful of key feature films, because – however vital they are – we believe that there’s more to say. As well as examinations of some of those genre-defining films from 70s Britain, we will also be looking at American folk horror, considering its differences and similarities to European (and other) folk tales. Throughout this special, we’ll look at lesser-known films, relevant literature, and other traditions which we feel are ripe for the folk horror treatment. Our intention isn’t to dilute the sub-genre beyond all appreciation, mind, but we do feel that some other relevant and engaging material definitely deserves to make an appearance here. And, if the 70s were a melting pot which led to a harking back to darker, but perhaps not so distant times – then what creative horrors will await those of us today, living through some of the most tempestuous and tribal times within memory?
Folk horror is an appealing (appalling?) concept and a broad church, and we hope that our run of features will reflect these things. We hope that you enjoy them: the first will be appearing later today…