Folk Horror: Something Ancient and Archaic
Words by Otty Allum
Folk horror refers to the subgenre of horror films that draw on ideas of folklore. The term ‘folk horror’ was first used to describe the 1971 film ‘Blood on Satan’s Claw’, directed by Piers Haggard, which tells the story of a rural 18th Century English village where the younger population come under the influence of a demonic presence. The ideas perpetuated in folk horror allude to the innate fear of what lurks in the landscape, nature is presented as an inexplicable and persevering force that should be feared. A lot of folk horror films deal with the concept of religion, especially archaic and indigenous religions that precede Christianity, these beliefs are presented as possessing unexplainable power that emanates from the landscape and overthrows the order of everyday life.
The Wicker Man (1973)
The 1973 film ‘The Wicker Man’, directed by Robin Hardy, is very typical of the genre and features a common folk horror trope of an insular community visited by an outsider. In the film, the Summerisle pagan community is visited by a Christian policeman from the mainland looking for a missing girl. The Wicker Man is a daytime horror which further emphasises the atmosphere of unease, it removes the feeling of safety associated with daylight, therefore anything can be hostile. The film itself isn’t particularly scary and plays out similarly to a police procedural. I find that ‘The Wicker Man’ deconstructs the idea of religious belief; it was made during a time when Christian conservatism was clashing with new and alternative counter cultures. The people of the island are seen as happy and liberated in direct juxtaposition with the policeman who is uptight and god-fearing. By the end of the film it is clear that neither the policeman nor the islanders represent what is good or what is to be feared. All the characters fear their own god: an omnipotent and inexplicable being. I feel that this is what makes the film so unsettling; that what must be feared is something that can never be known nor understood.
The Wicker Man (1973)
‘The Wicker Man’ possesses many similarities to Ari Aster’s ‘Midsommar’ (2019), what with the insular community being visited by the group of outsiders. I find this film very fascinating in the way it deals with death; I think it highlights how our society likes to separate itself from death, whereas the cult in ‘Midsommar’ embraces it, as the members look forward to their eventual death at the age of 72 and offer themselves up for sacrifice. Many viewers feel a sense of despair at the end of film when they see the protagonist Dani indoctrinated into the cult, a cult that murders innocent people. I don’t think it’s about which characters are morally right or wrong, or whether the cult is good or bad for Dani; it is about both religious beliefs and societal/cultural norms. Every single religious group or culture or civilisation has had its own customs, beliefs and morals; the Midsommar cult believe that having a wee on a sacred tree is an offence punishable by death, likewise they would probably consider it immoral to put elderly family members in care homes for years and years. I’m not saying that the cult possesses good morals, but I think it is a good springboard for deconstructing the societal customs that we take at face value.
Midsommar (2019)
Folk horror often deals with the idea of fear of the other, unfortunately, this often comes with discrimination against that which white western people do not understand, such as the practices and beliefs of the people indigenous to North and South America and Australia – in so many horror films there is always the ominous presence of the ‘Indian burial ground’. In Stephen King’s novel ‘The Shining’ (1977), the Overlook Hotel is built upon an ‘Indian burial ground’; during the 70s, the time of its writing, there was lots of activism within Native American communities in regards to the ownership of their land. In the folk horror documentary, ‘Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched’ (2021), the history of American folk horror is explored; the puritans entered America believing it to be a paradise where they could build a new community, they never expected the land to be inhabited by the native people. Due to their extreme religious beliefs, the Puritans saw the Native American people as embodiments of Satan and did not consider them to be human beings, the trope of vengeful Native American ghosts and spirits has been prevalent since very early American literature. The white North Americans’ ownership of the land has always been tenuous, as it was obtained purely through violence, thus there is a sense of anxiety perpetuated through the image of the Native American burial ground; it is a symbol for the white American’s guilt and fear over what has been done. Recently, more films by indigenous North Americans are beginning to be produced in an effort to tell their own stories from their own perspectives. For example ‘Edge of the Knife’ (2018), co-directed by Gwaai Edenshaw and Helen Haig-Brown, which tells a common folktale of the Haida people (Canadian indigenous group), the entire film is in the endangered language of the Haida people.
Edge of the Knife (2018)
A great many folk horror films were produced in the 60s and 70s. During this time interest in the occult had begun to grow, what with the popularity of the Hippie Movement, and many people went in search of new and alternative spiritual beliefs and practices. Likewise, with the Vietnam War and the Cold War there was an atmosphere of conflict which is a common theme throughout folk horror, often between the collective group and the ‘other’. Around the 60s and 70s, people had begun to dislike the rapidly expanding cities and towns, they felt they had grown out of touch with the land, thus the Back to the Land Movement developed.
If you are at all interested in folk horror, I recommend watching the following films: ‘A Field In England’ (2013), directed by Ben Wheatley, which is a black-and-white psychedelic historical horror film set during the English Civil War with a cast of only six people. There is an element of absence and detachment throughout the film what with the frequent shots of a large black circle floating in the middle of the field, shots of the characters fading into the landscape, moments where the landscape is upside down, and the use of tableau. Another is ‘Arcadia’ (2017), directed by Paul Wright. The title refers to an ancient region in Greece which now means a place of pure nature. Arcadia is essentially a psychedelic montage of archived video clips; it deals with the myth of the English countryside and the idyllic image we have of England, and then goes on to deconstruct this notion of peace and tranquillity.
A Field in England (2013)
Arcadia (2017)
For me, folk horror is the eeriest of all the subgenres of horror as it alludes to things that we as humans can never truly understand. It conveys the inexplicability of the natural world and of what lurks in landscapes devoid of people. Folk horror depicts the fear of the unknown, of what is archaic and so old that it cannot be understood; it portrays the ways we fear both each other and ourselves.
