By George & Josh Bate
If you’re a fan of horror movies or genre cinema more broadly, Fantastic Fest has proven year after year to be an unmissable event. This year’s festival (which runs from Thursday September 19 to Thursday September 26 in Austin, TX) features an assortment of films from all sorts of subgenres, including an understated and overlooked subgenre of horror – folk horror. As Fantastic Fest 2024 features three movies – The Severed Sun, Get Away, and Witte Wieven – which fall into this category of horror, it’s the perfect time to take a look back at the history of folk horror, including its origins and seminal films that have culminated in the release of these three new films.
Origins of Folk Horror
The term ‘folk horror’ was first used by reviewer Rod Cooper in the film magazine Kine Weekly. Cooper used the term to describe The Blood on Satan’s Claw, arguably one of the first entries in the subgenre. The Blood on Satan’s Claw was directed by Piers Haggard and starred Patrick Wymark and Linda Hayden. Set in 18th century England, the film took place in a rural village whose youth are possessed by a demonic presence unearthed by a local farmer. Haggard’s film, along with Michael Reeves’ Witchfinder General in 1968 and Robin Hardy’s The Wicker Man in 1973, defined the early and seminal years of this subgenre of horror.
So, what is folk horror? Films like The Blood on Satan’s Claw, Witchfinder General, The Wicker Man, and the slew of films they have influenced have key elements in common. Folk horror stories typically take place in rural settings and evoke horror from how isolated or remote these settings are. Folk horror, as the name suggests, incorporates elements of folklore to strike fear in the hearts of viewers. The picturesque landscapes are often a stark contrast to the insidious underbelly of these movies. As opposed to more standard supernatural horror films, folk horror tends to de-emphasize the supernatural in favor of a focus on horror that comes from individuals’ radical beliefs. As demonstrated perhaps most notably in The Wicker Man, these stories often follow a naïve outsider, who travels to a seemingly idyllic setting only to eventually realize its disturbing undertones.
The three seminal films of this genre – The Blood on Satan’s Claw, Witchfinder General, and The Wicker Man – are classics of British horror and showcase how this subgenre of horror was uniquely born out of British cinema and culture. Some have suggested the stories were influenced by 1960s counterculture in England, a commentary on the dangers of holding radical beliefs.
This wave of British folk horror gave rise to American folk horror in the 1970s and 1980s. Perhaps most notable is 1984’s Children of the Corn, an adaptation of a Stephen King short story about a rural town’s children who ritualistically murder the town’s adults. Other examples include Crowhaven Farm and The Dark Secret of Harvest Home.
Contemporary Folk Horror
Although folk horror has never gained the prominence of other horror subgenres like slashers or zombie horror, the subgenre has endured and remains relevant to this day. Robert Eggers’ critically acclaimed The Witch plummeted folk horror back into the spotlight in 2015. The film that follows a Puritan family’s encounters with a witch in the woods of New England is perhaps the best example of folk horror produced in the current era.
Midsommar, Ari Aster’s follow-up to the beloved Hereditary, is another example of contemporary folk horror. It’s no secret that Midsommar is heavily inspired by The Wicker Man and other early folk horror pictures, but it has key differences. The initial run of folk horror films and the more contemporary installments of this subgenre both explore themes of isolation, but modern folk horror has, in some ways, moved away from themes of counterculture and the New Age movement. Midsommar, for instance, is centered around a deteriorating relationship and is as much a horror film about break-ups as it is about the isolation typically associated with folk horror.
A24’s Men similarly has a folk horror backdrop with a protagonist initially unaware of her dangerous surroundings and a picturesque rural setting, but is ultimately a disturbing commentary on the enduring effects of trauma and chronic sexism.
Folk Horror at Fantastic Fest 2024
Continuing to make a name for the folk horror subgenre are three films premiering at this year’s Fantastic Fest. Let’s take a look at each of them….
The Severed Sun comes from director Dean Puckett and has its premiere at Fantastic Fest on Sunday September 22. The film is set deep in the rural British countryside and follows an isolated religious community. The members of this community live simple lives while being ruled over over by the pastor (played by Toby Stephens), a serious man with a penchant for punishment. Things go awry in this seemingly peaceful community when the pastor’s daughter murders her abusive husband and unleashes turmoil on the community in the form of a literal beast hungry for the blood of evil men.
As described by Lisa Dreyer for Fantastic Fest, “THE SEVERED SUN has all the markings of a pitch-perfect folk horror: woodlands dark and deep, a strict religious sect, and a headstrong woman caught up in a literal witch hunt. What sets the film apart is its commitment to onscreen carnage, with a terrifying creature that gruesomely picks off villagers one by one. This debut feature from director/writer Dean Puckett is gorgeously shot and features terrific performances across the board (Toby Stephens is particularly chilling as the pastor). A must-see for fans of folk horror, this is an accomplished and thoroughly entertaining entry into the canon.”
Also screening at Fantastic Fest 2024 is another folk horror movie – Get Away. The film stars Nick Frost (who also wrote the film) as the father in a family looking forward to spending a vacation on the small Swedish island of Svälta. The family ignores warnings from unfriendly mainlanders to avoid the island and decides to journey to the island, only to be greeted by rude and unwelcoming locals preparing for some big event.
C. Robert Cargill (writer of Sinister and The Black Phone) posted a glowing review for the movie on Twitter/X. See below….
Witte Wieven is another folk horror movie screening at Fantastic Fest. The Dutch film directed by Didier Konings is described by Fantastic Fest’s Annick Mahnert as “a remarkable film about a young woman whose only wish is to get pregnant. The Middle Ages were probably one of the worst times to be a woman. No one would dare suggest that maybe it’s the man who can’t procreate. So it’s all on Frieda, and if she can’t conceive a child, well, she must be cursed or fiddling with dark forces. When Frieda is saved from an assault by the local butcher by a forest creature, she’s rejected by her own community, and her faith slowly shifts toward something dark that might just offer her salvation.”
Whether it be The Wicker Man in 1973 or these three Fantastic Fest 2024 movies over 50 years later, the folk horror subgenre continues to retain relevance.
Stay tuned to The HoloFiles for continued coverage of Fantastic Fest 2024!