By MICHAEL GINGOLD
Classics like THE WICKER MAN and WITCHFINDER GENERAL are explored in depth in WOODLANDS DARK AND DAYS BEWITCHED: A HISTORY OF FOLK HORROR, a new documentary from Severin Films and acclaimed genre author Kier-La Janisse. We’ve got the info and the poster.
WOODLANDS DARK AND DAYS BEWITCHED tells the history of a subgenre that has been particularly conspicuous recently with the relase of films like MIDSOMMAR. “Folk horror has exploded over the last decade with a multidisciplinary reach that few other subgenres of horror enjoy,” says Janisse, author of HOUSE OF PSYCHOTIC WOMEN among others and a regular on the festival/revival scene. “Its manifestations on film, in visual arts and music are proliferating at a surprising rate. Moreover, the genre has inspired a rabid online fanbase whose favorite pastime seems to be endlessly debating exactly what folk horror is.”
WOODLANDS DARK AND DAYS BEWITCHED will define that term via original collages by revered Canadian filmmaker Guy Maddin and talks with over 30 interviewees, including Piers Haggard (director, BLOOD ON SATAN’S CLAW), Lawrence Gordon Clark (director, A GHOST STORY FOR CHRISTMAS series), Jeremy Dyson (co-director, GHOST STORIES), Alice Lowe (director, PREVENGE), Robert Eggers (director, THE WITCH), Ian Ogilvy (actor, WITCHFINDER GENERAL), Adam Scovell (author, FOLK HORROR: HOURS DREADFUL AND THINGS STRANGE), Andy Paciorek (founder, FOLK HORROR REVIVAL), Howard David Ingham (author, WE DON’T GO BACK: A WATCHER’S GUIDE TO FOLK HORROR), Kat Ellinger (editor, Diabolique magazine), John Cameron (composer, PSYCHOMANIA), Bobbie Seagroatt of the band Comus, Marc Wilkinson (composer, BLOOD ON SATAN’S CLAW) and Jim Williams (composer, A FIELD IN ENGLAND, KILL LIST), as well as archival interviews with original WICKER MAN director Robin Hardy and screenwriter Anthony Shaffer. Look for more details in the coming months; Severin has the documentary BLOOD & FLESH: THE REEL LIFE & GHASTLY DEATH OF AL ADAMSON world-premiering at Montreal’s Fantasia International Film Festival on Tuesday, July 16.
