Folk Horror Genre

[Viker]

I'm just wondering if there are any fans of this little genre. Generally, they deal with a cult, which could be pagan, satanic or other.

Classics:
The 7th Victim, 1943
Night of the Demon, 1957
Witchfinder General, 1968*
The Blood on Satan's Claw, 1971*
Wicker Man, 1973 (only)*
(Honorable mention: Rosemary's Baby, 1968 which could fit in psychological thriller)

Modern:
The Witch or VVitch, 2015*
Apostle, 2016
Hereditary, 2018*
The Ritual, 2019
Midsommar, 2020*
(Honorable mention: A Field In England)

There are others but time and space are constraining.

(Dates are from memory)
* = Really compelling in the genre

 

[Secret Chief]

I'm just wondering if there are any fans of this little genre. Generally, they deal with a cult, which could be pagan, satanic or other.

Classics:
The 7th Victim, 1943
Night of the Demon, 1957
Witchfinder General, 1968*
The Blood on Satan's Claw, 1971*
Wicker Man, 1973 (only)*
(Honorable mention: Rosemary's Baby, 1968 which could fit in psychological thriller)

Modern:
The Witch or VVitch, 2015*
Apostle, 2016
Hereditary, 2018*
The Ritual, 2019
Midsommar, 2020*
(Honorable mention: A Field In England)

There are others but time and space are constraining.

(Dates are from memory)
* = Really compelling in the genre

The Witch was brilliant; Hereditary pretty good. Not seen the other modern ones. Slice n dice horror does nothing for me. Genuine horror is what you don't see.

 

[Viker]

The Witch was brilliant; Hereditary pretty good. Not seen the other modern ones. Slice n dice horror does nothing for me. Genuine horror is what you don't see.

Folk horror doesn't rely on slashes( though some have blood n stuff), jump scares or found footage. Midsommar is totally worth a look. It's almost like a fairy tale.

 

[Secret Chief]

Wicker Man probably did little for the Scottish tourism industry.

 

[Meow Mix]

You might enjoy John Langan’s “The Fisherman,” one of the best contemporary horror novels in a long time. He had trouble publishing it because the genre publishers said it was too literary, while the literary publishers said it was too genre (which meant to me a perfect mix).

Some of the scenes are very haunting (both on the horror side and the human condition side).

A brief spoiler-free synopsis is that it’s the tale told by two fishermen with a third at a diner about a legendary figure called Der Fischerman, and what happens if you fish a part of the river up in the mountains where the stars aren’t quite right, where behind the thin veil of reality there is an endless black ocean…

(It has both historical, occult village type stuff I think you’d like during the telling of the tale, then contemporary horror when it begins to reveal what’s happening now)

I also recommend to @Debater Slayer

 

[SigurdReginson]

I actually really do like this genre, even if horror isn't my cup of tea. Black Sabbath was my introduction.

 

[Kooky]

I found The Witch... problematic in its messaging.
Hereditary was positively unsettling, in a good way.

Would you consider Suspiria (either the original or the 2019 version) part of this genre? It does kind of-sort of of deal with witchcraft, but I feel it's a little too surreal in its aesthetics to qualify for the "folk" part of the subgenre.

 

[Meow Mix]

In terms of films, this is definitely occult (though not historical), but it's more on the ia ia, Cthulhu fhtagn side (from 2016):

The practical creature effects are amazing, reminiscient of John Carpenter's "The Thing"

(In case the image ever fails it's 2016's The Void)

 

[Meow Mix]

Also from 2001:

(In case the image ever fails it's 2001's Dagon, which if you're familiar with HP Lovecraft, is really the tale of Shadow over Innsmouth reimagined)

 

[Meow Mix]

From 2015 (sort of occult? House wakes up every 30 years, eats family, entire town is in on it and feeds family to house to keep the darkness at bay?):

(In case the image ever fails it's 2015's We Are Still Here)

 

[Viker]

Would you consider Suspiria (either the original or the 2019 version) part of this genre? It does kind of-sort of of deal with witchcraft, but I feel it's a little too surreal in its aesthetics to qualify for the "folk" part of the subgenre.

Sort of. I love the original. But it does somewhat step outside of folk. It has alot of the components.

 

[SigurdReginson]

Also from 2001:

(In case the image ever fails it's 2001's Dagon)

Oh yah, I remember this one!

I feel like Lovecraftian movies are hard to pull off, honestly. I haven't seen very many good ones. I felt this one was "ok," but it was one of the better Lovecraftian movies I've seen.

 

[Viker]

I found The Witch... problematic in its messaging.
Hereditary was positively unsettling, in a good way.

Would you consider Suspiria (either the original or the 2019 version) part of this genre? It does kind of-sort of of deal with witchcraft, but I feel it's a little too surreal in its aesthetics to qualify for the "folk" part of the subgenre.

Also, Hereditary is maybe the Wicker Man of this era. I've watched the infernal thing four times already.

It's from the same director of the VVitch.

 

[Debater Slayer]

The Wailing is by far my favorite horror movie of all time, and I would say it has quite a few folk-horror elements. Nothing else comes close to it for me in its brilliance, captivating pace, and complex plot.

I loved Hereditary as well, but I disliked Midsommar and the Witch. I found them underwhelming and largely anticlimactic, whereas Hereditary was dreadful and went out with a horrific bang.

A fairly obscure gem is A Dark Song, based on a ritual described by Aleister Crowley. I liked it, although I found it more touching than dreadful.

Baskin is another movie with a complex and horrifying plot. It needs a very strong stomach because of its extreme gore, though.

 

[Viker]

From 2015 (sort of occult? House wakes up every 30 years, eats family, entire town is in on it and feeds family to house to keep the darkness at bay?):

(In case the image ever fails it's 2015's We Are Still Here)

Haven't seen this one yet.

 

[Meow Mix]

The Wailing is by far my favorite horror movie of all time, and I would say it has quite a few folk-horror elements. Nothing else comes close to it for me in its brilliance, captivating pace, and complex plot.

I loved Hereditary as well, but I disliked Midsommar and the Witch. I found them underwhelming and largely anticlimactic, whereas Hereditary was dreadful and went out with a horrific bang.

A fairly obscure gem is A Dark Song, based on a ritual described by Aleister Crowley. I liked it, although I found it more touching than dreadful.

Baskin is another movie with a complex and horrifying plot. It needs a very strong stomach because of it's extreme gore, though.

I will watch it finally today, I've got the time.

 

[Viker]

The Wailing is by far my favorite horror movie of all time, and I would say it has quite a few folk-horror elements. Nothing else comes close to it for me in its brilliance, captivating pace, and complex plot.

I loved Hereditary as well, but I disliked Midsommar and the Witch. I found them underwhelming and largely anticlimactic, whereas Hereditary was dreadful and went out with a horrific bang.

A fairly obscure gem is A Dark Song, based on a ritual described by Aleister Crowley. I liked it, although I found it more touching than dreadful.

Baskin is another movie with a complex and horrifying plot. It needs a very strong stomach because of it's extreme gore, though.

I'm going to watch this week! Can't wait. I've only heard positive feedback about it.

 

[Meow Mix]

Haven't seen this one yet.

I think it's a stretch sort of to put it in an occult genre, but it's definitely some kind of folk horror. The town doesn't understand the evil (so they're not cultists per se), they just feed it.

It's still an excellent film.

 

[Debater Slayer]

I will watch it finally today, I've got the time.

I'm going to watch this week! Can't wait. I've only heard positive feedback about it.

Have fun! The only movies longer than two hours that I didn't want to end when they did were the Lord of the Rings trilogy and the Wailing. They were such engrossingly phenomenal experiences.

 

[Meow Mix]

How'd I forget the best horror film in the last couple of years?! 2020's The Relic:

Mother and daughter go to missing grandmother's house to try to find her, or to start clearing out her things if she's missing too much longer. They find post-it notes stuck everywhere that say ominous things like "don't listen to it" and "don't let it in."

Horrible things ensue.

(No cultish elements, but has some of the best camera work (seriously this is not a thing I normally comment on so that tells you something), aesthetic, etc. I was creeped out watching this film and that never happens because I watch so much horror).