ramonmercado
CyberPunk
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I can't wait to see it. Planning it this week. I love the films you listed so look forward to it. I love the reviews by the way!
Your cheque is in the post!
I can't wait to see it. Planning it this week. I love the films you listed so look forward to it. I love the reviews by the way!
Folk horror seems to be all the rage at the moment - what with `Midsommer` and the latest `Fortean Times`.
Russia seems to be reflecting this zeitgeist too with the film Lost Island (Potteryanniy Ostrov) which came out last April.
A young economics journalist based in Moscow is offered the option to taking time out in a randomly chosen destination - with the proviso that he must write something about it. With his back turned to an electtronic map - his finger lands on Rikotu Island in the Sakhalin Province on the border of Japanese waters in the Pacific. (The Sakhalin islands are for real, but Rikotu island is fictional).
So he turns up there only to find it inhabited by ethnic Russians who live a spartan fishing based quasi-pagan lifestyle - and who do not believe in the existence of Moscow. Nor can they recall how they ended up to be on the island. The leader of the community is a mysterious beautiful young woman. The trouble now is - will he be able to leave?
The film has an excellent eerie atmosphere and some great location shots (it was in fact filmed in Sakhalin somewhere). there are obvious paralells with `The Wicker Man` - although the material is handled in a much more subtle way. (Anyway, I am not so sure if there is any debt as this film is based on a stage play from 2007, and `The Wicker Man` is not well known in Russia).
No subtitles - but it's the sort of art house film that could end up as a World cinema release with subtitles, so it's one to look out for. For those interested, here's a more indepth review:
http://alternativerussianculture.sp...trov-you-can-check-in-but-you-cant-check-out/
Beyond Midsommar: ‘folk horror’ in popular fiction
From The Lottery to The Loney, a look at a genre that explores the eerie power and sinister possibilities of nature and country life
Bernice M Murphy
about 13 hours ago
The release of Ari Aster’s film Midsommar has brought renewed attention to a sub-genre which has gained considerable critical attention in recent years: so-called “folk horror”.
Three British films are generally considered key cinematic touchstones: Witchfinder General (1968), The Blood on Satan’s Claw (1971), and The Wicker Man (1973). Common folk horror characteristics include a rural setting, an emphasis on the eerie power of the natural landscape and a preoccupation with the sinister possibilities of the agrarian way of life. The primary narrative focus is often upon naïve, doomed outsiders. Ritualised human sacrifice is a common climactic trope, and is often connected to arcane rites intended to ensure the fertility of the crops.
Haven't seen this one mentioned yet, only came out this month apparently, Gwen
I missed that, how's that then?how the mushroom tea is filtered is made clear in a banner panel
I missed that, how's that then?
Ah, like the lapp shamans were meant to do with fly agaric in reindeer urine. You'd think the americans would have noticed that they were drinking piss.Processed through the body, emerging in urine.
Ah, like the lapp shamans were meant to do with fly agaric in reindeer urine. You'd think the americans would have noticed that they were drinking piss.
I was delighted that some of my A level film students were discussing a new and disturbing series they'd found online...Children of the Stones. I've taught them well.
http://strangeattractor.co.uk/shoppe/of-mud-flame/Of Mud & Flame includes insightful essays by scholars across a range of disciplines including television history, literature, theatre, and medieval studies. It also contains a wealth of creative contributions from contemporary writers and poets inspired by this unique cornerstone of Britain’s uncanny archive, as well as recollections from actors Spencer Banks and Christopher Douglas, and reflections from Rudkin himself. Together with this breadth of commentary, Of Mud & Flame also includes the full revised screenplay of Penda’s Fen, its first time in print since 1975.
Cousin It from the Addams Family?
The Hole In The Ground: A great example of Irish Folk Horror with chilling versions of two songs which I'll never be able to regard in a humorous light again - There was an old woman And she lived in the wood (Weila Weila Waila) and The Rattling Bog. The hole in the ground is discovered in a wood by Sarah (Seána Kerlake) when she is searching for her son Chris (James Markey). It is a vast pi, too big to really exist and signifies something else, later we see Sarah sinking into the ground itself as she nears the supposed location of the pit. Chris starts to act oddly after this incident and they both meet The Old Woman Of The Wood, Norreen, (Kati Outinen) who roams the roads in search of her son, killed by her in an accident decades ago. Noreen believes that the boy she killed was a changeling, as is Chris.
Chris continues to behave strangely and Sarah begins to suspect that he may in fact be a changeling but she is also conscious of the stress she suffers and the effects of an old head injury. What is real and what are hallucinations start to blur as life becomes increasingly surreal for Sarah as she feels alienated in this new (for her and Chris) rural community. Is she becoming another woman who lives in the woods?
From the outset the woods ooze a feeling of otherness, a road into them seems rather to be a narrow trail into a vast primeval forest making clever use of drone cameras. On the ground the woods in day or night easily instil a sense of dread, easily leading to existential panic at the slightest odd occurrence. Locals know of the changeling legend, even at some levels accept it as a reality but will not openly acknowledge it as a fact. This is perhaps best illustrated by Des (James Cosmo), Noreen's husband.
A worthy addition to the Irish Folk Horror Film Canon by Director (and co-writer) Lee Cronin. 8.5/10.
Oh, that Darby Jones!Some people might be interested in this online article regarding Folk Horror: https://celluloidwickerman.com/2012/11/29/a-brief-history-of-occult-and-folk-horror/
And one of the people mentioned in that article (horror film producer Val Lewton) is featured in this other online article: http://exiledonline.com/halloween-tribute-val-lewton-sez-death-is-good/