• We have updated the guidelines regarding posting political content: please see the stickied thread on Website Issues.
Richard Matheson"s Hell House. Also he wrote a story "Button, Button" which is similar premise as Stephen King's story "Monkey's Paw",

I've never read a Stephen King book, but I know that the author of 'The Monkey's Paw' was W.W. Jacobs.

I think King wrote a book called 'The Monkey'
 
I've never read a Stephen King book, but I know that the author of 'The Monkey's Paw' was W.W. Jacobs.

I think King wrote a book called 'The Monkey'
Oops, my mistake. I did mean "The Monkey's Paw" and mistakenly attributed King with it.
 
I suppose The Manitou with a slumming Tony Curtis wouldn't count as American folk horror? Something more sympathetic to the long history of the continent and its ancient peoples might, though, but all I can think of are turkeys like Prophecy or The White Buffalo.
 
New film by the makers of the ABC's of horror is all in the folk territory, The Field Guide to Evil:

 
I suppose The Manitou with a slumming Tony Curtis wouldn't count as American folk horror? Something more sympathetic to the long history of the continent and its ancient peoples might, though, but all I can think of are turkeys like Prophecy or The White Buffalo.

Oh lawkes, such dreadful films. It would be interesting to see folk horror themes done by Native American film-makers, though. It would run less risk of exploitation.

You'd think we could do something at least as good as Picnic At Hanging Rock, which IMO is a great example of non-UK folk horror.
 
...You'd think we could do something at least as good as Picnic At Hanging Rock, which IMO is a great example of non-UK folk horror.

I was thinking about this movie at 04.00 this morning, when I couldn't get back to sleep. I also wonder if, although not really a genre movie, there are Folk Horror elements in Walkabout.

The Shout has Australian resonances, too - although in a British setting.
 
I've belatedly stumbled over this thread. I can't discuss films in detail as I watch very few.

Back to the original question about the difference between "folk horror" and "Forteana", I would say that there is an overlap in subject material, and that many people are interested in both, but there are two key differences:
  1. In folk horror, the explanation (or, occasionally, lack of one) is decided in advance by the writer(s) in order to make an entertaining film, book, etc. In Forteana, the entertainment comes from discussing and trying to decide whether there is an explanation and, if so, what it may be. Folk horror is a set piece presentation with a predetermined outcome; Forteana are broad subjects for continued debate and no certainty of an outcome.
  2. Horror (in the broadest sense of subjects that are horrifying, outré, macabre, chilling, or disturbing) is only a small subset of Fortean subjects.
 
I think this fits here.

Masks come out in Swiss 'valley of monsters'
By Imogen FoulkesBBC News, Lötschental, Switzerland
  • 33 minutes ago
Once a year, as the last icy of blasts of winter begin to give way to spring, strange figures start to appear in the remote Swiss valley of the Lötschental.

Clad in animal skins, with huge cowbells round their waists, and wearing fearsome wooden masks, these are the Tschäggättä. Local man Manuel Blötzer remembers how he felt, as a little boy, when he first saw them. "Frightened… but I wanted to see them. Where did they come from in the night? From above the mountains? Where did they go? I didn't know."

The origins of the Tschäggättä tradition remain shrouded in mystery, but the art of mask making is alive and well. In his tiny workshop, Albert Ebener has been making masks for half a century. Today, as he carefully cuts and carves the wood, a terrifying face begins to emerge. On the walls around Albert, masks made by his father and grandfather, complete with real teeth and hair, stare balefully down.

"I think it was probably a pagan ritual," he says. "Something to do with the sun, and chasing winter away."

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-47385356?ocid=socialflow_twitter

masks.jpg
 
Here's a new one by the director of Hereditary:

THIS SUMMER, LET THE FESTIVITIES BEGIN. From writer/director Ari Aster and starring Florence Pugh, Jack Reynor, William Jackson Harper, and Will Poulter. MIDSOMMAR — In Theaters Summer 2019. RELEASE DATE: Summer 2019 DIRECTOR: Ari Aster CAST: Florence Pugh, Jack Reynor, William Jackson Harper, Vilhelm Blomgran, Archie Madekwe, Ellora Torchia, and Will Poulter
 
That was a quick turnaround after Hereditary! Does anyone know where it's supposed to be set? If it's the US, it could be one of those ghastly renaissance fayres where they pretend to be Arthur and Guinevere and the Knights of the Round Table. I know Florence is English, so...
 
That was a quick turnaround after Hereditary! Does anyone know where it's supposed to be set? If it's the US, it could be one of those ghastly renaissance fayres where they pretend to be Arthur and Guinevere and the Knights of the Round Table. I know Florence is English, so...

I don't know about the film, but don't mock the renaissance fayres, it's our only chance to see men wearing tights. ;)
 
I don't know about the film, but don't mock the renaissance fayres, it's our only chance to see men wearing tights. ;)
You're obviously not a connoisseur of modern dance ;)

Guys, there's an obvious gap in the market here for US-based folk horror. Why not write a story or two and make bank?
 
masks made by his father and grandfather, complete with real teeth and hair, stare balefully down.

real teeth. REAL TEETH! :actw:

The linked article above has

"There is the story of the 'Schurtendiebe'," he explains. "People who lived on the shady side of the valley and didn't have enough to eat."

Please can someone translate Schurtendiebe?
 
Have we mentioned The Hound of the Baskervilles yet?

The fact that Conan-Doyle had been inspired by real folk legends concerning spectral dogs from South-West England and the geopgraphical centrality of the Grimpen Mire to the whole set up all point to this as being Folk horror par excellence.


Which is your favourite version?
 
Last edited:
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.
 
James Cosmo is always worth watching imnsho. Also a nice man when buying books from the Oxfam Book Shop where I used to volunteer.
 
Is it very bad to find people you really don't know at all really rather attractive? asking for a friend. :shy:
 
Border (Gráns): A film which might best be described as Swedish Folk Horror as it mixes tropes of Trolls and Changelings with everyday Human Horror. Tina (Eva Melander) is different, she has a somewhat neanderthal appearance but also possesses strange talents. She works as a Customs Officer and can literally sniff out out wrongdoers, whether they are smuggling alcohol, drugs or other contraband. She literally becomes aware of their sense of fear and guilt. One day she meets someone who looks as odd as herself passing through her Customs channel, a man called Vore (Eero Milonoff). They sniff at each other and thus begins what might be a beautiful relationship or a nightmare.

This is the story of another species of Human or perhaps something far stranger, it depends on whether you view the film as Science Fiction/Horror or Fantasy/Horror. Tina and Vore are closer to nature, they run naked through forests and swim in lakes, have a relationship with animals that allows them to commune. They fear thunder storms, seem to attract lightning. But the story takes a far darker as Vore doesn't just want to make more little Trolls, he also has a lust for vengeance. To make humanity pay for driving Trolls to the point of extinction. There are also some extraordinary gender-bending episodes in Border and an intriguing explanation for the nature of Changelings is proffered.

Moving performances by Melander and Milonoff as they explore their angst, loss and alienation. A disturbing but powerful film which will make you think about the nature of differences and what constitutes a Monster. Director/Co-Writer Ali Abbasi delivers an original contribution to the Troll Film Genre. 9/10.
 
Back
Top