Curtain Raiser – Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror [SXSW]

Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror Opinion

Folk horror is an alien term to even hard-core horror fans, but it's a foundation for many of our modern classics. With Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror, author and lecturer Kier-La Janisse brings an impressive group of learned authors, filmmakers, and scholars to give an exhaustive tour of British folk horror with the Grand Daddies - 1968's Witchfinder General”, 1973's “The Wicker Man,” 1971's “The Blood on Satan’s Claw", the outsider transgressing on old traditions and older gods.

Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched is a double-credit lecture requiring notes – so grab some popcorn and a pen. This three-hour documentary will give a fair nod to movies we're all too familiar with, glancing past some ideas, deep-diving into others, across 100+ movies guaranteeing there will be dozens you haven't seen. While folk horror has seen a revival with mainstream movies like The Witch (2015) and Midsommar (2019), it has crept in the background processes of modern cinema in the late 60's as a demystification of modern witchcraft became a breeding ground for traditional folktales and shared mythologies. Mixing ancient magic with contemporary gnoses, folk horror wants the viewer to remember that the Old Ways were never forgotten and hardly diminished.

Presenters include Kier-La Janisse, Piers Haggard, Lawrence Gordon Clark, Jeremy Dyson, Howard David Igram Alice Lowe, Robert Eggers, Jonathan Rigby, Kat Ellinger, Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, Adam Scovell, Maisha Wester, and many others.

Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched (2021) is currently seeking US distribution. This film premiered at SXSW Online on March 16, 2021.