irish horror

technology, the news, being away from home…it was like tapping into the zeitgeist and then being able to edit it together into a story.

Were there any specific challenges you faced making a film in the midst of a pandemic?

There were several. The first was that it might not have worked at all as everyone was working in isolation! Fortunately, all the filmmakers rose to the occasion and delivered amazing points of views and perspectives on such diverse subject matter despite all the restrictions everyone was under. As they were all working in isolation, this led to very different styles, so then when all these films came in, it was like pieces of a complex puzzle you’ve never seen. The challenge was determining how to bring them together and ensure the fragments made up a whole and that everyone was represented. But the support of the Festival Director of VMDIFF, Gráinne Humphreys, kept us focused and offered everyone a light at the end of the tunnel. The final challenge was that we were going to move through different documentary modes and needed to make that coherent – all while working remotely. The editor, Andy Wilson, did a great job made even more remarkable given that we have never met in person. That was a first. How did you decide when the story was complete? Was there a specific point during the pandemic that helped you decide that the story was complete?

I’m not sure the story is complete. This film feels like a snapshot of another time – the first wave of the pandemic starting to ease and the curve beginning to flatten. Watching it now, in this terrible third wave with vaccination so close and yet so far…there was so much we didn’t know, so many challenges ahead of us. The film ends on an upbeat note, people saying what they are looking forward to. But we’re not there yet, nearly a year later. The film may end, but the pandemic isn’t over. katie mckenna

irish ho r ro

the canal

Sinister and slow burning, Ivan Kavanagh’s The Canal (2014) may be just the film you’re looking for. David (Rupert Evans) and his family move into a historic house by a canal to start a new life. What they are met with, however, is far more ominous than they ever signed up for. Five years after moving in, David becomes suspicious and believes that his wife, Alice (Hannah Hoekstra), is cheating on him with her co-worker. His suspicion leads him on a downward spiral of hallucinations and paranoia. This is further exacerbated when his film archive company comes across crime scene footage from 1902, which reveals to him horrific murders which once happened in his peaceful family home. Just days after the discovery of this footage, Alice goes missing, with her body later being found in the canal. The rest of the film follows the aftermath of her death as David drags everyone else in his life around claiming that ghosts are infesting his home. Is it all in his head, or are the ghosts of murders past truly haunting his family?

Kavanagh does an excellent job drawing this question out until the bitter end, with the editing and cinematography playing a significant role as well. Odd, sharp, and seemingly out-ofplace cuts feel reminiscent of the early twentieth-century crime scene clips which David had been archiving. This style proves effective, as viewers are left feeling almost as paranoid as David. We feel completely invested in him and his son, constantly wanting to know if a dark shadowy figure will appear behind them in the hallways or move past their windows at night. While the acting and script are B-level at best, this film is undeniably carried by its gripping plot and interesting editing techniques. If you’re on the hunt for the perfect weekend horror flick, The Canal is definitely worth your time. lila funge

extraordinary

Horror-comedy is an often-attempted subgenre with inconsistent results, but Extra Ordinary (Mike Ahern and Enda Loughman, 2019) sidesteps familiarity with its fresh and funny premise. Set and filmed in Tullamore, Offaly, the film follows Rose Dooley (Maeve Higgins), a young and lonely driving instructor who wants to put her supernatural talents behind her after a dog exorcism gone wrong. Yes, it’s a mental plot, and it only gets weirder. Enter one-hit-wonder Christian Winter (Will Forte), who’s looking for the perfect candidate for a satanic sacrifice, and the film hits peak-level zaniness.

Extra Ordinary is a consistently unique and hilarious film that perfectly sets up its outlandish premise and grounds it in its cast of believable and charming characters. Higgins is incredibly sweet as Rose and earns great laughs with her informed indifference to all things supernatural. Barry Ward as Martin Martin (yes, really) shines throughout but especially during possession scenes, where he’s acting for two. As for Forte, any confusion as to why he’s in an indie Irish film about ghosts is immediately dispelled by his wonderfully absurd performance.

Extra Ordinary is a labour of love made by horror fans. While paying tribute to iconic horror classics such as The Exorcist (William Friedkin, 1973), the film pokes fun at the inherently daft concept of ghost-hunting and Satanism. This is where the film’s funniest moments lie: residents insisting that everything is possessed, from their green bins to their stuffed stag heads (the latter of which is more believable than the former), is ceaselessly hysterical. Co-writer-directors Ahern and Loughman turn in an instant cult classic for Irish cinema. Thanks to its fresh premise, which wears its horror influences on its sleeve, Extra Ordinary is a delightful reminder of the unparalleled style of comedy that Irish film offers up.

Extra Ordinary is available on Netflix. luke bradley

the hole in the ground

In many horror films, the antagonist attacks the victim in an especially distressing or physically gruelling way. Good examples of this style are Cure (Kiyoshi Kurosawa, 1997) and It Follows (David Robert Mitchell, 2014). Otherwise, the victim typically undergoes a traumatic psychological or physical transformation and, in turn, becomes the antagonist. If this approach interests you, you may enjoy The Babadook (Jennifer Kent, 2015), The Witch (Robert Eggers, 2009), and 28 Days Later... (Danny Boyle, 2002). The Hole in the Ground (Lee Cronin, 2019) is unique among its genre peers. The film usurps both narratives

and tells a story in which the object of fear transforms to resemble something not only inconspicuous but unconditionally cherished by the protagonist.

Directed by Dublin native, Cronin, The Hole in the Ground is a modern folk-horror classic and a retelling of the Irish changeling myth. Sarah (Seána Kerslake) moves to a forested town in the Irish countryside with her young son, Chris (James Quinn Markey). As Sarah settles into her new surroundings, she begins to worry that her son has been replaced by a sinister and supernatural entity. Cronin represents Sarah’s fear and anxiety by bleaching the green Irish landscape, creating a feeling of somber dread. Distortion in the environment seems to mirror and reverse the premise of the movie: the creation of a facade of normalcy over a substantive core of evil. Ominous sound design usurps horror tropes by failing to accentuate jump scares and, instead, focusing on narrative lulls - reminding the audience that dark forces are at play elsewhere. Cronin subtly hints that the tension in the film is perhaps imagined by the protagonist: a woman who suffers from a traumatic past and spends the first 15 minutes of the film chipping away antique (probably mercury-laden) wallpaper from the walls of her new home. The illusory film leaves its narrative validity inconclusive, allowing the audience to guess whether the events they have witnessed were real, partially imagined, or entirely constructed from the mind of a deeply traumatised woman.