culture
Folk Horror A sub-genre of horror that draws on the roots of our cultures Witches, demons and ancient gods... Folk horror feeds on the oldest popular myths and legends of our history, sources of fascination and deep fear buried in each of us. Imbued with enchantment and occultism forgotten in our modern society, lose yourself on a short journey into the heart of the folk horror mysteries.
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efore we begin our horrific I might risk sounding a bit silly after journey, I think it is essential to having told you that we were going reveal what characterises the horror to discover together what precisely genre in film and literature, and more folk horror is, because this sub-genre specifically folk horror. of horror film has no really precise We all know it, we have all more and established definition. or less experienced it in our short, Piers Haggard, a pioneer of British folk insignificant lives. Horror films horror, describes it as "an aesthetic, a and literary works are tone, not a plot". primarily intended to arouse a strong Indeed, in all these sense of dread, a mysterious and feeling of fear, films, “One may as well attempt to fascinating repulsion we find ourselves build a box the exact same or anguish immersed in a shape of mist; for like mist, in the rural environment folk horror is atmospheric… spectator. It unaltered by time tearing no universal defining is not really and removed possible from our modern mark of its exact form.” to define society. A place that w h e t h e r exalts the feeling Andy Paciorek, illustrator horror films of isolation as well as are realism or being a material fact: fantasy, because it is the protagonists always important to understand find themselves cut off from their that the horror genre is an umbrella average routine and find themselves term that includes all sorts of subembroiled, without control over genres paranormal, found footage, the elements that surround them, slasher, survival, ... But above all in a society with customs that are the folk horror genre that I will now different or even simply forgotten introduce. from their own modernised culture. In these communities lies elements of paganism, ancient religions preceding Christianity, Judaism or
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26 - VOICES
Islam, which are considered hostile by the protagonists. Depending on the region and country where the story takes place, occult or even supernatural practices and elements such as witchcraft, rituals celebrating nature and its forces, black magic, etc., stem from these pagan religions. Thus the last essential ingredient in the making of a good folk horror film and in particular which demonstrates that they belong to the horror genre: violent "supernatural" events. Supernatural in inverted commas because these films are also divided into two categories: realistic folk horror and fantastic folk horror. One will not use non-existent elements to take the viewer out of their plausible frame, but will use the religious fervour of the characters belonging to the pagan community to create an atmosphere disconnected from reality. It stimulates the viewer's imagination by not showing any real manifestations of the supernatural, a kind of psychological manipulation exercised by the group effect of the pagan community. The other will make use of the fantastic elements in a more artistic or poetic way in order to create a universe of its own, to bring back to life the ancient legends lost over time.
