12/25/2023 0 Comments Unholy definition![]() The story’s rural setting and engagement with isolated belief systems provides the folk horror component. It’s a movie about politically motivated evil and how human paranoia can be manipulated by those in power with their own selfish agendas at heart. However, he uses his position to advance his own interests at the expense of innocent people.ĭespite its historical inaccuracies and exaggerations, the terror that takes place in Witchfinder General is presented so sincerely that its depiction of the past seems authentic. Witchfinder General (1968)īased on Ronald Bassett’s novel of the same name, which sensationalized the exploits of the 17th-century witch-hunter Matthew Hopkins, Witchfinder General is a cruel and shocking film about a lawyer ( Vincent Price) who’s been appointed by the British Parliament to investigate sorcery, Satanism, and witchcraft in the English countryside. Three particular films - the “Unholy Trinity” - are often hailed as the progenitors of folk horror: Michael Reeves’ Witchfinder General, Piers Haggard’s The Blood On Satan’s Claw, and Robin Hardy’s The Wicker Man. The Golem and The Phantom Carriage take their cues from folklore and superstition, but it was 1922’s Haxan - with its disturbing images of witchcraft and ancient belief systems intruding on rural settings - that laid the foundations for traditional folk horror to grow from decades later. The origins of folk horror can be traced back to the silent film era. These communities have ranged from pagans to hoodie gangs, and they can be any group of people who live beyond the fringes of normal society. ![]() As such, they have developed their own skewered belief systems, which results in violent and twisted acts being carried out on the unfortunate victims who find themselves caught up in the madness. These settings give the films a strong visual aesthetic, but they’re also a key component of another theme that defines the genre: isolation.įolk horror is concerned with characters and communities who are located out of the way of urban environments. These tales are set in the countryside or rural regions, and often present the juxtaposition between lush, pastoral scenery and cruel, horrific terror. Landscape and environment is an essential theme of the genre. But there are certain themes which unify a myriad of works and make them folk horror. Others adopt a more realistic form of storytelling and chronicle terror that doesn’t feature deranged cults and witches. Some of them are rooted in the occult and witchcraft. Not every folk horror story explores folklore. Unfortunately, it’s only one strand of a subgenre that encompasses so much more than that. Whether that’s stories mined from real-world folk tales or fictional ideas with a folkloric aesthetic, this definition is logical. The definition is often simplified as the symbiotic relationship between horror and folklore. As genre scholar and author Adam Scovell notes, the term fluctuates so often that its definition is not always easy to pin down outside of a few popular examples of movies, TV shows, etc. ![]() Horror might be fascinated with strange forces, but its various subgenres’ rules and conventions are simple for the most part.įolk horror, on the other hand, is a difficult subgenre to canonize. Haunting movies, meanwhile, center around people being tormented by poltergeists and other supernatural menaces. For example, slasher films focus on killers who stalk and slash their victims. The majority of horror subgenres boast basic characteristics that make them easy to summarize.
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