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Posted on November 6, 2015

The Resurgence of Folk Horror

Dawn Keetley

If you haven’t yet heard of folk horror, this post will serve as your introduction to a subgenre that seems to be experiencing something of a renaissance. It’ll also get you ready for the release onto VOD on Friday (November 6) of what promises to be a compelling example of that renaissance—The Hallow, a British-Irish co-production filmed in Ireland, and directed by Corin Hardy. The official trailer includes the tag-line, “Nature has a dark side,” getting at what I think is perhaps the most distinctive characteristic of folk horror: Nature is no longer content to be background. Nature has power, agency, in folk horror. It lives, moves, acts, overpowers, destroys.

By most accounts, the term “folk horror” was coined by Mark Gatiss in a 2010 BBC documentary on the history of horror. Gatiss identified three films as the core of this tradition—Witchfinder General (1968), Blood on Satan’s Claw (1971), and The Wicker Man (1973). Recent discussion of this newly-defined horror subgenre (almost all on websites and blogs) has begun to uncover both its roots and its persistence, looking back to late nineteenth-century writers of “weird” fiction, like M. R. James and Algernon Blackwood, and recognizing the contemporary renaissance of folk horror in Wake Wood (David Keating, 2010) and Ben Wheatley’s Kill List (2011) and A Field in England (2013). I should add to the list, too, the upcoming The Witch (Robert Eggers, 2015) and The Forest (Jason Zada, 2016).

Posted on October 23, 2015

9 Questions Paranormal Activity: Ghost Dimension Must Answer

Dawn Keetley

The sixth and possibly final installment of the Paranormal Activity series (2007 – 2015), Ghost Dimension, is due out today (Friday October 23)—in limited release—and the word is it will answer all fans’ questions about the franchise.

So, what questions do we have? As it turns out, I, at least, have plenty.

-1. Most pressingly, what do the witches (and Toby) want?

Hints about what the witches and their demonic leader, Toby, want have been slowly doled out across all five films, but they are still not at all clear. They seem mostly to be after boys. In PA2, Kristi’s step-daughter Ali reads something online about how people have been known to make a demonic pact by which they get power or wealth in exchange for offering up the first-born male in their family. The suggestion is that Kristi and Katie’s grandmother (Lois), who is part of a coven of witches, made such a pact and so Toby now wants Kristi’s son, Hunter.

The coven clearly pre-dates Lois, though, since, in PA3, Dennis shows Kristi and Katie’s mother, Julie, a photograph of a witch coven from the 1930s and reads from a book about a ceremony by which the witches would take the sons of pregnant girls, brainwashing them (it’s not clear if they brainwash the boys or the girls) so they remember nothing.

Posted on October 8, 2015

The Walking Dead and The Sympathetic Zombie

Elizabeth Erwin

As a pop culture juggernaut that shows no signs of slowing down, AMC’s The Walking Dead is the unusual zombie narrative that has managed to capture the attention of both horror and non-horror fans alike. With its sly humor, grotesque kills and nuanced characters, the show both reflects and reimagines the ways in which zombies can be used to create a distinct sense of dread. But unlike their living dead predecessors, the zombies of The Walking Dead are not mere monsters. Instead, the show offers a zombie construct that is both identifiable and malleable. While it would have been easy to cast the zombies as simple monsters, the show often challenges its audience to sympathize with the zombies. The end result is a much more complicated and socially aware narrative.

The notion of a sympathetic zombie seems at first contrary to the genre. After all, zombies are traditionally designed to be decaying shells whose threat revolves around their complete lack of intent. Steve Bruhm notes that zombies serve as a “barometer of the anxieties plaguing a certain culture at a particular moment in history.” Season one of The Walking Dead reflects this thinking in its utilization of zombies as the main source of the narrative’s horror. Where The Walking Dead succeeds in remaking the horror of the zombie is in its gradual personalization of it. The zombies occupy, intentionally, both an impersonal and a personal position within the narrative.

Posted on October 5, 2015

Point Counterpoint: Are Zombies Good Horror Monsters? (Yes)

Elizabeth Erwin

Note: For the counterpoint to the argument that zombies are good horror monsters, check out Gwen’s piece on Wednesday!

For the past decade, zombies have been experiencing a pop culture resurgence. Because they are instantly identifiable horror monsters, it isn’t at all uncommon to hear the gripe that zombies aren’t really all that scary. This, my friends, is utter nonsense. Zombies have style, substance and a penchant for ripping victims wide open. What more could a horror fan want?

Death by Zombie is Brutal

Scenes of carnage in most American zombie narratives make it clear that death by zombie is utterly brutal. In Shaun of the Dead (2004), David is ripped open in horrifically gory detail as he screams in terror. It is a scene that is as bloody and visceral as any you’re likely to find in slasher horror. City of the Living Dead (1980) ups the gross factor when Rose is killed as she is forced to vomit uncontrollably. As both of these cases demonstrate, the assumption that zombies pose no real threat is a misplaced one. Sure, they often (but not always) are slow moving but their tendency to move in groups increases their threat value. And when they catch you, it is guaranteed not to be pretty.

Posted on September 30, 2015

Point CounterPoint: Is Scream Queens Horror? (No)

Elizabeth Erwin

Note: Be sure to read Gwen’s argument why Scream Queens is horror!

Routinely criticized for a camp aesthetic that would make Divine blush, Ryan Murphy’s foray into horror has been mixed at best. While American Horror Story has had its share of viral moments, its consistently uneven storytelling has prevented it from picking up the mantle from its most obvious predecessor, Twin Peaks. And so it was with more than a little apprehension that I sat down to take in Scream Queens.

Gwen’s review highlights the many reasons there are to love Murphy’s latest television outing. I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t thoroughly enjoy every moment, mainly because it isn’t often that a show makes me laugh out loud. And ultimately that is the main problem with Scream Queens. By elevating humor above dread, the show is squandering its horror potential.