Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched explores the folk horror phenomenon from its beginnings in a trilogy of films – Michael Reeves’ Witchfinder General (1968), Piers Haggard’s Blood on Satan’s Claw (1971) and Robin Hardy’s The Wicker Man (1973) – through its proliferation on British television in the 1970s and its culturally specific manifestations in American, Asian, Australian and European horror, to the genre’s revival over the last decade. Touching on over 200 films and featuring over 50 interviewees, Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched investigates the many ways that we alternately celebrate, conceal and manipulate our own histories in an attempt to find spiritual resonance in our surroundings.

The term “folk horror” was first coined in 1970 while discussing the British horror sub-genre, focusing on the supernatural elements of folklore, such as the beliefs and actions of people in isolation, religion, paganism, and sacrifice. Led by the films of “Unholy Trinity”, these mostly British films and TV dramas ruled the 70s and 80s genre film scene, before disappearing for a while. However, the revival of folk horror films over the last decade brought back interest in the genre, led by Robert Eggers’ The Witch, Ari Aster’s Midsommar and Joko Anwar’s Impetigore. With this in-depth documentary, director Kier-La Janisse examines this in detail, with over 200 film clips and insightful interviews with fifty filmmakers, writers, and academics. This solid anthology work, running over 3 hours, is a must watch for folk horror fans and informative filmmaking fans. (Jongsuk Thomas NAM)