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Folk Horror Revival
Folk Horror Revival: Field Studies
A new and revised edition of the seminal tome Folk Horror Revival: Field Studies. A collection of essays, interviews and artwork by a host of talents exploring the weird fields of folk horror, urban wyrd and other strange edges. Contributors include Robin Hardy, Ronald Hutton, Alan Lee, Philip Pullman, Thomas Ligotti, Kim Newman, Adam Scovell, Gary Lachman, Susan Cooper and a whole host of other intriguing and vastly talented souls.
An indispensable companion for all explorers of the strange cinematic, televisual, literary and folkloric realms. This edition contains numerous extra interviews and essays as well as updating some information and presented with improved design.
100% of all sales profits of this book are charitably donated at quarterly intervals to The Wildlife Trusts.
An indispensable companion for all explorers of the strange cinematic, televisual, literary and folkloric realms. This edition contains numerous extra interviews and essays as well as updating some information and presented with improved design.
100% of all sales profits of this book are charitably donated at quarterly intervals to The Wildlife Trusts.
547 pages, Paperback
First published November 21, 2015
28 people are currently reading
829 people want to read
About the author
Andy Paciorek
45 books121 followersCreator of Strange Lands, Human Chimaera, Black Earth, the Beautiful-Grotesque, Folk Horror Revival, Urban Wyrd Review & other peculiar things.
Drawn mainly to the worlds of myth, folklore, symbolism, decadence, curiosa, anomaly, dark romanticism and otherworldly experience, and fascinated both by the beautiful and the grotesque and the twilight threshold consciousness where these boundaries blur. The mist-gates, edges and liminal zones where nature borders supernature and daydreams and nightmares cross paths are of great inspiration.
Drawn mainly to the worlds of myth, folklore, symbolism, decadence, curiosa, anomaly, dark romanticism and otherworldly experience, and fascinated both by the beautiful and the grotesque and the twilight threshold consciousness where these boundaries blur. The mist-gates, edges and liminal zones where nature borders supernature and daydreams and nightmares cross paths are of great inspiration.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
August 3, 2019
This (second edition) of Folk Horror Revival: Field Studies . . . wanders. But, not all who wander are lost.
I recently returned from a trip to the Cotswolds (after a 32-year absence from the UK) where wandering was a good part of our purpose there. We, my wife and I, were “all over the place,” as they say. Our itinerary was packed, but packed in such a way as to not overload us in any particular area or town, outside of a long hike through the country from Moreton-in-Marsh, past Blockley, down to Longborough, then back up to Moreton. 12 miles of magic, with several cases of becoming utterly lost and having to discover our way again, whether by pure serendipity or with the help of strangers. We trod across forbidden areas (because we did not know any better and wished to “pick up the trail” again – a strange turn of phrase, that: “pick up the trail”. From behind you? Or ahead of you?) and broke the boundaries many times (apologies to the many farmers whose land we innocently crossed).
Funny, then, that I should have finished this book right before our journey. This was perfect timing, both thematically, and because this is a huge book and I needed room in my luggage for other books I was hoping to find and bring back from the UK, especially because we were going to the famous booktown, Hay-On-Wye, for a day. And, yes, I did bring several books back, but that is a different story.
This book, also, wanders. It becomes lost. It finds the track again. Then loses it. Ad infinitum.
My readerly advice: become lost with it. Keep it by your side, but don’t worry about your next destination. Just go along for the ride. Yes, there will be moments when you will want to tune out and complain that your feet hurt and you are thirsty, with little water left. There are a few essays that you will skim or skip, I know I did, though I was surprised at how few there were, to be honest. The vast bulk of the book was at the very least enjoyable and sometimes a burning revelation, like the sun in your eyes when you wake up from having slept outdoors. Whether your interest is literary, cinematic, musical, historical, religious, or philosophical or, like mine, a combination of all of these, anyone with interests in the ever-widening circle of Folk Horror will find something amazing here.
Please allow me to share some of the highlights of my wandering . . .
In my travels, there are a few souls who I’d like to meet. Yes, there is an excellent Thomas Ligotti interview herein, and I am a big fan of his work, to say the least. But I don’t know that I’d much like to sit down and have tea with the man.
Gary Lachman (ex-bassist for Blondie), however, is a sort of kindred soul. So much of what he said in his interview resonates with me on the level of “spirituality” (a term he spurns, but principles he lives), a fondness for much of the same art, and shared experience regarding the evolution of taste in music. I would love to spend a few hours with him.
Nick Brown's essay "Ghost, Landscape and Science" hews very closely to my most speculative and wild thoughts regarding quantum mechanics and the spirit world. I don't plan on writing about this, as it's all rather speculative and very, very personal. But I'm glad to see that someone else is thinking in the same general direction as I am, even if we aren't diving down to the specifics. I'd love to chat with Brown.
There are others I should like to meet, not because of them as people, per se, though I’m sure they are fascinating people, but because of the subject matter of their essays and their fantastic treatment of such.
First among these would be John Harrigan, whose essay "The Sacred Theatre of Summerisle" is a profound look into ritual itself based upon the Wicker Man celebration. It is an incredibly insightful piece and lends some reassurance to those of us who do believe that ritual itself carries power to infuse life with meaning. Fabulous essay!
Cobweb Mehers' "One Small Step for Man: Hunting the Nephilim" is a remarkable dive into the archaeology of knowledge: the origins of giants, the evolution of myth, and the contemporary social relevance of stories far older than the Bible from which we know them. This was fascinating and has my philosophical wheels spinning so quickly that my brain is shooting sparks. I could read volumes of this type of work.
One of the more intriguing essay titles comes from Aaron Jolly in his essay “Kill Lists: The occult, paganism and sacrifice in cinema as an analogy for political upheaval in the 1970s and 2010s”. I was a bit wary going into this, as historical recusivity can sometimes be imposed upon evidence, rather than being arising from it. There are some connections here, I think, with Mark Fisher’s ruminations on the slow cancellation of the future, though I would need time to ferret out and clearly identify the threads and how they tie together. In any case, “Folk Horror Historiography” is now a thing, thanks in part to this essay.
It took some research to understand that Jim Peter’s essay “The Wanderings of Melmoth” is a sort of multi-media piece about music, but without the music. You’ll have to go find it online. Here is a sample. Listening to this whilst reading this most excellent and playful essay might take you to realms heretofore unknown or might drive you mad. Perhaps both, at once.
And speaking of music, there are several excellent essays about music, the best of which is Clare Button’s “’See Not Ye That Bonny Road?’ Places, Haunts and Haunted Places in British Traditional Song”. This is an incredibly well-researched and carefully documented essay that thoroughly and critically examines the subject matter without becoming academically stodgy. This is the only essay in the book for which I used the term “amazeballs” in my notes. This should speak volumes.
Another well-documented essay is Phil Legard’s “The Hunted Fields of England: Diabolical Landscapes and the Genii Locorum,” in which he provides the psychogeographical connective tissue between pagan tradition and post-Christian diablerie. I must add here, also, that Legard and his partner, Layla, perform as the band “Hawthonn”. Their album Red Goddess: of this men shall know nothing is one of my absolute favorite pieces of Folk Horror music. I cannot recommend it strongly enough!
One final essay that caught my attention featured Chris Lambert quoting Tony Redman in his treatise on M.R. James: "Wherever you've got a margin between two types of culture and two types of landscape you often get a deeper awareness of the supernatural and the spiritual". This rings true to me, who lived overseas most of my childhood and loved (and still love) to wander the "spaces between". This is especially true given our recent trip (back) to Europe (my wife lived in Austria for a year and a half in her early-twenties), where we stepped across several liminal boundaries, cultural, geographical, and psychogeographical. I could go on, but should probably do a blog post about this some time.
Folk Horror Revival: Field Studies is a wild and wooly volume like A Year in the Country: Wandering Through Spectral Fields, which is to say that it’s not easily defined or corralled. And I like that: variety is good. I may re-read A Year in the Country alongside Folk Horror Revival: Field Studies, as the volumes complement each other quite nicely. Both of these volumes have given me a thousand threads to chase regarding the subject of Folk Horror. That makes me a very happy reader!
I recently returned from a trip to the Cotswolds (after a 32-year absence from the UK) where wandering was a good part of our purpose there. We, my wife and I, were “all over the place,” as they say. Our itinerary was packed, but packed in such a way as to not overload us in any particular area or town, outside of a long hike through the country from Moreton-in-Marsh, past Blockley, down to Longborough, then back up to Moreton. 12 miles of magic, with several cases of becoming utterly lost and having to discover our way again, whether by pure serendipity or with the help of strangers. We trod across forbidden areas (because we did not know any better and wished to “pick up the trail” again – a strange turn of phrase, that: “pick up the trail”. From behind you? Or ahead of you?) and broke the boundaries many times (apologies to the many farmers whose land we innocently crossed).
Funny, then, that I should have finished this book right before our journey. This was perfect timing, both thematically, and because this is a huge book and I needed room in my luggage for other books I was hoping to find and bring back from the UK, especially because we were going to the famous booktown, Hay-On-Wye, for a day. And, yes, I did bring several books back, but that is a different story.
This book, also, wanders. It becomes lost. It finds the track again. Then loses it. Ad infinitum.
My readerly advice: become lost with it. Keep it by your side, but don’t worry about your next destination. Just go along for the ride. Yes, there will be moments when you will want to tune out and complain that your feet hurt and you are thirsty, with little water left. There are a few essays that you will skim or skip, I know I did, though I was surprised at how few there were, to be honest. The vast bulk of the book was at the very least enjoyable and sometimes a burning revelation, like the sun in your eyes when you wake up from having slept outdoors. Whether your interest is literary, cinematic, musical, historical, religious, or philosophical or, like mine, a combination of all of these, anyone with interests in the ever-widening circle of Folk Horror will find something amazing here.
Please allow me to share some of the highlights of my wandering . . .
In my travels, there are a few souls who I’d like to meet. Yes, there is an excellent Thomas Ligotti interview herein, and I am a big fan of his work, to say the least. But I don’t know that I’d much like to sit down and have tea with the man.
Gary Lachman (ex-bassist for Blondie), however, is a sort of kindred soul. So much of what he said in his interview resonates with me on the level of “spirituality” (a term he spurns, but principles he lives), a fondness for much of the same art, and shared experience regarding the evolution of taste in music. I would love to spend a few hours with him.
Nick Brown's essay "Ghost, Landscape and Science" hews very closely to my most speculative and wild thoughts regarding quantum mechanics and the spirit world. I don't plan on writing about this, as it's all rather speculative and very, very personal. But I'm glad to see that someone else is thinking in the same general direction as I am, even if we aren't diving down to the specifics. I'd love to chat with Brown.
There are others I should like to meet, not because of them as people, per se, though I’m sure they are fascinating people, but because of the subject matter of their essays and their fantastic treatment of such.
First among these would be John Harrigan, whose essay "The Sacred Theatre of Summerisle" is a profound look into ritual itself based upon the Wicker Man celebration. It is an incredibly insightful piece and lends some reassurance to those of us who do believe that ritual itself carries power to infuse life with meaning. Fabulous essay!
Cobweb Mehers' "One Small Step for Man: Hunting the Nephilim" is a remarkable dive into the archaeology of knowledge: the origins of giants, the evolution of myth, and the contemporary social relevance of stories far older than the Bible from which we know them. This was fascinating and has my philosophical wheels spinning so quickly that my brain is shooting sparks. I could read volumes of this type of work.
One of the more intriguing essay titles comes from Aaron Jolly in his essay “Kill Lists: The occult, paganism and sacrifice in cinema as an analogy for political upheaval in the 1970s and 2010s”. I was a bit wary going into this, as historical recusivity can sometimes be imposed upon evidence, rather than being arising from it. There are some connections here, I think, with Mark Fisher’s ruminations on the slow cancellation of the future, though I would need time to ferret out and clearly identify the threads and how they tie together. In any case, “Folk Horror Historiography” is now a thing, thanks in part to this essay.
It took some research to understand that Jim Peter’s essay “The Wanderings of Melmoth” is a sort of multi-media piece about music, but without the music. You’ll have to go find it online. Here is a sample. Listening to this whilst reading this most excellent and playful essay might take you to realms heretofore unknown or might drive you mad. Perhaps both, at once.
And speaking of music, there are several excellent essays about music, the best of which is Clare Button’s “’See Not Ye That Bonny Road?’ Places, Haunts and Haunted Places in British Traditional Song”. This is an incredibly well-researched and carefully documented essay that thoroughly and critically examines the subject matter without becoming academically stodgy. This is the only essay in the book for which I used the term “amazeballs” in my notes. This should speak volumes.
Another well-documented essay is Phil Legard’s “The Hunted Fields of England: Diabolical Landscapes and the Genii Locorum,” in which he provides the psychogeographical connective tissue between pagan tradition and post-Christian diablerie. I must add here, also, that Legard and his partner, Layla, perform as the band “Hawthonn”. Their album Red Goddess: of this men shall know nothing is one of my absolute favorite pieces of Folk Horror music. I cannot recommend it strongly enough!
One final essay that caught my attention featured Chris Lambert quoting Tony Redman in his treatise on M.R. James: "Wherever you've got a margin between two types of culture and two types of landscape you often get a deeper awareness of the supernatural and the spiritual". This rings true to me, who lived overseas most of my childhood and loved (and still love) to wander the "spaces between". This is especially true given our recent trip (back) to Europe (my wife lived in Austria for a year and a half in her early-twenties), where we stepped across several liminal boundaries, cultural, geographical, and psychogeographical. I could go on, but should probably do a blog post about this some time.
Folk Horror Revival: Field Studies is a wild and wooly volume like A Year in the Country: Wandering Through Spectral Fields, which is to say that it’s not easily defined or corralled. And I like that: variety is good. I may re-read A Year in the Country alongside Folk Horror Revival: Field Studies, as the volumes complement each other quite nicely. Both of these volumes have given me a thousand threads to chase regarding the subject of Folk Horror. That makes me a very happy reader!
March 29, 2018
What a strange, fascinating, and wildly uneven book.
Folk Horror Revival: Field Studies is an omnibus brag bag of short pieces in, around, and about folk horror.
What is folk horror? Ah, I only have the time for a quick intro. The term covers horror stories which a strongly rural theme, and is often taken to have first surfaced with three British films: Witchfinder General (1968), Blood on Satan’s Claw (1973), and The Wicker Man (1973).
One essay, which opens this book, offers an interesting four-part definition: landscape; isolation; skewed moral beliefs; a happening or summoning.
Once you see folk horror in that light, or as a thing of some related king, all kinds of stories swim into view, both contemporaries of that unholy trinity and successors in multiple media. That is what Folk Horror Revival: Field Studies pursues at length.
The book covers movies, novels, tv series, stage plays, games, hoaxes, and music, plus history, film studies, lit crit, esoteric writings, paintings, psychogeography, gender studies, religion, and, of course, folklore. It begins with Britain, but also finds folk horror shoots breaking the soil in the United States, Japan, Australia, and continental Europe from Scandinavia to the Czech Republic. It reaches as far back as the 1700s (and further), and up to the modern day, to around 2016. Folk horror in this sprawling exploration includes ghosts, hexes, vampires, demons, fairies, Lovecraftian entities, and various nameless things, usually connected to mysterious rural locations.
The result is a treasure trove of material. There are many directions for the reader to take while masticating Folk Horror Revival: Field Studies, a range of materials to explore. It's a fine cut across human culture.
The book's diversity is, at times, a strength. I appreciated several takes on familiar text (i.e., The Wicker Man appearing alongside lone glances into more obscure texts (the excellent Sauna) and introductions (for me, at least) to Czech horror. I enjoyed switching rapidly between genres and media, geographies and tone.
Yet the book is wildly uneven in all kinds of other ways which aren't so rewarding, starting with layout and typography, which seems different from piece to piece. There isn't a synoptic essay seeking to unify the mass, nor is there anything like a bibliography or index, or even a recommended reading/viewing/listening list. I read it in page order, mercilessly, but you are advised to just dip into whatever parts intrigue you. And a sad number of the pieces are either weak, badly translated, not well fitted into the collection, or reek with self-indulgence. Black and white printing vitiates some of the image.
One more note: I'm fascinated by the appearance of folk horror at this time in history. What does it say about our time that we're inspired by movies from 40 years back? Are we rediscovering rural terrors as the human race exits the countryside for the different terrors of city and suburb? Folk horror might be a kind of deliberate nostalgia, an effort to summon up a distant mood as we accelerate beyond it. Perhaps folk horror is the obverse of cyberpunk (born a decade after those three movies) and today's posthumanism, a reminder of old brambles the other side of an LCD screen.
Overall, recommended for anyone interested in horror or folklore. It's a map to delightful territories.
Folk Horror Revival: Field Studies is an omnibus brag bag of short pieces in, around, and about folk horror.
What is folk horror? Ah, I only have the time for a quick intro. The term covers horror stories which a strongly rural theme, and is often taken to have first surfaced with three British films: Witchfinder General (1968), Blood on Satan’s Claw (1973), and The Wicker Man (1973).
One essay, which opens this book, offers an interesting four-part definition: landscape; isolation; skewed moral beliefs; a happening or summoning.
Once you see folk horror in that light, or as a thing of some related king, all kinds of stories swim into view, both contemporaries of that unholy trinity and successors in multiple media. That is what Folk Horror Revival: Field Studies pursues at length.
The book covers movies, novels, tv series, stage plays, games, hoaxes, and music, plus history, film studies, lit crit, esoteric writings, paintings, psychogeography, gender studies, religion, and, of course, folklore. It begins with Britain, but also finds folk horror shoots breaking the soil in the United States, Japan, Australia, and continental Europe from Scandinavia to the Czech Republic. It reaches as far back as the 1700s (and further), and up to the modern day, to around 2016. Folk horror in this sprawling exploration includes ghosts, hexes, vampires, demons, fairies, Lovecraftian entities, and various nameless things, usually connected to mysterious rural locations.
The result is a treasure trove of material. There are many directions for the reader to take while masticating Folk Horror Revival: Field Studies, a range of materials to explore. It's a fine cut across human culture.
The book's diversity is, at times, a strength. I appreciated several takes on familiar text (i.e., The Wicker Man appearing alongside lone glances into more obscure texts (the excellent Sauna) and introductions (for me, at least) to Czech horror. I enjoyed switching rapidly between genres and media, geographies and tone.
Yet the book is wildly uneven in all kinds of other ways which aren't so rewarding, starting with layout and typography, which seems different from piece to piece. There isn't a synoptic essay seeking to unify the mass, nor is there anything like a bibliography or index, or even a recommended reading/viewing/listening list. I read it in page order, mercilessly, but you are advised to just dip into whatever parts intrigue you. And a sad number of the pieces are either weak, badly translated, not well fitted into the collection, or reek with self-indulgence. Black and white printing vitiates some of the image.
One more note: I'm fascinated by the appearance of folk horror at this time in history. What does it say about our time that we're inspired by movies from 40 years back? Are we rediscovering rural terrors as the human race exits the countryside for the different terrors of city and suburb? Folk horror might be a kind of deliberate nostalgia, an effort to summon up a distant mood as we accelerate beyond it. Perhaps folk horror is the obverse of cyberpunk (born a decade after those three movies) and today's posthumanism, a reminder of old brambles the other side of an LCD screen.
Overall, recommended for anyone interested in horror or folklore. It's a map to delightful territories.
July 25, 2021
There were some really interesting articles sprinkled in here and there, and it's definitely worth a read. It added quite a few books and movies to my list. Highlights were the title article on folk horror, the articles on the Arthurian undertones of Kill List, background on The Wicker Man, and Weird Americana, and a really interesting article on cults in American cinema. There were also a few papers on British and Japanese mythology which I quite liked.
That being said, a lot of the people they interviewed just came off as very self-satisfied and raging against anything in the world newer than 1985 (there's literally people complaining about 'participation awards' and old white men saying that queer and minority representation is not important, like, it's on the level of parody how old-fashioned some of this sounds). It came across as very stodgy and alienating sometimes, considering I came into this book Very on board. Also, this book is RIDDLED with typos, which was very distracting and lowered it in my estimation.
That being said, a lot of the people they interviewed just came off as very self-satisfied and raging against anything in the world newer than 1985 (there's literally people complaining about 'participation awards' and old white men saying that queer and minority representation is not important, like, it's on the level of parody how old-fashioned some of this sounds). It came across as very stodgy and alienating sometimes, considering I came into this book Very on board. Also, this book is RIDDLED with typos, which was very distracting and lowered it in my estimation.
February 5, 2019
What is Folk Horror? How can it be defined? Can it be defined or are its many strands too myriad to be combined into a whole? I’ve always known that it combines several main themes such as a trio of classic British horror films, folk customs, 1970’s childrens TV programmes of the kind that they don’t seem to make anymore and also an affinity with the landscape and what it means to us. But Folk Horror is always evolving and a look through the posts on the Folk Horror Revival Facebook page would indicate that there’s more to come.
This is a book that I read from cover to cover as it contains many themes and you’re not quite sure what the next piece might offer. However, I feel that this book is really one to dip into or to close your eyes, open it randomly at a page and see what you might find. The central themes of Folk Horror are in this book such as ‘70’s cult horror movies like ‘The Wicker Man’, public information films warning children not to play near water, myths and legends, traditions such as the Jack in the Green and how easily new folklore can be created.
The Field Studies first edition came out in 2015. In this, the second edition, Andy Paciorek attempts to define folk horror. He’s one of the creators of Folk Horror Revival and sees the genre, for want of a better word, spreading out its roots from a trio of ‘70’s films, the aforementioned Wicker Man, Blood on Satan’s Claw and Witchfinder General. These are very British with the landscape and ritual featuring people outside their society.
There are 65 pieces in this book and I enjoyed them all. My favourite was the interview with Gary Lachman who, yes, was once part of Blondie but has since reinvented himself. In one part of the interview he talks about his theory on synchronicity. This is something that happens to me a lot and I’ve never attached much significance to it as it always seems very random. But just recently I had one that was so bizarre that I am inclined to agree with Lachman’s theory about it i.e. something out there is interested in what you’re interested in and is making a comment about it. Hmm, I’ll have to think more about that one.
It would be tedious to go through each piece in detail but here are some of the highlights for me:
The Traditional Jack in the Green by Chris Walton – a short history on this Mayday ceremony and its revival. I stumbled on the Hastings one and have managed to attend several since. I do miss it no longer being located in the Castle though. The Deptford version was a magical experience as we marched through Greenwich Park to the bemusement of onlookers.
I loved the short interview and introduction to the work of artist Julia Jeffery – really beautiful images.
Weird Americana by Andy Paciorek was a look through series like Twin Peaks, Carnivale and others which proves that strangeness isn’t only confined to the English.
The Fears of the River – a reflection on Davis Grubb’s The Night of the Hunter by Stephen Canner was a fascinating appraisal of the book that inspired the classic, atmospheric film with Robert Mitchum’s memorable performance as Preacher. One of my favourite films.
All you know about Vampires is wrong by Tina Rath in which Ms Rath discusses all the traditions associated with vampires and disproves them.
The Old Hag Phenomenon by Jasmine Gould. I’ve always found this to be a very creepy sounding night time experience although it’s never happened to me.
Albion’s Children: The Golden Age of British Supernatural Youth Drama again by Andy Paciorek – a nod to one of my memories Ace of Wands – loved it.
An appreciation of M R James The Presence of More Formidable Visitants by Jim Moon in which he makes a case for the writer of classic ghost stories which are rooted in English folklore.
It was refreshing to read a book that made me want to get out and explore some of the subjects further. This book would make a wonderful introduction for anyone new to Folk Horror and its myriad elements. The pieces are well written by people who are either very knowledgeable or passionate about their particular subject. Although in the case of the Old Hag perhaps too well.
Field Studies is well produced with good production values with the lovely, elegant FHR motif on the front cover and inside.
But a definition of Folk Horror? Not quite but perhaps this book will give you some ideas of your own.
Recommended.
October 5, 2016
The content of this book is incredible, and I couldn't be happier. Unfortunately the format is so inconsistent throughout with so many typos. Some essays are double-spaced, some aren't. Some of the essays are difficult to read due to odd formatting decisions. I still have to give the book 4 stars because it is pretty great, but it could be 5 stars if the layout and editing were taken more seriously.
October 19, 2019
Highly recommended read for fans of folk horror/weird/wyrd. A miscellany of articles, reviews, critiques, interviews concerning film, literature, art and photography of Folk Horror on both sides of the Atlantic (but with a focus on the UK). I came away from this reading with a long list of new works to explore and new approaches to reading horror.
September 28, 2024
I've been LOVING reading this over the last month or so. The book consists of over 60 essays and interviews broadly around the theme of folk horror. There is something in here for everyone, (well 'everyone' who thinks about the weird, the relationship of nature and horror and folklore generally). I guess some pieces are better and more engaging than others, but the joy of this for me was not picking and choosing essays, it was just 'reading the next one' and seeing where the journey took me.
There are better reviews on here than I can write, but the book is almost like a wander in a magical (yet scary) wood. Take one path and you are reading an analysis on a well known 'Folk Horror' film you've seen, take another and you're reading about where all the different myths of vampires and werewolves came from and how some of them are newer than others. Wander elsewhere and there's an interview with an author of weird cosmic fiction and you'll feel interested yet potentially depressed. Another path takes you into a treatise on folk horror in kids TV shows in the 70's and 80's.
There's loads in here about media like TV, film, music, literature. There's history, mythology, folklore, psychogeography (and a new concept for me of mythography), faith and religion and so much more. It's not a book you can read fast - rather it's one just to dip and out of. It feels at times like a precursor to the swathe of folklore and occult zines that have spun up in the last few years. From what I can gather the book spun up from contributors to a 'Folk Horror Revival' Facebook group (they have an archive of books and resources here https://folkhorrorrevival.com/). You can tell how this spun up as a network of friends and contributors connecting to each other with professional writers rubbing shoulders with enthusiastic mates of mates, musicians and academics. I kind of like that jumbling together, though I can see how it may bother others.
I gravitated towards essays of the 'music of folk horror' especially and decided against making another list of stuff I will never listen to (because you know I'll be dead before I get round to it). Likewise, there were quite a few folk horror recommendations in film I need to watch. I guess it's easy to gravitate to the familiar, so articles about the presentation of witches in film and their power, the resurrection of the fairy investigation society and some of the more historical pieces are ones I enjoyed the most.
I also whilst reading this, remembered a book I read in my teens about the supernatural I loved which didn't survive a move. The author is discussed in a piece by the bassist of Blondie and I learnt loads about someone who I always assumed was just a hack book writer compiling any old stuff and whacking it out for a couple of pounds. How wrong can I be?
I know I'll dip in and out of this again, whether it's inspiration for my own stories or looking for book, music or film recommendations. The only problem is that they've self-published a load of other books and I am REALLY TRYING not to buy more books at the moment (you know, enough to read until I'm dead) but I'd be lying if I wasn't tempted....
Strong recommendation if you're remotely interested in folk horror.
There are better reviews on here than I can write, but the book is almost like a wander in a magical (yet scary) wood. Take one path and you are reading an analysis on a well known 'Folk Horror' film you've seen, take another and you're reading about where all the different myths of vampires and werewolves came from and how some of them are newer than others. Wander elsewhere and there's an interview with an author of weird cosmic fiction and you'll feel interested yet potentially depressed. Another path takes you into a treatise on folk horror in kids TV shows in the 70's and 80's.
There's loads in here about media like TV, film, music, literature. There's history, mythology, folklore, psychogeography (and a new concept for me of mythography), faith and religion and so much more. It's not a book you can read fast - rather it's one just to dip and out of. It feels at times like a precursor to the swathe of folklore and occult zines that have spun up in the last few years. From what I can gather the book spun up from contributors to a 'Folk Horror Revival' Facebook group (they have an archive of books and resources here https://folkhorrorrevival.com/). You can tell how this spun up as a network of friends and contributors connecting to each other with professional writers rubbing shoulders with enthusiastic mates of mates, musicians and academics. I kind of like that jumbling together, though I can see how it may bother others.
I gravitated towards essays of the 'music of folk horror' especially and decided against making another list of stuff I will never listen to (because you know I'll be dead before I get round to it). Likewise, there were quite a few folk horror recommendations in film I need to watch. I guess it's easy to gravitate to the familiar, so articles about the presentation of witches in film and their power, the resurrection of the fairy investigation society and some of the more historical pieces are ones I enjoyed the most.
I also whilst reading this, remembered a book I read in my teens about the supernatural I loved which didn't survive a move. The author is discussed in a piece by the bassist of Blondie and I learnt loads about someone who I always assumed was just a hack book writer compiling any old stuff and whacking it out for a couple of pounds. How wrong can I be?
I know I'll dip in and out of this again, whether it's inspiration for my own stories or looking for book, music or film recommendations. The only problem is that they've self-published a load of other books and I am REALLY TRYING not to buy more books at the moment (you know, enough to read until I'm dead) but I'd be lying if I wasn't tempted....
Strong recommendation if you're remotely interested in folk horror.
September 12, 2022
Solid collection of essays on various folk horror-related subjects. Full review: https://fakegeekboy.wordpress.com/201...
February 21, 2025
The interview with author Thomas Ligotti is definitely not to be missed!
December 9, 2022
the more obvious negative aspect is one you’d expect with an anthology of essays gathered the way this was: which is the disparity of quality in writing.
but those who gripped me, i really enjoyed to read, so i feel like it balances out to me, especially when you take it for what it is: a collection from people with a passion for a certain themed topic — folk horror.
some that stood out to me the most were, for example, the analysis of Night of the Hunter, and the analysis on Czech folk horror, which i really wish it would’ve had a lot more pages.
but those who gripped me, i really enjoyed to read, so i feel like it balances out to me, especially when you take it for what it is: a collection from people with a passion for a certain themed topic — folk horror.
some that stood out to me the most were, for example, the analysis of Night of the Hunter, and the analysis on Czech folk horror, which i really wish it would’ve had a lot more pages.
November 22, 2018
Research for my dissertation, but still a nicely organised book! The variety of chapters is incredible, from Folk Horror in Doctor Who to Czech Vampires and Folk Horror - really enjoyed reading it all 📚
February 10, 2019
Skipped a couple of chapters due to spoilers (but will go back to later) but lots of interesting essays with recommendations for books, music and films to go to or revisit, plus many websites to check out at some point in the future.
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