“Folk horror” is a term which has been applied to a large variety of vastly different, and occasionally disparate, pieces of genre film and fiction – yet what ties together almost all of those works is one central, core concept; that which is past is not dead, and furthermore, it […]
Ireland
Apocalypse Clown (2023): David Earl leads a circus at the end of the world (Review)
It’s been a rough decade for clowns, with everything from the re-emergence of Pennywise to the wave of 2016 real-life clown sightings tarnishing the image of these floppy-shoed circus mainstays. The nearest thing to a sympathetic clown in popular culture has been Joaquin Phoenix’s reading of The Joker, and yet […]
The Undertones in Good Vibrations (2012) – Pop Screen 94
The Sleep Experiment (2022) As Beautiful as it is Unnerving (VOD Review)
You Are Not My Mother (2022) Folk Horror Terror in Working Class Ireland (VOD Review)
Irish eyes are certainly not smiling in this tale of domestic horror as ancient Irish folklore creeps its way into the twenty-first century. You are not My Mother’s first time director & writer Kate Dolan delivers a fantastically creepy story, aided by wonderfully strong leading women and a subtlety rarely […]
Mandrake (2022) Unbalanced yet promising Irish Folk Horror (Glasgow Fright Fest Review)
Horror is a genre with many conventions, and adherence or non-adherence to these conventions are what can make or break a horror film. Slow and suggestive can be more effective than fast and furious; commitment to a straightforward premise may work better than a set of convoluted and unnecessary elements. […]
Caveat (2020) The latest effort in Irish Horror’s killer run of form (Blu-ray Review)
When drifter and amnesiac Isaac (Jonathan French) accepts a job from dodgy cockney client Moe (Ben Caplan), he soon discovers he is in for so much more than he bargained for. The job he is offered consists of “babysitting” Moe’s psychologically troubled niece, Olga, played by Leila Sykes. Olga resides […]