Folk horror on film

Return of the British repressed

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Edited by Kevin J. Donnelly and Louis Bayman

Type

Studies

Subject

Genre > Horror

Keywords

horror, Great Britain

Publishing date

2025 (June 03, 2025)

Publisher

Manchester University Press

1st publishing

2023

Language

English

Relative size

Physical desc.

Paperback • 264 pages
6 x 9 ¼ inches (15.5 x 23.5 cm)

ISBN

978-1-5261-9120-5

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Book Presentation:
What is folk horror and how culturally significant is it? This collection is the first study to address these questions while considering the special importance of British cinema to the genre’s development.

The book presents political and aesthetic analyses of folk horror’s uncanny landscapes and frightful folk. It places canonical films like Witchfinder General (1968), The Blood on Satan's Claw (1971) and The Wicker Man (1973) in a new light and expands the canon to include films like the sci-fi horror Doomwatch (1970–72) and the horror documentary Requiem for a Village (1975) alongside filmmakers Ken Russell and Ben Wheatley.

A series of engrossing chapters by established scholars and new writers argue for the uniqueness of folk horror from perspectives that include the fragmented national history of pagan heresies and Celtic cultures, of peasant lifestyles, folkloric rediscoveries and postcolonial decline.

About the authors:
Louis Bayman is Associate Professor of Film Studies at the University of SouthamptonK. J. Donnelly is Professor of Film and Film Music at the University of Southampton

Press Reviews:
'Folk Horror on Film... helps to fuel fiery if inconclusive arguments about the nature of folk horror amidst scholarly (stone?) circles.'
Journal of British Cinema and Television

'This is an interesting assortment of essays that push forward scholarly understandings of folk horror, offer new
frameworks for conceptualizing this subgenre, and further highlight the value of cinema for the study of new and alternative religiosity.'
Nova Religio

See the publisher website: Manchester University Press