Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror

I really enjoyed this documentary, especially considering that it made me aware of at least two dozen lesser known films that I've watched since then and enjoyed tremendously. However, I'm really annoyed by the way every single damn film is analysed against the backdrop of either race-relations or feminism. Not everything in art, especially the horror genre, has to be turned into some political talking point. Sometimes a great film is just a great film. I would have been a lot more invested in the thing if they'd focused more on the craft of folk horror, such as scenery, archetypal characters etc. But overall this was enjoyable and certainly worth a watch, if just for the niche films that are discussed rather than the (sometimes) unnecessary commentary alongside them.

The analysis tends to be a little too political and academic for my taste, and some of the subject matter transitions are a little rushed and confusing, but the overall film becomes more than the sum of its parts and takes on a life and a magic of its own. It's an often mesmerizing documentary and I was sad when it ended despite its 3+ hour runtime. It would be difficult to find a more thorough overview of the subject.

An outstanding look at the folk horror subgenre. There's lots here I didn't know and it's fun to watch and make a list of all the films you've yet to see, because I can promise you that there will be many you've never even heard of from all sorts of countries. The film is over 3 hours which might make it a bad idea for one seat viewing, but it's just as good if you want to watch it in smaller portions.

There's a lot packed into 3 hours here and while some of it is repetitive, you will definitely see a ton of movies to add to your to watch list. It might have been better served to be a series with different episodes focusing on different countries, but overall it's still a rich source of information and films, so worth checking out.

This is a documentary about the history of folk horror; while a good number of writers are cited (M. R. James, H. P. Lovecraft, Stephen King), the focus is primarily on film and, in some cases, television programs. Starting with an exploration of such films in the UK and moving on to the very different origins of American folk horror, the film spends its last hour or so talking about folk horror films around the world, particularly in Australia, Brazil, Japan and parts of the former Soviet Union. It's a *very* long film, more than three hours, but the interested viewer will not feel that time drag at all, so engrossing is the topic and so fascinating are the talking heads - and, of course, so terrific are the film clips. I've been interested in folklore and mythology for, oh, 40 years or so now, but this is the first time I've seen such scholarship applied so rigorously to films, many of which were considered schlocky in their time, some considered classics now. Absolutely riveting - but watch at your own peril, because you will find yourself wanting to track down a massive number of films after seeing tantalizing moments from the hundreds referenced here!