Film writer and programmer Kier-La Janisse has dedicated much of her life to exploring horror’s history and culture from a critical and scholarly perspective. Janisse authored House of Psychotic Women: An Autobiographical Topography of Female Neurosis in Horror and Exploitation Films, published and edited numerous horror non-fiction anthology works, founded the on-going Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies, and more in her impressive career so far. In her feature debut, writer/director Janisse dives deep into the world of folk horror, delivering a dizzyingly comprehensive documentary that approaches the subgenre’s history with a broad critical perspective.
Woodlands kicks off its deep-dive with an overview of folk horror’s Unholy Trilogy; Michael Reeves’ The Witchfinder General, Piers Haggard’s Blood on Satan’s Claw, and Robin Hardy’s The Wicker Man. The initial heyday of folk horror makes for a perfect starting point. This trilogy essentially defined folk horror as known today and creates an accessible gateway before examining the subgenre’s winding path before and after. From there, Janisse breaks this expansive topic down into organized chapters, covering its explosion in British horror, its Paganism and witchcraft roots, and a detailed purview of folk horror from around the world.
At just over three-hours long, this densely packed documentary isn’t for those with a passing, unenthused interest in the genre. Unfolding much like a lecture from Miskatonic, Janisse assembles over fifty talking heads to examine what folk horror is and how it evolved. While some of those talking heads are notable filmmakers, like Robert Eggers and Alice Lowe, the vast majority are critics and academics of the subject. Prominent authors like Alexandra Heller-Nicholas or distinguished film historians like Abraham Castillo Flores break down the subgenre globally. This documentary doesn’t feature the standard crop of genre interviewees; Janisse intentionally sought out the most knowledgeable experts worldwide.
The documentary touches on over 200 films, many of them obscure or deep cuts, to pursue how history has influenced this subgenre, what exactly defines folk horror, and how we engage with our respective cultural histories to find meaning and spirituality in our surroundings. As the filmmaker herself observes in the doc, many believe that folk horror is rooted in the past. But recurring themes in folk horror prove it’s more about the friction between past and present. Fear of change is a central through-line.
Aside from selected clips from featured films, Janisse employs paper collage sequences and animation to offer deeper visual interest. Poem readings and eerie folk tunes also elevate the doc’s style. It’s not just the organization of the material that’s demonstrative of the care put into this feature, but in its artistic approach, too.
Janisse’s feature debut is a remarkable effort that’s on par with the thoughtful analysis she’s put into horror through other mediums. It’s a wide-ranging probe into a subgenre that offers insight for even the most studied genre academic, primarily because of how far-reaching it is in scope and scale. That scope means that it can be too much to take in at once; breaking down this thorough three-plus hour examination might be best in smaller chunks for better absorption. Folk horror has exploded over the last decade and only seems to be growing, and Janisse struck hot with an intelligent and thoughtful inspection of folk horror’s definition. It’s the type of daunting deep dive that might not appeal to the casual movie fan or for those merely uninterested in this subgenre. However, for the cinephile or diehard horror fan, Woodlands is an extensive crash course that will teach you far more than you ever expected there was to know about folk horror.
Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror made its world premiere at SXSW and will release sometime in 2021 by Severin Films.
