VIFF 2021: Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror

Tracing folk horror’s dark, winding path from the influential likes of Witchfinder General and The Wicker Man to more recent fare like The Witch and Midsommar, Kier-La Janisse has fashioned an astonishingly ambitious deep dive into every recess of one of the genre cinema’s most parabolic, spiritually resonant, and culturally specific strains. Assembling clips from 200 films and insights from 50 interviewees, Woodlands Dark explores how these works are deeply rooted in myriad storytelling traditions and alternately embrace and interrogate chequered histories of colonialism and erasure.

And while Janisse employs scholarly diligence with her documentary, she also ensures that it’s a visual feast by expertly identifying those key clips that will trigger horror fans’ pleasure centres with devastating effect. This is destined to be the documentary that launches a thousand Google searches as viewers clamour to find a copy of The Blood on Satan’s Claw. A intoxicating concoction of reverence and rigour, this documentary is nothing short of spellbinding.