Folk horror and Doctor Who: a history

Great read - thanks for posting.

Folk-horror is something that I truly love and I can never quite express why. Blood On Satan's Claw, The Devil Rides Out, The Wicker Man...these are all top 10 films for me. I find them truly scary in a way that I never could with a silly slasher or a CGI demon-fest such as we get in say The Conjuring universe. The notion that evil is inherit, it's in the soil itself and we can do little about it. That's quite chilling. There's a lovely idea in Blood On Satan's Claw where The Judge (Patrick Wymark) says they have to just leave the Devil alone and let him gain strength (through killing and raping the village's children - not a film for the squeamish Who fan, especially given Wendy Padbury is one such victim) as only when he has power can he be fought. That passive nature is also a part of folk-horror, the sense that it's "the way things are" and that there's no point rushing things. It's such a unique sub-genre, quite distinctly British I think. There's something ancient and unknown about it. It's much deeper than religion or faith based pieces, I think there's something quite Celtic about it, a connection with the land and the Earth.

The writer of the article does well linking the Who stories to the genre. I'd add Night Of The Demon as a big influence on The Daemons too. That film is if not quite folk horror then something related to folk horror - we do see the rustic family who are occultists but the majority of the film is not set in that world but in one of the intelligencia and the sceptic. That's generally a more American version of affairs, where the culture isn't as ancient and there's less sense of folklore.  

I was recommended Midsommar as folk-horror recently and while it was a good attempt, it missed a few beats that I thik the subgenre needs. As the article mentions, Ben Wheatley's filmwork has come closer in the last 15 years. A Field In England and Kill List in particular. These are the best examples of more modern folk horror. A Field is clearly standing on the shoulders of Satan's Claw but it is chilling in it's own ways wheras Kill List takes the British crime film and adds the folk horror to it in a mashup that only works as everyone involved clearly understands both genres. Recommended.

While here...can I recommend the commentary on the Blood On Satan's Claw bluray from The League Of Gentlemen. It's one of the funniest things I've heard from them. Gattis of course names it as one of his fave films but they have such a blast doing James Hayter Mr Kipling jokes and impressions of Patrick Wymark ("I give you his catholic Majesty, King James the Third....may God Keep him......IN EXILE"). It's also a lovely primer for the Bafflegab audio remake of the film as you'll hear Reece really loving the Anthony Ainlye role years before he got to play it.