Film history is often reserved for college classrooms, with those paying attention being few and far between. Documentaries about film history might seem self-important, only interesting to film nerds and “cinephiles.” At first glance, Kier-La Janisse’s Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror looks to be just that: a documentary that runs over 3 hours about a niche sub-genre of film that most people only know a select few movies from. However, the film is just about perfect in every way, making Woodlands Dark one of the most interesting and educational documentaries about not just folk horror films but global histories and myths that make up the stories we still tell today.
Woodlands Dark opens with a section on Michael Reeves’ Witchfinder General (1968), Piers Haggard’s Blood on Satan’s Claw (1971) and Robin Hardy’s The Wicker Man (1973), the three films considered the originators of the folk horror genre. These British films often focused on Pagan rituals, witchcraft, and a conflict between the old ways and the new, and they’re often cited by most as prime examples of folk horror. As we soon see, this is only the tip of the iceberg. The film is able to give comprehensive analysis of folk horror films from almost every continent and culture. From The Ganja & Hess (1973) to Children of the Corn (1984) to La Llorona (2019) to Noroi: The Curse (2005), folk horror is all around us, often overlapping among cultures and undeniably influenced by colonization, especially in the United States. The message is clear: folk horror isn’t just found in the English countryside. It’s in every culture and land imaginable.
The strongest point of Woodlands Dark is its runtime. At 194 minutes, Woodlands Dark is likely the most comprehensive documentary about the subject that could ever be made. The film is packed to the brim with directors, authors, and experts in mythology, history, and of course folk horror, all of which illuminate the importance of this niche sub-genre of film. Animation is also peppered throughout, giving the film an aesthetic edge against more straightforward documentaries or even video essays online. Even without the added flash from animation, the film is impressive in the amount of media it can cover, especially from England, covering film, television, short stories, and oral tales in equal measure. How many people in the audience know that The Waltons (1972-1981) had an episode, 1977’s “The Grandchild,” that could be classified as folk horror? How many people, especially outside of England, are familiar with A Ghost Story for Christmas (1971-1978), an annual TV movie series directed by Lawrence Gordon Clark that defines folk horror of the decade? How many are familiar with author M.R. James? The experts of Woodlands Dark draw all of these examples and connect them neatly into one cohesive history of folk horror.
All of this information might seem daunting to a potential viewer, and the runtime could send viewers packing, but every single minute of this film is vital, and not a single second is boring. Viewers new to exploring film will be delighted to learn about the influences of their own favorite folk horror films like Midsommar (2019) and The Witch (2015), and experienced film lovers will enjoy the all-encompassing nature of the film. Folk horror is ever-present and often rises in popularity in correlation with tumultuous or rapidly-changing times. As the film itself outlines, we live in interesting times, technologically and politically, and simultaneously we’ve seen a resurgence of folk horror. Woodlands Dark is a crucial text, using folk horror as a lens to understand history and culture in an entirely new way.
