The popularity of such films as The Witch (2015) and Midsommar (2019) signaled the arrival of an era of folk horror. This subgenre found its initial cinematic manifestation in the UK-produced Blood on Satan’s Claw (1971), Witchfinder General (1968), and The Wicker Man (1973). In his introduction to this collection editor Simon Bacon writes that these films feature a “location (landscape), which ... causes isolation ... produces a skewed moral or religious perspective, and ... ultimately leads to summoning or happening” (p. 2). Bacon realizes that such a definition is limiting and does not accurately reflect the current state of contemporary or even future folk horror, and he is not content to simply cobble together considerations of previously surveyed films. Rather he presses at the limits of what constitutes a scholarly volume. Along with the expected essays on canonical films, the reader will find a new short story reflective of the subgenre and haunting images termed “visual interventions” that bring an unexpected quality to the project. With essays on haunted attractions, The Witcher video game series, Spanish fairy tales, and regional horror cinema, this unique, noteworthy contribution to horror scholarship not only expands understanding of the subgenre, but also serves to direct the future of folk horror studies. Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty; professionals.

Choice Reviews

Future Folk Horror: Contemporary Anxieties and Possible Futures is an engaging, ambitious and wide-ranging volume with an impressive line-up of contributors. It should be of interest to anyone interested in contemporary folk horror or in the possibilities contained within its myriad future manifestations.

Bernice M. Murphy, Trinity College Dublin

With its setup of exploring the genre’s origins to clarify its future, this fascinating anthology is an invaluable addition to the folk horror field of scholarship. It will no doubt appeal to folk and eco-horror students as a useful starting point of research, directing the reader towards key authorities such as Adam Scovell and his seminal work Folk Horror: Hours Dreadful and Things Strange (2017), as well as providing niche media recommendations. Furthermore, the diversity of essays constructs a uniquely global image of the genre within a single compilation, solidifying folk horror as a continuous ‘reservoir of myth, memory and the eerie’ (15).

Limina: A Journal of Historical and Cultural Studies