Folk Horror: A Primer

Folk Horror

November 15, 2023

When Midsommar opened in the summer of 2019, its success marked a renewed interest in the Folk Horror genre. Shortly afterwards, Kier-La Janisse premiered her three-hour documentary on the subject, Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched, an exhaustive investigation into its cinematic history.

Yet, the question still remains—what exactly is Folk Horror? Is it all about human sacrifices, remote rural cults, and pagan deities? Or could it also include ancient aliens, urban decay, nuclear threat, maybe even public safety films? SIFF Programmer Dan Doody presents a concise introduction to the world of Folk Horror—its tropes, styles, settings, and themes—from the genre’s literary origins to the landmark “Unholy Trinity” to its recent revival as a box office draw and multimedia darling.

Tickets

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TICKETS
$25 Sustainer | $15 Regular | $10 SIFF member

CLASS SPECIFICS
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2023, 7:00–9:00 PM
SIFF Film Center (live) + Streamed via Zoom Webinar

Zoom meeting details will be emailed to virtual ticket purchasers shortly before the scheduled event.

About the Instructor: Dan Doody

About the Instructor:

A Seattle-area native, Dan Doody received a degree in English from Western Washington University, and began working for the Seattle International Film Festival in 1999. He programs both features and short films for the festival, serving on the WTF! committee and as the festival's lead coordinator for its Oscar® qualifying ShortsFest section. He is an enthusiast of the gothic in both film and literature, the pagan-haunted pastorals found in English ghost stories, and the seedy streets of film noir. He could quite happily live in a crumbling castle so long as it was within walking distance of a neon-lit diner on a rain-slicked city boulevard.