One of the key criticisms of the Folk Horror Chain is its emphasis, both in argument and in evidence, upon the rural landscape and its various elements.  While the key works of Folk Horror cinema seem to broadly use rural landscape aesthetics and practice to set and conjure their horror, by setting up such a parameter, it does indeed neglect some of the sub-genre’s most popular and effective examples.  This brief assessment aims to balance the rural-heavy arguments outlined so far with some of the more urban of examples, labelling them “Urban Wyrd” and showing their links with the Folk Horror Chain as well as several key differences.

When putting together the presentation about this chain for the Folk Horror conference in Belfast last year, some of the preparation for it was to try and anticipate criticisms and potential questions that would be asked afterwards.  The key question that I…