☼ FOLK HORROR REVIVAL☼
PROUDLY PRESENTS ~
THE UNSEELIE COURT AT EDINBURGH SUMMERHALL: An event in 2 parts
Day ticket – £15 Night ticket -£15 Both – £25
The Night Event features live music from ~
PYE CORNER AUDIO
ENGLISH HERETIC
FOLKLORE TAPES
THE PSYCHOGEOGRAPHICALCOMMISSION
EX REVERIE
tickets available now from –
https://www.summerhall.co.uk/event/folk-horror-revival-unseelie-court/
FLASH SALE – 25% OFF ALL Folk Horror Revival merchandise at RedBubble. Be quick. Offer ends soon.
Use code SWEET25 at checkout at https://www.redbubble.com/people/folkhorrorrev
Expires 18 September 2017 at 11:59 pm.
Following on in the footsteps of Strange Lands: A Field Guide to the Celtic Otherworld, Black Earth guides the curious on a fully illustrated journey into the strange Otherworld of the Slavic nations. Ever wondered whose eyes are glaring at you in the bathhouse or who is lurking in the deep dark birch woods and following you through the golden grain fields? What lies beneath the damp black earth? Wonder no more, let Andrew L. Paciorek guide you into the worlds beyond.
Safe return not guaranteed ….
Fully illustrated throughout – 206 pages
3 cover formats –
Paperback / softcover – £10
($12.15 USD)
Hardback Dust sleeve £20
($27.39 USD)
Hardback Image Wrap – £20
($27.64 USD)
UK P+P – £5.99
For US shipping and other overseas prices and shipping costs please set the flag on the top right of website linked below to your country / currency.
Blurb ships to the following countries and territories:
Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bermuda, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Cayman Islands, Chile, Colombia, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Guadeloupe (French), Guam, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macao, Malaysia, Malta, Marshall Islands, Mexico, Micronesia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Northern Mariana Islands, Norway, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Reunion (French), Romania, Russian Federation, Saint Barthelemy, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, Vietnam, Virgin Islands, Virgin Islands (British)
Available from –
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There has been much wonderment about the phrase ‘folk horror’. Whilst many thought that it had originated in 2010 with Mark Gatiss and Jonathan Rigby in the television documentary ‘A History of Horror’ in relation to the three British films now frequently collectively referred to as The Unholy Trinity. Those movies being Witchfinder General, Blood on Satan’s Claw and The Wicker Man.
It was with reference to one of those films that an earlier use of the term folk horror was used. Talking about his own film, the aforementioned wonderful film Blood on Satan’s Claw, director Piers Haggard used the term ‘folk horror’ to describe it in a 2003 interview in Fangoria magazine.
Recently though on the social site Twitter a couple of users have discovered earlier use of the name.
Firstly author Johnny Mains discovered two uses from either side of the Atlantic decades earlier.
In 1982 in America, Laura Stewart refers to illustrator Beverly Brodsky’s work as “folk horror” specifically her work for The Golem.
In 1975 the British press, namely The Guardian (who years later published Robert McFarlane’s excellent essay on the English Eerie ) made use of the description in
Caroline Tisdall’s review of an exhibition by the phantastic romantic painter Henri Fuseli at the Tate Gallery. 
However another author Sarah K. Marr discovered a far earlier use of the term.
The English Journal referred to superstition and ‘folk horror’ in their pages in 1936.
So is this the first conjunction of the words folk + horror or there earlier usages left to discover???
If you know of any earlier use or any interesting references to it from the 20th Century and before, please let us know in the comments section below.
An illustration from De Materia Medica by the Greek physician Dioscorides (1460)
To complete the great line-up at The Unseelie Court event at Edinburgh Summerhall, Folk Horror Revival are very proud to present ~
Headling our night of music are PYE CORNER AUDIO.
Pye Corner Audio is a British electronic music project by Martin Jenkins. Originally self-released, Vols 1 – 2 and Vols 3 – 4 of the Black Mill Tapes were released by Type records as TYPE107 and TYPE118. Sleep Games was released on Ghost Box.
Submerged rhythms and ectoplasmic electronics haunt the disused dance halls and concrete derelicts of Belbury.
It’s possible to detect echoes of John Carpenter, Italo-horror soundtracks and a kind of post rave meltdown in Martin Jenkins’ submerged disco and spectral electronics.
Completing our catalogue of talks at the day event is Murdo Eason of The Fife Psychogeographical Collective, who will be talking on Embedded in the Landscape: Psychogeography, Folk Horror and the Everyday.
https://fifepsychogeography.com/
Intoducing the event are Folk Horror Revival’s own Darren Charles and Andy Paciorek who have previously brought their take on the folk horror phenomenon to the stages of Cambridge University and The British Museum
Author extraodinaire Chris Lambert will be our MC for the day, and will be launching The Wyrd Calendar. Maybe there will be some tales of The Black Meadow.
http://blackmeadowtales.blogspot.co.uk/
See Also –
FHR- Edinburgh Event – First Reveal
FHR- Edinburgh Event – Second Reveal
FHR Edinburgh Event – Third Reveal
FHR Edinburgh Event – Fourth Reveal
Tickets available now from here
The Snow Witch is both a haunted and haunting book. Though not a ghost story as such, it is swarming with ghosts – the ghosts of the past, the ghosts of winter, breath ghosts. From the bleak frosty shore to the black, black sea, Wingett tells the tale of a lonely, insular refugee from the east of Europe who finds herself in the cold season days of a British seaside town. There she encounters strange kindness but also becomes the victim of a harrowing experience.
The tale is infused with humanity at its rawest, its nastiness but also its generosity. Like a favourite author of mine – Ray Bradbury, Wingett skilfully paints a scene in words with painterly strokes; in my mind when reading I could see the twinkling of the model village lights in the darkness of the drawn in evenings and feel the bite of frost upon my fingers. I found myself immersed with the events playing out in my mind like images upon a cinema screen; for me that is the mark of a skilled writer. Also adept and engaging are the characterisations of the figures prevelant in the narrative – from the enigmatic otherworldliness of Donzita, the enduring grief of Celia, the shy awkwardness of Eddy, the wilful desperation of Vee and the low, selfish cruelty of Riley.
At times The Snow Witch is raw, unafraid to confront the unkindness of life but it also shines the beacon of hope and illuminates magic and maintains its air of cold, ethereal beauty throughout.
The Snow Witch is available to pre-order from here and here
Review by Andy Paciorek
We are proud to announce also joining us for the Folk Horror Revival: The Unseelie Court event at Edinburgh are –
Cat Irving and Daniel Pietersen on Beyond Burke and Hare. Cat Irving, Human Remains Conservator for Surgeons’ Hall Museums, and Daniel Pietersen, horror author, investigate the history behind the life and death of Edinburgh’s most notorious murderers, Burke & Hare, and their connection to one of its most enigmatic mysteries, the Fairy Coffins of Arthur’s Seat. They will speak at the day event.
Appearing on the evening is a very special performance by Philly based band Ex Reverie in association with the visionary artist Julia Jeffrey. Fronted by singer Gillian Chadwick, the set relates to the mysterious case of the infamous Scottish Witch Isobel Gowdie, for which Julia has produced a series of stunning illustrations.
And I Will Know Him By His Voice © Julia Jeffrey
https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/StonemaidenArt
More acts to be revealed …
The Unseelie Court takes place on 21st October in Summerhall, Edinburgh. Tickets available now from – https://www.summerhall.co.uk/event/folk-horror-revival-unseelie-court/
Our next two announcements for The Unseelie Court are:
Folklore Tapes– an open-ended research project exploring the vernacular arcana of Great Britain and beyond; traversing the myths, mysteries, magic and strange phenomena of the old counties via abstracted musical reinterpretation and experimental visuals. The driving principle of the project is to bring the nation’s folk record to life, to rekindle interest in the treasure trove of traditional culture by finding new forms for its expression.They will be performing at the evening event.
And joining us for the day event is Sally-Anne Huxtable, Principal Curator of Modern & Contemporary Design at National Museums Scotland, Editor of the Review of the Pre-Raphaelite Society, and a dabbler in the Dark Arts, who will be talking on Folk Horror and The Pre-Raphaelites.
More acts to be revealed …
The Unseelie Court takes place on 21st October in Summerhall, Edinburgh. Tickets available now from – https://www.summerhall.co.uk/event/folk-horror-revival-unseelie-court/
“What exactly is Folk Horror? Is it the writing of M.R. James and Alan Garner? Is it the television scripts of Nigel Kneale, John Bowen and David Rudkin, the films of David Gladwell and The Blood On Satan s Claw? Or could it be the paranoid Public Information Films of the 1970s; the Season Of The Witch ; The Advisory Circle reminding us to Mind how you go! ; or perhaps a contemporary story of two hit-men caught unknowingly in a class-saturated ritual of violence? Interest in the ancient, the occult, and the wyrd is on the rise. The furrows of Robin Hardy, Piers Haggard and Michael Reeves have arisen again, as has the Spirit of Dark of Lonely Water, Juganets, cursed Saxon crowns, spaceships hidden under ancient barrows, owls and flowers, time-warping stone circles, wicker men, the goat of Mendes, and malicious stone tapes. Folk Horror: Hours Dreadful And Things Strange charts the summoning of these esoteric arts within the latter half of the twentieth century and beyond, using theories of Psychogeography, Hauntology and Topography to delve into the genre s output in film, television and multimedia as its sacred demon of ungovernableness rises yet again in the twenty-first century.”
It may seem biased that Adam Scovell’s book be reviewed here as he is part of the Folk Horror Revival cabal but let me state that Adam was invited into the circle because of the high quality of his work and his passion for his interests. Also I won’t review anything I dislike (I am not paid to be a critic so do not do negativity for free) so this book is entirely here on its own merit. So here we go …
It is a hard line that Adam treads here, producing a work that is suitable both for academic film and cultural studies and a book accessible for those first entering into the sub genre. And it is an extremely difficult sub genre to define, not is it only extremely sinuous but it is currently evolving into new and different directions. If anyone therefore is qualified to take on this task and to tread that line, it is certainly Adam Scovell. He approaches the subject both with a curiosity and a cunning insight of themes that are at times ineffable. He does not resort to the tact of the usual film / book critic and simply express his opinion but delves to understand the subject under his microscope in great detail and not only catalogue their relevance as art and narrative but also the social, political and anthropological significance.
For all fans and scholars of folk horror and related sub-genres this book is indispensable. Scovell proves himself an excellent writer as the level of research and consideration in this book is impeccable yet it is not at all dry and is a captivating, flowing read for every body interested in the subject matter, not only those involved in academic field studies.
Many examples of folk horror are investigated and discussed (as such beware of spoilers for films and Tv plays you may not have seen yet) and also their relation to akin subjects such as the Urban Wyrd, Hauntology, Backwoods Horror, Ruralism and Southern Gothic.
This book investigates its subject matter with a contagious passion and does extremely well to explain a subject that is nebulous and still evolving. Whilst concentrating mostly on film the book also explores such matter as Public Information Films and the design and music of the Ghost Box label.
As well as being a very worthy addition to Auteur’s film study publication oeuvre it is an essential read for all fans of folk horror and the sinuous other company it keeps.
The one issue which is not down to Scovell, is that the book would certainly benefit from illustration throughout. Something Auteur may consider as I am sure a more visual tome would do well, but for text alone Folk Horror: Hours Dreadful and Things Strange is welcomed as the first book of its type to broach the subject and is highly recommended.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Folk-Horror-Dreadful-Things-Strange/dp/1911325221
For our next announcement for the Unseelie Court, we are delighted to reveal that we will be screening Borley Rectory. A blend of rotoscope and digital animation techniques Borley Rectory is essentially an animated documentary, inspired by the haunting that caught the worlds imagination during the late 1920’s. It stars Reece Shearsmith, is narrated by Julian Sands, and features a soundtrack by Steve Severin. Director Ashley Thorpe will also be joining us. This will be part of the day event.
http://carrionfilms.co.uk/borley-rectory/
Joining us in the evening will be The Psychogeographical Commission. Formed in 2008, they explore the many interfaces between the built environment and the people who inhabit it through dérive, magick and sonic experimentation.
http://www.psychetecture.com/
More acts to be revealed …
The Unseelie Court takes place on 21st October in Summerhall, Edinburgh. Tickets available now from – https://www.summerhall.co.uk/event/folk-horror-revival-unseelie-court/
Folk Horror Revival & Urban Wyrd Project ⨘ 