Tag: film

Winter Ghosts: What is This What is Coming? 8

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On the weekend of 15th and 16th December 2017, a strange mist will fall upon the coastal town of Whitby. From the sea fret will come haunting sounds and tales and more besides. Here over the coming days we shall in turn usher in the ghosts of winter …

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Folk Horror Revival are delighted to round off the Winter Ghosts event with a double bill of eerie films with a Whitby connection.

Firstly we will be screening Michael J. Smith and Maxy Bianco’s chillingly beautiful short film Stranger on the Shore.
“Stranger on the Shore is a new cycle of video-poems by Michael Smith and Maxy Neil Bianco, looking at the bohemian eccentricity of Hastings, the dockside desolation of the Thames Estuary, and the spooky enchantment of Whitby. The films feature an original soundtrack by Andrew Weatherall & Nina Walsh.”

“It’s different by the sea. A bit strange even. Just as the coast lies at the ends of England geographically, it’s also at the edges of our society and the margins of our culture, a place of transgression, eccentricity, colour and romance. Stranger on the Shore is a cycle of video-poems exploring these liminal spaces; this film looks specifically at the spooky enchantment of Whitby, the most romantic evocation of the old idea that it’s grim up North.”

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Following this, presented by director Mark Goodall will be the film-

Holy Terrors: A Collection of Weird Tales by Arthur Machen

Arthur Machen was a dark fiction writer who has been unfairly overlooked but who inspires fanaticism by those who know his work. Much more than just Britain’s answer to HP Lovecraft, America’s 20th century master of the macabre, Machen was the writer who constantly saw fantasy and horror in the everyday landscape of Victorian England.
Filmed in Whitby, Goodall’s hauntingly atmospheric movie, finally brings to the screen some of the eerily beautiful tales of this great imaginative writer.

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Join us at Winter Ghosts – Tickets and full line up – Here

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Winter Ghosts: What is This What is Coming? 4

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On the weekend of 15th and 16th December 2017, a strange mist will fall upon the coastal town of Whitby. From the sea fret will come haunting sounds and tales and more besides. Here over the coming days we shall in turn usher in the ghosts of winter …

Appearing at the Whitby Met as part of the Winter Ghosts event, Folk Horror Revival
are pleased to present the sinister, seasonal sounds of Equestrian Vortex featuring  Melmoth the Wanderer
Born from their mutual love of classic 1970s and 80s horror cinema this duo construct soundtracks to horror movies that were never made. Hailing from the dankest, seediest corners of Newcastle Upon Tyne, the Equestrian Vortex are here to take us into the darkest recesses of the minds of H.P. Lovecraft, Dario Argento, Aleister Crowley, Kenneth Grant, Fabio Frizzi, John Carpenter, Lucio Fulci, Jess Franco, Jose Larraz, Jorge Grau and Jean Rollin. They are an occult celebration of the hidden practices of magick and the supernatural, using their love of vintage analogue synthesizers to inspire their paeans to the darker side of culture.
Darren Charles is curator of Unearthing Forgotten Horrors, a radio show with the intent of reviving interest in classic horror movie soundtracks, wyrd psychedelia, freaky folk, and anything that doesn’t fit into the mainstream musical landscape. He has been a member of the Folk Horror Revival admin team from the group’s humble beginnings and has recently completed an MA in History from Newcastle University with a focus on 17th century witchcraft trials in England and Scotland. Darren is currently working on several projects for Folk Horror Revival, and has spoken at Cambridge University, The British Museum, Summerhall, Edinburgh and The Hepworth, Wakefield on the subject of Folk Horror.
Antony Wealls has been producing music since his late teens under various guises and genres. He is currently involved in collaborative projects The Equestrian Vortex and The Mortlake Bookclub, he also produces solo material as Time Destroys All Things.

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Integrating with The Equestrian Vortex will be Melmoth the Wanderer evoking a spirit of Jamesian ghosts of Christmas

`Shadow master and guardian of the weird and wayward’…`remixer supremo and visionary seer of the sonic pastures that lurk beyond the imagination.’ Melmoth wanders the outer reaches of The Field Bazaar collecting sounds, snatches of spoken word and music that seems as old as the timeworn paths he treads. When the burden of these sounds becomes too much for our devout and religious miscreant he visits the bedlamites, the insomniacs and those truly alone offering his audio harvest as comfort from the silence.

The Melmoth the Wanderer mixes are the result of these nocturnal visits to their creator Jim Peters – a self-confessed Audio Relic Hunter locked into the sounds of the night, the light and the half-light.

mixcloud.com/Melmoth_The_Wanderer/

Melmoth is honored to be counted as one of The Mortlake Bookclub and has also mixed and remixed for The Hare and the Moon, The Soulless Party, Zeuk, Sproatly Smith and many other artists on the Reverb Worship label.

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www.facebook.com/themortlakebookclub/

https://www.facebook.com/#!/Melmoth-The-Wanderer-277345965761781/

Visuals for the performance will be provided by Adam Scovell, author, filmmaker and creator of the Celluloid Wickerman blog
Adam Scovell is a writer and filmmaker from The Wirral, currently based in London. He is studying for a PhD in film music and transcendental style at the University of Liverpool and Goldsmiths. He has produced film and art criticism for more than 20 digital and print publications including The Times and The Guardian, runs the Blog North Awards-nominated website Celluloid Wicker Man, and has had film work screened at FACT, The Everyman Playhouse, Hackney Picturehouse and Manchester Art Gallery. In 2015, he worked with Robert Macfarlane on an adaptation of his Sunday Times bestseller, Holloway. At present he is filming a number of projects on super-8 film including a collaboration with Iain Sinclair, and has published a book on folk horror for Auteur Publishing.

 Join us at Winter Ghosts

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FHR- Edinburgh Event – Second Reveal

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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/ 

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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/

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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/

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Folk Horror Revival : Hit The North!!!

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Following on from our great day out at the British Museum last year, Folk Horror Revival has set its eyes upon the lodestar and headed north for some exciting live events this year. Keep your diaries clear for in October and December, something wicked that way comes.

We will be hitting the very merry locales of Edinburgh, Wakefield and Whitby.
Amongst the different line-ups of talks, live music, theatre and film for the events will be such fantastic fare as Mike Heron from The Incredible String Band, Inkubus Sukkubus, Folklore Tapes, Sharron Kraus, Bob Fischer, Leasungspell, Borley Rectory, Chris Lambert of the Black Meadow, The Consumptives, and many many others.

Tickets for Edinburgh and Whitby are already available, details for Wakefield Hepworth Gallery will follow in near future.

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Folk Horror Revival: The Unseelie Court

Summerhall, Edinburgh.
Sat 21 Oct 2017

Day event 10:00-17:00 / Evening event 19:30-23:00

Price: £15 per event / Buy tickets for both events and get £5 off!
Available from – www.summerhall.co.uk/event/folk-horror-revival-unseelie-court/

Full Line-Up to be revealed.
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Folk Horror Revival: Winter Ghosts. Whitby

Whitby Bookshop  – Friday 15th December: 5.30 pm
The Fleece Pub – Friday 15th December: 5.00 pm
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Rusty Shears – 11 am
The Metropole Whitby -16:00 – 22:00
Sat 16 December 2017

Price: £16.52 (tickets are for the Metropole event but will also provide access to the other Whitby events listed, but please note space is limited at the other venues, so first come first served at those)

Available from – http://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/folk-horror-revival-presents-winter-ghosts-2017-tickets-34484492044

* Note: Alas Mark E. Smith and Frank Sidebottom will not be at any of the events but I could not resist doing the header image

 

 

Review: Hours Dreadful & Things Strange

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Fans of folk horror, hauntology, psychogeography, visionary ruralism, the urban wyrd and other such strange edges will proably be no stranger to the name of Adam Scovell or perhaps his thorough and impressive website Celluloid Wicker Man

Adam is a writer and filmmaker currently based between Liverpool and London He has produced film and art criticism for over twenty publications including The Times and The Guardian, runs the Celluloid Wicker Man website and has had work screened and given lectures at places as esteemed as Cambridge University, The British Museum, The BFI, The Everyman Playhouse, Queen’s University – Belfast, Hackney Picturehouse and Manchester Art Gallery.

Within his first book for film and media publishing house Auteur , Scovell wanders forests and fields to unearth answers to the thorny question  “What is Folk Horror?” It is quite a task for folk horror is not simply a subgenre of horror but is a subgenre of various other genres and subgenres and it is also conversely unique in itself.
The Unholy Trinity of films, Blood on Satan’s Claw, Witchfinder General and The Wicker Man do of course get thorough necessary attention, but this book gives cause for any of the opinion that folk horror is a 3 movie phenomenon, much cause to think again.  Scovell, the creator of Scovell’s Chain – a system of defining elements of folk horror succeeds in outlining and showcasing diverse examples of folk horror and related fields, but does not hammer its legs down with iron stakes in too rigid a definition allowing folk horror to continue to wander myriad paths and remain as an evolving entity.
Kwaidan, Picnic at Hanging Rock, The Ballad of Tam Lin,True Detective, Penda’s Fen, Quatermass, Children of the Stones and many many other films, tv shows are given the full (Owl) service and prove that folk horror is not limted to the British Isles as some folk would kid you believe. .

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 ouvre it is an essential read for all fans of folk horror and the sinuous other company it keeps.

Folk Horror Revival looks forward very much to reading further books and watching new films in future from Adam.

Hours Dreadful & Things Strange is available from Amazon and other book stores.

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R.I.P. The Crowman

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Geoffrey-Bayldon

Folk Horror Revival pay our respects to the great actor Geoffrey Bayldon, who has passed away at age 93 and mark our condolences to his family and friends.
Most infamously known within our circles as the title character in Catweazle and as the enigmatic Crow Man in Worzel Gummidge.
Bayldon also turned down twice the chance of playing the Doctor in the BBC television show Doctor Who, but also appeared in the programme as well as appearing in other such films /shows of interest such as The Mind Beyond, The Tomorrow People, Gawain and the Green Knight, Tales From the Crypt, The House That Dripped Blood, Journey to the Unknown, Greyfriar’s Bobby, Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed, The Monster Club, Asylum , Dracula and Tales of the Unexpected.

R.I.P. Geoffrey Bayldon (1924 -2017)

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Into the Woods: folk horror film season at the Barbican

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Cigarette Burns Cinema  presents INTO THE WOODS at the Barbican, Silk Street, London EC2Y 8DS and it kicks off Wednesday 3rd May at 8.45pm with The Company of Wolves.

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Next week is the nightmarish Lemora, followed by the little seen Eyes of Fire and finally classic Soviet horror Viy.

https://www.facebook.com/events/602114073311476/?ti=as

 

The Wick – support an exciting new Folk Horror production.

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Set in the early 19th century in rural England, ‘The Wick’ is a tale of deceit and persecution of a woman who fights for justice against a lawless witch hunter.

We are a team of independent filmmakers, creating a short film about witch trials with strong themes of radicalization and the oppressive persecution of women. A period drama inspired by true events, set in a time when these practices were illegal but still continued.

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The story unfolds seventy-three years after witch trials were banned in the U.K. When Esther, a known herbal healer in a small close knit community, witnesses her friends murder at the hands of a lawless witch hunter, she finds herself entangled in a dangerous web of deceit, blind ignorance and superstition. We track Esther’s head on collision into this dark world and her realization that things clearly need to change. We follow her journey of attempting to put an end to the ignorance and barbarity of these outdated beliefs. This is a universal and timely story of a strong woman, striving for justice and fighting for the rights of the underrepresented and the misunderstood.

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Currently, we are in pre-production and raising money for our film. We launched our crowdfunder to help realise our dream but that now has just 8 days left….Christmas Eve 24th USA time is when its finishing…..so 8am morning of Christmas day in the UK. It will have been on for 60 days in total. We have raised nearly £2,500 on the campaign and we have also £3,000 private donations outside of the campaign. Ideally, we would like to get £2,000 more as we have found a fantastic location recently, which would be ideal, but it costs £200 per hour and we would need to be there for a day’s shoot.

We have a team of talented individuals that are passionate about the subjects we are aiming to bring to light. To this day, countless numbers of people are still being accused of witchcraft and persecuted around the world. They have no rights, no voice and are condemned by misguided beliefs. Just last month, a seventy three year old woman in Peru was burnt at the stake for being branded a ‘Witch’. This is why we feel our story needs to be told today.

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Crowdfunder link: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/the-wick-short-film-horror#/

 

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/TheWickShortFilm/

 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thewickshortfilm/

Death and the Lady: The Genius of Shirley Collins

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On October 16th at the British Museum Folk Horror Revival: Otherworldly event, we were proud and delighted to present to the public a viewing of the video of Death and the Lady, a new recording by the folk legend Shirley Collins. Furthermore we were fortunate enough to hear the great lady speak of her work and inspirations, and to experience her wit and wisdom as part of the folk horror finale panel.

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Just don’t mention sheep … spectral sheep that is …

The video for the track is a film by Nick Abrahams captured at the ossuary of St Leonard’s Church in Hythe, Kent.

Born in Hastings in 1935, Shirley was fascinated by folk songs as she was growing up, songs she heard on the radio or sung by her grandparents.

hires-Oct 16 2016 63.jpgShe left home for London to immerse herself in the burgeoning folk scene; at a party held by Ewan MacColl she met Alan Lomax, and in 1959 she joined him in the USA on the renowned field trip ‘Southern Journey’, recording American folk songs and blues.

On her return to England, Shirley cemented her role at the forefront of the Folk Revival, recording over a dozen albums including the influential Folk Roots, New Routes with avant-garde guitarist Davy Graham, and No Roses, from which The Albion Country Band was formed. In the 1980s, Shirley lost her singing voice – a form of dysphonia — and withdrew from performing live. It was only in 2014, after coaxing from David Tibet (Current 93), that Shirley sang in public for the first time since 1982.

Though Shirley Collins (MBE) has been absent from the music scene for many years, her impact has not diminished, the likes of Graham Coxon, Jonny Greenwood, Stewart Lee and Angel Olsen laud her, and a documentary The Ballad of Shirley Collins is currently in progress. Shirley released her first memoir, America Over the Water, in 2004 and is currently working on her second book.

Her new Album Lodestar is released on 4th November 2016

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Photos: © Graeme Cunningham

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Folk Horror Revival: British Museum Otherworldly (Third Reveal)

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The first Folk Horror Revival event will be taking place at the British Museum, London on  October 16th 2016, featuring talks, lectures, short films, poetry readings, museum tours and other wyrd and intriguing happenings.

Cult television programmes and films of the 1960s and 70s are inspiring a new generation of poets, writers, artists and musicians with their atmospheric themes of contemporary individuals interacting with a uniquely British world of ancient mythology and magic, often uncanny and unsettling.

This special event will feature lectures, film screenings, performances and gallery tours of featured objects in the Museum’s collection to explore themes of cultural rituals, earth mysteries, psychogeography and folklore. Come along and prepare to be scared!

Ticket details to be announced very shortly.

We are proud to reveal other additions to the line up – see also

Folk Horror Revival: British Museum Otherworldly (First Reveal)

Folk Horror Revival: British Museum Otherworldly (Second Reveal)

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We have already announced filmmaker Adam Scovell as one of the wonderful guest speakers at the FHR event on 16th October so now it is time to reveal our second filmmaker to be screening and speaking about his work – Gary Parsons

Gary is an MA film graduate from Goldsmiths College London who specialises in short films. Utilizing both, elements of the surrealist genre and images of the occult, these films are both beautiful and at times disturbing.

We are very excited that Gary has chosen the event at the British Museum to premier his latest film – ‘Conjuration’. It is a film about magick being a neutral energy and it’s residue from ancient times that is there for people to draw on and includes a re-enactment of an Alex Sanders ritual.

thelemafilms.com

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Revealing the Master of Ceremonies.

To make sure the day proceeds as has been planned by the FHR cabal Chris Lambert will be taking on the role of Master of Puppets for the day – introducing each speaker as well as welcoming you all to the event and summing up at the end of the day. Please allow me to introduce Chris Lambert – Storyteller – Teacher – Traveller of Mist – Mythogeographer – Demiurge – Liar

Chris is the curator of the Black Meadow and its associated phenomena. He works closely with Kev Oyston as part of “The Soulless Party” to uncover the mysteries hidden within its dense mist.
He writes far too much. As well as the critically lauded Tales from the Black Meadow and Songs from the Black Meadow he has also had short stories published in The Ghastling, The Dead Files and Tales of the Damned. He has had four plays published and over 20 performed professionally including: The Simple Process of Alchemy, Loving Chopin and Ship of Fools. He occasionally dabbles with music too.
He is currently working with Folk Horror emperor Andy Paciorek on a new collection of short stories entitled Wyrd Kalendar and Christmas on the Black Meadow.
Starburst Magazine has this to say about Tales from the Black Meadow: “The stand out entries include “Beyond the Moor” a poem about a maiden accosted by a bandit who remains unafraid due to having been to the “beyond” of the title and returned. Also of note are “Children of the Black Meadow” where a bereaved mother resurrects her deceased kids as blackberry bramble homunculi; cyclical damnation tale “The Coal Man and the Creature” and the paranoia-inducing sucker punch “The Watcher From the Village” … this is a collection that strongly invites a second reading…”

blackmeadowtales.blogspot.co.uk

More speakers and ticket details to be revealed soon. Follow us on Facebook

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