Folk Horror: Defining a Subgenre

From critics to bloggers, disagreement commonly circles when trying to define folk horror’s appeal.

Horror's always interested me, and now seemed like the perfect time to talk about a subgenre I particularly enjoy.

The appeal of folk horror, along with its key traits, are something that garner much attention from many horror fans, even to how far back the sub-genre’s concept dates back to beyond its popularisation in the 1960s. Some say it dates back to the 19th and 20th centuries with works from people like Nathaniel Hawthorne and Arthur Machen.

In 2019 there was a conference planned all around the subgenre, dedicated entirely to folk horror hosted in Falmouth University, with co-organisers Ruth Heholt and Dawn Keetley.

Keetley said: “Folk horror is definitely enjoying a resurgence these days --hence the conference.”

“I think folk horror grows not only, generally, from fear of the "other" but, in the 21st century, from the fear of the networked, global urbanite of the isolated, backward rural folk. This clash is being played out in the political sphere too in varieties of populism that are gaining traction and often conflict with the world view of global elites.”

In their horror conference, Heholt and Keetley aim to have many talks and discussions around topics like these and more, with the nature of such roles as religion, agriculture, identity, the witch play in folk horror as well as others, in both old and new works.