Starring Jack Kesy, Jefferson White, Adeline Rudolph, Leah McNamara, Suzanne Bertish, Joseph Marcell and Martin Bassindale. Written by Christopher Golden, Mike Mignola and Brian Taylor Directed by Brian Taylor. Produced by Jeffrey Greenstein, Yariv Lerner, Mike Richardson, Sam Schulte, Les Weldon and Jonathan Yunger. Campbell Grobman Films/Dark Horse Entertainment/Millennium Media
Tom Ferrell, Bobbie Jo Song and Hellboy
In 1959 Hellboy, who is accompanied by BPRD agent Bobbie Jo Song, has an occult adventure in the witch-filled woods of the Appalachians, where he teams-up with the stoic hillbilly hero Tom Ferrell and encounters the hellish Crooked Man, whilst also hunting down an escaped funnel-web spider that houses a demonic entity.
The demon-possessed funnel-web spider is capable of growing to giant size! Yikes!
This is an engaging, more compact instalment of the Hellboy saga, underlining the horror aspects of the comic book source material and deftly maintaining a folksy supernatural tone throughout.
This insect is actually a witch’s familiar
Jefferson White is particularly good as Tom, a character inspired by Manly Wade Wellman’s pulp horror protagonist Silver John, Adeline Rudolph plays special agent Bobbie Jo Song nicely as someone who views all the supernatural occurrences and practices from a very scientific perspective, and Jack Kesy is actually a really good Hellboy.
Hellboy and Tom Ferrell
The Crooked Man himself (played by Martin Bassindale) is an interesting screen bogieman, though he did look scarier, I think, in the comic book version, as illustrated by the late, great Richard Corben.
A page from the comic book, written by Mike Mignola and drawn by Richard Corben
There’s a lot of cool, interesting content and imagery in the movie: a witch refills her skin-suit by crawling back into it whilst in the form of a raccoon, and a supernatural black snake slithers from between a character’s legs and slides down her throat in a continuous cycle – and there’s other memorable stuff, including the lowdown on how to make witchballs.
HELLBOY: THE CROOKED MAN is not as big scale or glossy as its predecessors, but this works to its advantage, helping the film to come across as more faithful to the vibe (and often more modest scope ) of many of Hellboy creator Mike Mignola’s original yarns.
I really enjoyed this flick, and I would definitely like to see more Hellboy films told in this style!
Yes! Issue 8 of Imaginator magazine is now roaming the world!
There are loads of links to places it can be bought HERE!
I am so proud of this issue!
I love the way the magazine looks, design-wise, and I think it contains a wealth of wonderful folk horror-related contents that anyone with even a passing interest in the sub-genre will enjoy reading!
Check out the magazine’s contents…
FOLK HORROR RISING
Noah Kneal looks at what makes Folk Horror so special… and ponders why the sub-genre continues to go from strength to strength.
ALL THE HAUNTS BE HERS
Ken Miller talks with Kier-La Janisse, the director of stunning folk horror documentary Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror.
Screenshot
REMEMBERING THE RITUAL
Dan Nicks reminds us why The Ritual (2017) is such a wonderful melding of folk horror and survival horror.
THE MAN WHO UNLEASHES HORRORS
Ken Miller speaks with Adam Nevill, author of such scrumptiously sinister folk horror books as The Reddening, The Ritual and Cunning Folk.
MAKING THE MONSTER!
Charlotte Quist supplies the lowdown on how the awesome and freaky Jötunn god-monster was created for the film adaptation of The Ritual.
DREAMING OF THE JÖTUNN
Talented Concept Artist and Creature Designer Keith Thompson reveals to Ken Miller how he designed the monstrous, marvellous movie beast featured in The Ritual.
FOLK HORROR MOVIE REVIEWS
Noah Kneal and Ken Miller review loads and loads of folk horror flicks… and horror fiction writer, editor and critic Ramsey Campbell provides a guest movie review too!
THE ROAD LESS TRAVELLED
Writer, director and producer Sean Hogan chats to Ken Miller about his menacing, brooding, brilliant film To Fire You Come at Last.
“WHO IS THIS WHO IS COMING?”
Sebastian Starkey clarifies why Oh, Whistle, and I’ll Come to You, My Lad is such a fine ghost tale, then checks out the various adaptations, homages and parodies inspired by the story.
DESIGNING THE PERFECT WENDIGO
Creature Designer, Concept Artist and Illustrator Guy Davis divulges to Ken Miller how the fantastic folk-creature from Antlers (2021) was conceived.
SEQUENTIAL TALES OF TERROR
Artist and writer Russell Fox spills the beans on his stunning-looking folk horror graphic novel A VVitch. His illustration work is so good!
DEMONFINDER WARLOCK
Actor Russell Shaw tells Ken Miller what it was like playing the demon-hunting, bewhiskered, time-travelling protagonist in the wild, medieval-set movie Witch (2024)
RADIOACTIVE REVIEWS
The movies reviewed in this section are non-folk horror flicks (though some are folk horror-adjacent). Top scriptwriting guru and author William Martell supplies a guest film review.
I think this issue rocks – and I think you will agree once you’ve read it!
Starring David Dukes, Kelly Piper, Hugh O’Conor, Cora Venus Lunny, Ronan Wilmot, Niall Toibin, Niall O’Brien and Heinrich von Schellendorf. Written by Clive Barker. Directed by George Pavlou. Produced by Kevin Attew, Don Hawkins, David Collins, Al Burgess and Paul Gwynn. Alpine Pictures/Green Man Productions
4K Blu-ray cover
There’s something nasty lurking beneath this standing stone…
An American author, Howard Hallenbeck (Dukes), travels around Ireland with his family, doing research for his book focusing on the persistence of sacred sites. The Hallenbecks are staying in a small village, where Howard is checking out the local church’s intriguing stained glass panels, when an enraged, toothsome monster is released from beneath an ancient menhir.
The demonic creature depicted in the stained glass is no mere myth…
This beast goes on the rampage, and one of the creature’s victims is Howard’s son, provoking the upset & angry author to seek out a way to destroy the monster, but there are those, including the church’s rector, Declan O’Brien, who regard the critter as a pagan god…
A dentist’s nightmare!
RAWHEAD REX started life as a short story included in Volume Three of Clive Barker’s BOOKS OF BLOOD anthology series. The original story is set in Kent, and features a folkloric humanoid monster, a kind of raw-fleshed, ferocious personification of hyper-toxic-masculinity. This berserk, barbaric boogeyman devours innocent children and violates women, though the brutal man-beast has an aversion to pregnant females and those who are menstruating: they cause a sense of fear within the ancient, feral being. Barker wrote the screenplay for the film adaptation, but he was pretty dissatisfied with the way the movie eventually turned out, prompting him to direct the next movie version of one of his stories himself, that film being HELLRAISER (1987), based on Barker’s novella THE HELLBOUND HEART.
Okay, I can fully understand why Clive Barker felt let down by the cinematic representation of his original yarn. There was no way George Pavlou’s low budget flick was going to live up to the impactful, visceral tone and atmosphere of Barker’s source material. I really like that original story, it’s one of my favourite Barker tales. And yet…
…I believe that this film is definitely in need of reappraisal!
Maybe this sounds like I’m damning the movie with faint praise when I say that the practical effects monster on show here is better than so much of the cheap CGI dross churned out over the last couple of decades, but I do mean this as a compliment. Sure, Rawhead Rex’s scowling face doesn’t have an awful lot of different facial expressions, but it’s still damn satisfying to see an actual creature suit being used, something that is really there, really in the scenes! I love the fact this beast-man is basically a big, leather-clad humanoid monster with a huge maw full of teeth!
It’s Rawhead Rex!
The special effects team had a frantic four week deadline to create the Rawhead Rex creature: a body suit, with an animatronic monster head for close-ups, brought the snarling monster to life in the movie. And, by god, it works just fine!
Roaring, rubbery wonderfulness!
The film is not as transgressive as the short story, but it is enthusiastically gory, and there is a lot of fun/cool stuff to look out for, like the great shot of Rawhead standing on a hill holding aloft a severed head, his beastly breath illuminated as he exhales. And then there’s the attack on the caravan park: faces are slashed and boobs get revealed as the wild, primal creature runs amok! And let’s not forget the blasphemous baptism scene (taken from the original story), where Rawhead bathes the kneeling Declan O’Brien with its urine!
Rawhead rampages through a caravan park!
Irish coppers go up in flames!
O’Brien tells his boss, Reverend Coot, that Rawhead Rex is a god, a deity that was here long before Christ: before civilisation, Rawhead was the king of this place. Later on, O’Brien utters a classic line as he forces Coot to meet the deadly Rawhead: “Get upstairs, fuckface, I can’t keep god waiting!”
The barechested, muscled Rawhead (played by Heinrich von Schellendorf) has glowing red eyes, which have the ability to overwhelm the minds of some victims (the creature doesn’t have this power in the original story). “For you!” Says a burning cop, who has become one of Rawhead’s acolytes, as he immolates his fellow officers!
Beware the glowing red eyes!
Salvation is hidden within the church’s altar, in the form of a small, stone earth-goddess-style idol, which a woman must wield, leading to an optical FX-drenched showdown, as Howard’s wife Elaine (Piper) uses the idol to unleash supernatural forces to drive Rawhead back into the ground. This is a colourful, rousing fantasy-horror finale!
Time for some magic!
Honestly, I don’t believe RAWHEAD REX deserves the derision levelled at it from many critics. It is an unpretentious, cheesy-but-satisfying, 80s-tastic entertainment, a B-movie that makes sure its rampaging, rubbery, rockin’, rampant god-beast is given a lot of time on screen! And for that I respect it!
A tale featuring mysterious, quirky, mountain-dwelling beasts!
This book collects the Silver John short stories, including THE DESRICK ON YANDRO
THE DESRICK ON YANDRO is a short fantasy-horror story written by pulp horror, sci-fi, fantasy author Manly Wade Wellman (May 21st, 1903 – April 5th, 1986), who created the wonderful evil-vanquishing character John, often referred to as Silver John or John the Balladeer. John roamed the Appalachian mountains with a silver-stringed guitar, which helped him to ward off evil (because the Devil and evil in general doesn’t like silver!) John speaks in a dialect that sounds authentic for the region, and Wellman’s turn of phrase in these stories lends a lyrical, poetic-folksy vibe to the narratives. THE DESRICK ON YANDRO was the second story about John to be written by Wellman, and it was first published in the June 1952 issue of THE MAGAZINE OF FANTASY & SCIENCE FICTION.
THE DESRICK ON YANDRO was first published in this magazine
The yarn sees John agree to accompany a rich, pushy, unpleasant man called Mr. Yandro on a trip to Yandro Mountain, a mysterious place where Yandro’s grandfather, Joris Yandro, had courted a pretty witch, Polly Wiltse, who lived in a desrick atop the flat, wooded mountain peak. John and Mr. Yandro reach a cabin in the valley below the mountain, where Mr. Yandro is told by an old woman called Miss Tully that, seventy-five years ago, his grandfather had used Polly Wiltse’s witch-powers to locate gold on the mountain and then he had run away with the treasure, abandoning Polly.
Mr. Yandro, it seems, intends to trudge up the mountain and coerce the ancient Polly Wiltse into giving him more of the gold.
Miss Tully warns Mr. Yandro that ‘scarce animals’ live up on the mountain, creatures like the Toller – the hugest flying thing there is: its voice tolls like a bell, to tell other creatures their feed’s near. And she talks about the Flat – a critter that lies level with the ground, which can wrap around people like a blanket. Miss Tully mentions a furred beast called the Bammat, but Mr. Yandro suggests the old woman is referring to the Behemoth. Tully says that the Behemoth is from the Bible, and the Bammat is different, something hairy, with big ears and a long wiggly nose. Mr. Yandro laughs at this, saying that Miss Tully is referring to the extinct Mammoth. The old woman continues, telling Mr. Yandro about the Behinder – which is always hiding behind the man or woman it wants to grab, and she describes the Skim – a living thing that kites through the air, and she explains what the Culverin is – a creature that can shoot pebbles with its mouth.
Mr. Yandro just sneers at all this talk of weird animals. The next day he and John make their way up the mountain trail. John notes that it wasn’t folks’ feet that had worn that trail, it was hoofmarks… and soon John starts noticing things peering from the foliage, such as a big, broad-headed Bammat, a creature with white tusks like ‘bannisters on a spiral staircase’. But Mr. Yandro is oblivious to the things lurking amongst the trees until it is too late, and then, finally, he discovers that all these unlikely beasts really do exist…
Artist Thomas Boatwright created some drawings of Silver John for a graphic novel treatment, but the comic book was never published. Here’s a DESRICK-inspired illustration. Check out the Bammat behind John!
Another one of Thomas Boatwright’s Silver John drawings produced for a graphic novel that never got produced. Shame!
THE DESRICK ON YANDRO is an enjoyable tall tale, with John playing something of a passive role, even though he is the narrator. But once it is explained by Miss Tully that the bitter witch Polly Wiltse had created a special song with the power (if it is heard by a member of the Yandro family) to draw a male Yandro relative back to her desrick, it becomes apparent that John has indeed played a very important function in the story: he happens to be singing this very song at a rich folks’ gathering at the start of the story, which triggers Mr. Yandro’s urge to seek out Polly.
When John and Mr. Yandro reach the desrick (an old term for a kind of cabin that’s made of strong logs with loophole windows), Yandro is set upon by various creatures, and he is chased into the witch’s desrick, never to be seen again. It is inferred that the old, haggard Polly Wiltse doesn’t care which generation of the Yandro family she punishes, just so long as they resemble the man who’d wronged her all those years ago.
Hedges Capers plays John in the film WHO FEARS THE DEVIL, aka THE LEGEND OF HILLBILLY JOHN (1972)
I love the menagerie of uncanny critters that pop-up in this story. The Culverin has many legs, and has a needle-shaped mouth from which it spits a pebble at Mr. Yandro. The Behinder, which is a variation on the Hidebehind creature featured in lumberjack lore, is not explicitly described by John because it is too terrible a thing for anyone to want to remember properly. Several of the Skims are seen and they seem to be living frisbee-things, whilst the Flat resembles a black, broad, short-furred carpet rug! The specific look of the avian Toller isn’t gone into, we are simply told that it makes gong-gong-gong sounds.
Wellman wrote a whole bunch of short stories about John, plus five novels. In 1972 the movie WHO FEARS THE DEVIL, aka THE LEGEND OF HILLBILLY JOHN, was released. This was a movie about Silver John’s adventures, and it was set within the same supernaturally-flavoured backwoods milieu of a bizarre rural Appalachia, just like in the books. Two of Wellman’s stories, O UGLY BIRD! and THE DESRICK ON YANDRO, were incorporated into the film’s script.
The section of the movie that is based on THE DESRICK ON YANDRO story features actor Harris Yulin playing Mr. Yandro. In the film the character likes to dress as an undertaker. This part of the movie boasts some nicely-lit night shots, and it adds scenes that weren’t in the original story, involving Susan Strasberg playing the old hag witch Polly Wiltse, who pretends to be an attractive, still-young woman. The movie also includes John’s dog, called Honor Hound, which accompanies him on his trek up the mountain (the dog isn’t in the short story). This segment of the movie is certainly engaging, but (no doubt because of budgetary reasons) all the quirky folklore creatures are not shown! In the movie adaptation, John and Mr. Yandro simply mention such creatures as Behemoths and Behinders, and there’s an off-screen roar heard at one stage… but we NEVER get to see the folkloric fauna, which is a damn shame!
In the movie Mr. Yandro dresses like an undertaker
John and Yandro climb up the mountain
Fortunately, the part of the film inspired by the O UGLY BIRD! story does show the monster! The filmmakers bring the feathered fiend to the screen as a Ray Harryhausen-style flying, fiendish animated fowl! The Ugly Bird scenes add a lot of much-needed action and fantasy thrills to the production, and they’re definitely my favourite moments in the film. The quirky & creepy-looking puppet was designed and made by key animator Harry Walton, who did 85% of the animation, with Gene Warren Jr. providing animation for four shots.
Ugly Bird attacks John!
The animated monster bird swoops through the air!
Despite the omissions in the DESRICK portion of the plot, and the rather loose directorial style, WHO FEARS THE DEVIL/THE LEGEND OF HILLBILLY JOHN remains an easygoing, episodic, folksy fantasia that’s fun to watch, even if the film lacks the specific atmosphere of the Wellman stories.
The film WHO FEARS THE DEVIL is reviewed in Imaginator magazine’s FOLK HORROR SPECIAL EDITION. You can find out more about this folk-tastic magazine HERE!
I first read THE DESRICK ON YANDRO short story within the pages of ALFRED HITCHCOCK’S MONSTER MUSEUM. This anthology book had stories about such beasts as a slimy blob-creature and intelligent ants, but it was the YANDRO tale that lodged itself in my memory.
The DESRICK story is also featured in various books that collect Wellman’s Silver John short tales together – JOHN THE BALLADEER, OWLS HOOT IN THE DAYTIME AND OTHER OMENS, and WHO FEARS THE DEVIL?
Lee Brown Coye cover art for this edition published by Arkham House Press in 1963
Mike Mignola’s and Richard Corben’s comic book tale HELLBOY: THE CROOKED MAN was heavily inspired by Manly Wade Wellman’s Appalachian-set Silver John pulp-fantasy-horror stories. I really enjoyed the 2024 movie adaptation – it’s well worth seeking out!
Imaginator magazine’s FOLK HORROR SPECIAL EDITION will be available everywhere (UK, US, Europe, Japan, etc) from mid-April, via Amazon and other fine retailers!
If you live in the UK or the EU, you can preorder the issue from the Imaginator store – and the first 30 copies ordered will come with TWO A5 LIMITED EDITION PRINTS, numbered and signed by Imaginator’s cover artist, Zilla Man!
Every film featured in Severin Films’ awesome boxset ALL THE HAUNTS BE OURS: A COMPENDIUM OF FOLK HORROR VOLUME 2 is reviewed! Plus other fine folk horror flicks are reviewed too!
There’s an interview with director KIER-LA JANISSE, who talks about her definitive, all-encompassing feature-length documentary WOODLANDS DARK AND DAYS BEWITCHED: A HISTORY OF FOLK HORROR!
Author Adam Nevill speaks about his top-notch, scrumptiously sinister folk horror novels, which include THE RITUAL, THE REDDENING, NO ONE GETS OUT ALIVE and CUNNING FOLK!
Writer, director and producer Sean Hogan chats about his menacing, brooding, brilliant film TO FIRE YOU COME AT LAST.
Creature Designer, Concept Artist and Illustrator Guy Davis divulges how the fantastic Wendigo folk-creature from ANTLERS (2021) was conceived!
Actor Russell Shaw, who plays the demon-hunting, bewhiskered, time-travelling protagonist in WITCH (2024), talks about making this wild, genre-twisting occult-themed movie!
A conversation with the super-talented Concept Artist and Creature Designer Keith Thompson: the man who conceptualised the spectacular Jötunn god-monster in THE RITUAL (2017)!
A look at the upcoming Folk Horror graphic novel A VVITCH: many of artist/writer Russell Fox’s awesome illustrations are displayed within these pages for your viewing pleasure!
A deep dive into the adaptations and homages inspired by M.R. James’s classic ghost story OH, WHISTLE, AND I’LL COME TO YOU, MY LAD.
Horror fiction writer, editor and critic Ramsey Campbell provides a special guest film review, and top scriptwriting guru and author William Martell also shares a special guest film review with us!
And there’s much more inside this issue!
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (1978)
A giant, ugly bird attacks in WHO FEARS THE DEVIL (1972)
Starring Bryn Fôn, Morgan Hopkins, Sean Carlsen, Victoria Pugh and Morgan Llewelyn-Jones. Written and directed by Craig Williams. Produced by Julien Allen for Two Draig Films.
‘Fate will unwind as it must’
When Gwyn (Fôn) gets an early morning phone call, it’s obvious he is being informed about something that is serious, and it’s also clearly an occurrence that has happened before. What seems to concern Gwyn and his wife Anwen (Pugh) most is the fact that this event has started sooner this time around..
Gwyn gets an unwelcome call
We follow Gwyn as he fetches items hidden in his attic, makes another call, then heads out to pick up the two other members of his team, Emlyn (Hopkins) and Dai (Carlsen). These men drive over to a farm, where they physically attack and subdue Dafydd (Llewelyn-Jones), who they shove into the boot of their car. They drive Dafydd to Bwlch Pen Barras mountain, get him out of the vehicle, and lead him further up the slope. The young captive’s wrists are tethered to a tree branch with rope, black markings are applied to Dafydd’s face, and Gwyn calls out to the Queen of the Mountain as something horrible happens to Dafydd off-screen…
Dafydd is the latest sacrifice…
This short Welsh movie, shot on nicely-grainy Kodak Super 16mm film, purposefully leaves a lot of details unanswered, so viewers must fill in the blanks themselves. Just what is it that has happened sooner this time? How are the sacrificial victims chosen? Is this a ritual tradition that has been undertaken by multiple generations of Gwyn’s family?
The film’s title is the main clue to explain what is actually occurring in the story: the word ‘Wyrm’ relates to dragons, such as the one featured in the Anglo-Saxon poem Beowulf. A red dragon, of course, is the most prominent symbol of Wales and it is included on the kingdom’s flag. Though the legendary creature is a symbol of national pride in Wales, in local myths dragons can have a more ambiguous or infernal significance. Writer-director Craig Williams has said in an interview that there are still folk stories which carry symbolic weight today in which dragons protect villages for a price, and he explained that he wanted to draw on that idea in the context of a horror film.
Some viewers will be frustrated that the finale refrains from actually showing the creature: THIS IS A MONSTER-RELATED MOVIE THAT DOESN’T SHOW THE MONSTER! But, though I can sympathise with that opinion, I found some tasty tidbits to savour throughout this folk-horror-urban-fantasy’s brief running time, including the sweetly unnerving opening music by Dafydd Ieuan & Cian Ciarán (of the band Super Furry Animals). The overall no-nonsense vibe of the piece is the film’s main selling point, as it depicts the average Joe characters going about their business in a down-to-earth manner. Gwyn is very restrained and world-weary, Emlyn is rather fretful, out of shape, and is evidently content to follow Gwyn’s lead, whilst Dai likes to act the hard man, obviously getting a kick out of what he’s doing.
Above – shots of the protagonists (top to bottom): Gwyn, Emlyn and Dai
THE WYRM OF BWLCH PEN BARRAS was originally shot as two versions, one in English and one in Welsh. But it soon became apparent to Williams, during the postproduction process, that the Welsh version felt far richer and seemed more true to the material, so that was the one the director submitted to film festivals.
This unflashy short film acts almost like an extract from some larger work, and it poses enough questions (Why has the Wyrm’s need for a sacrifice become more regular? When will the rituals not be enough?) to make me want to see them answered in a more substantial follow-up movie – and hopefully a sequel would put the scaly ‘Queen of the Mountain’ on screen!
We didn’t get to see what attacked Dafydd in this film. If there’s a sequel we want to see the dragon!
Starring Wang Zhener, Han Dong, Liu Lincheng and Wang Jianguo. Written by Chien Shih-Keng. Directed by Xiang Qiuliang and Xiang Hesheng. Produced by Guo Runze, Jing Wu and Xiang Weibin. Beijing Tmeng Network Technology Co/Hainan Golden Seagull Media
Cool poster
A forensic doctor, Du (Zhener), ventures to a misty, boggy settlement called Shangshui Town to look for her missing brother. The townsfolk are not too willing to help her, however, because they are in thrall to a superstition involving an aquatic monster they call Lord Water Monkey, whom they fear might punish them if they get involved. Du digs deeper into the local mysteries, people continue to get killed, she finds her brother’s body, and plans are made to trap the swamp-beast, but things are not as they seem…
Wang Zhener plays the gun-toting doctor Du
A villager wearing a ceremonial mask
This sequel to WATER MONSTER (2019), made by the same two directors, tells a different story with different characters, and is a pleasingly shot and art directed production, using the waterlogged, mist enshrouded locations effectively.
Another poster
Central to the enjoyment of WATER MONSTER 2 is Wang Zhener’s performance as the outsider who, after black and white flashbacks, dreams, and meetings with various characters, learns that her name is actually Qingling and she originally lived in this town as a girl, involved in a tragic backstory inextricably linked to the origins of Lord Water Monkey. Zhener has a well maintained composure about her, playing Qingling/Du as a calm, smart and driven character. She really stands out, especially in a sub-genre (modern Chinese creature features) where many female leads teeter on being pretty, tough and rather one-dimensional. This film might feature a slimy, leaping marsh monster, but it is obvious that Zhener is totally committed to her role and really shines in every scene.
Wang Zhener is good as the forensic doctor
At one point the locals want to use Du as a human sacrifice
The town people’s ceremonies, aimed at appeasing the water monster, which they regard as a deity, imbue the film with a folk horror atmosphere, while a fast-paced sequence showing the eventual capture of Lord Water Monkey injects some vital energy into the tale. This set piece is full of invention, as Qingling and a group of locals use a series of elaborate boobytraps and other rope & wooden mechanisms to attack the Gollum-esque creature, keep the heroine out of harm’s way, and then trap the man-beast.
Above: three shots showing the local folks taking part in their Lord Water Monkey ceremony
The story now takes an interesting turn, as Qingling uncovers information revealing that the town elders are corrupt, lying opium-smuggling gangsters: they are the real culprits behind the ongoing spate of child disappearances and murders! The slimy-skinned, hunched, ridge-backed water ‘monster’ turns out to be Qinghe, the biological brother of Qingling, a sibling she’d lost all memories of. Qinghe’s grotesque form is, it’s explained, due to a rare hereditary disease, and his feral nature was triggered by the vile actions of the elders many years ago. After these revelations, Qingling finally gets to fight back against the bad guys and really looks striking as she goes into action, keeping commendably cool, wearing her traditional cheongsam dress and toting a rifle that she’s ready and willing to use!
Above: two pics showing the deformed, slimy Qinghe
The titular aquatic monster is often CGI in the fast-moving action shots, but he looks much better when a practical creature suit is used, especially during the finale, where we can see Qinghe in more detail. Here the heavily deformed Qinghe is treated in an empathetic manner, as he overcomes his urges to harm his sister, then dies saving child slave opium workers from drowning. It’s actually quite a touching finale!
Above: four more shots of Qinghe, formerly known as Lord Water Monkey
WATER MONSTER 2 is well-handled, well-paced and is, all in all, an entertaining murder-mystery-creature-feature-drama.
Starring Sallie Harmsen, Alexandre Willaume, Anneke Blok, Fred Goessens, Noor van der Velden and Markoesa Hamer. Written by Nico van den Brink and Daan Bakker. Directed by Nico van den Brink. Produced by Sabine Brian and Dennis Cornelisse. NL Film/Vrijzinnig Protestantse Radio Omroep (VPRO)
Betriek (Sallie Harmsen) and her mother become embroiled in supernatural events
Betriek (Harmsen) lives in an area close to the edge of ancient bogland. Her family has suffered from a history of tragedies, and Betriek starts to suspect that the deaths of her relatives are somehow linked to the local legend concerning a wronged servant called Feike who made a pact with the demon Moloch – or maybe the preserved female corpses recently discovered in the nearby peat deposits are part of the puzzle…
One of the cadavers found in the bog
This Dutch movie uses its often foggy and gloomy swampy locations effectively, and employs the archeological dig aspects of the plotline to inject extra mystery into the story.
Another one of the bog bodies
Matters become more intriguing once various normal people are somehow compelled to become would-be killers, attacking Betriek and her mother in trance-like states.
Betriek’s mother is attacked by a possessed person
Creepy!
With mask-wearing cultists lurking about, and the spirits of murdered women emerging from the misty peat bog, the answer to the movie’s central enigma is finally revealed, and – even though it doesn’t properly explain the behaviours of the possessed would-be assassins or clarify if there is a causal link between the supernatural plot elements and the local pagan folks – the finale does give viewers a suitably striking set piece ending to remember.
Above: three shots from the film
The acting is fine, the cinematography is good, the local cultists in their bull masks look cool, and the slit-throated sacrificial bog bodies provide the movie with some memorable imagery.
Above: two shots showing the atmospheric photography of the house in the film
You know, the more I think about it, the more I come to believe that any film featuring bog bodies is worth a watch!
Starring Gayathri Shanker, Bala Saravanan, Dev Ramnath and Preethi Nedumaran. Written and directed by B. Ramachandran. Produced by Gokul Benoy and Shaik Mujeeb. Verus Productions & Veyilon Entertainment.
Run away!
A guide (Bala Saravanan) warns a group of trekkers not to venture into an area of the Kolli Hills forest that is shunned by the local villagers because it is associated with the spirit of a witch called Pechi, but the tourists ignore his advice…
The trekkers really shouldn’t go past this gate…
This Indian film boasts attractively-shot footage of various forest landscapes, and it features such folk horror trappings as hanging effigies, a straw voodoo doll, and arcane symbols that fill a derelict woodland building.
Folk horror decorations
Pechi herself is a short, wizened, wild-haired witch-hag who lurks about amongst the trees, gripping a club-like wooden staff, regularly turning herself into doppelgängers of the various characters stupid enough to trespass into her domain.
Pechi the undead witch!
Above: two shots of Pechi as seen in an extended flashback
This production is a lightweight, rather gore-free Tamil-language film that remains watchable throughout, despite the fact it includes rather too many scenes of characters wandering off into the forest alone.
There are lots of shots of people peering around tree trunks
The movie has a fairly elaborate backstory for the witch (who is taking the lives of her victims to extend her own lifespan), ends with a final revelation that is a bit rushed and not particularly convincing, and features a weird, bandaged-up, black-haired, fanged wooden doll in several scenes. Actually, this doll is a memorable prop that I think should’ve been used more in the film.
Above: two shots of the weird wooden doll (that was used as the receptacle to house the spirit of Pechi)
Okay, let’s have one final look at Pechi the undead witch hag…
A character thinks he has his arm around an injured friend… but it’s actually Pechi!
Harper (Jessie Buckley) rents an isolated country house so that she can spend some time alone to process the sense of guilt she is feeling after the suicide of her husband, who she was in the middle of divorcing when he fell/jumped from a balcony to his death.
Harper goes for a walk
Jessie Buckley is great in the central role
After meeting the nice-but-dim landlord Geoffrey, Harper finds herself encountering a series of odd males (all played well by the same actor, Rory Kinnear), who range from a menacing, naked man in the local woods, a creepy kid that wants to play hide & seek, and a weird local vicar. Events escalate, with Harper compelled to stab an intruder’s arm that pushes through the mail slot of her door, after which she helplessly watches as the intruder slowly withdraws his arm, causing the transfixed blade to gorily slice his forearm and hand in two. This distinctive wound mirrors an injury suffered by her dead husband (seen in one of many flashbacks), and soon Harper is hassled by the various male characters again, who all now have this same, unpleasant bisected arm injury. From here matters become much, much more strange and grotesque…
A naked stalker lurks at the window
The CGI used to put Kinnear’s face on a boy’s body doesn’t provide super-realistic results, but the overall effect is quite creepy
MEN, written and directed by Alex Garland, would seem to be a psychological horror story, detailing the mental breakdown of the guilt-ridden protagonist, yet much of what happens is definitely not in the heroine’s mind, as there really is a naked stalker who is arrested by the local police, and Harper’s friend, at the end of the movie, does see actual blood-smears in the doorway and also walks past the wrecked Ford we saw a character crash the previous night. So, is Garland suggesting these incidents, including an outlandish body-horror tour de force sequence, can be regarded as actually having really happened?
Poster
The film is peppered with folk horror elements: there’s a Green Man sculpture on the nearby church’s font, the naked stalker starts to cut himself and insert leaves into his face, and he finally appears as a full-on Green Man. When Harper is menaced by the vicar in her home, she asks him ‘what’ he is, and he replies that he’s ‘a swan’, a reference to the Greek myth ‘Leda and the Swan’, where Zeus, in the shape of a swan, seduces/rapes Leda. So could Garland be inferring that some kind of local pagan deity has latched onto Harper and is pursuing her in a series of masculine guises, so all of the batshit-crazy stuff we witness during the finale is ‘real’?
The Green Man sculpture on the church font
It’s hard to glean exactly what message Garland is trying to get across, because he wilfully keeps things obscure and unexplained, whilst also showering the film with symbolism (apples = Garden of Eden), musings on different kinds of toxic masculinity (men blaming women for the sexual urges they are feeling, men hitting women, men trying to guilt-trip women, etc), shots of a dead, eyeless deer, and the aforementioned body-horror imagery that sees the Green Man trigger a prolonged, bizarre ‘birthing’ sequence, involving adult males manifesting distended bellies and vaginas, from which other males are born.
The naked dude starts slitting his skin and inserting leaves…
…and he finally appears as an ‘actual’ Green Man
The bizarro birthing sequence begins…
…and it becomes a full-on body-horror set-piece…
…and we get to see some pretty out-there visuals
MEN leaves too many questions unanswered: why doesn’t Harper notice that every male in the village has pretty much the same face? If her submerged guilt surrounding her husband’s death is so profound, why isn’t it his face she sees everywhere, rather than Kinnear’s visage?
Kinnear as the creepy, woman-blaming vicar
Criticisms aside, this initially slow-burn film is unique, is well-acted, gorgeous to look at and boasts a wonderful, striking soundtrack that utilises a choir to infuse the proceedings with an unsettling vibe.
The movie’s bucolic English setting, with its shots of country churches and hints of some ancient presence, gives MEN the veneer of a M.R. James story in places, and some of Kinnear’s makeups recall the humorously grotesque visuals of the comedy-horror sitcom THE LEAGUE OF GENTLEMEN, though these influences are incidental and take a backseat to Garland’s own style of storytelling.
Harper standing amongst the symbolic apples
MEN, ultimately, is a muddled-yet-memorable combination of British folk horror and psychological drama, with musings on male toxicity added to the mix.
It does become rather deranged…Poster
Devoted to every kind of movie and TV monster, from King Kong to Godzilla, from the Blob to Alien. Plus monsters from other media too, including books and comics.
Monster Zone 