Folkish Film Revue
02.05.202515:01
I look like this and kill knights errant who fail WIS checks.
25.04.202503:59
Blackbeard's Ghost (1964)
Blackbeard's Ghost combines local history and the Americana of yesteryear (an actual kissing booth!) with a dash of spookiness to form an unexpected morality tale. Once the obligatory prop gags are run through, the film gets to the meat of the plot: a newly-arrived (outsider hero) track coach sacrifices his principles in competition in order to safeguard a pillar of the community threatened by a local mobster. Put otherwise, he makes a purposeful decision not to be a Beautiful Loser. This is an especially interesting juxtaposition considering that Blackbeard is acting in an opposite quest for redemption. Clearly, cheating and good deeds are not necessarily opposed, and outcomes count. The inextricable intertwining of the locals' ancestry with their identity is also noteworthy; rarely is such a thing depicted on film.
Suitability: Children and up
Key themes: Local community, sacrifice, ancestry
Blackbeard's Ghost combines local history and the Americana of yesteryear (an actual kissing booth!) with a dash of spookiness to form an unexpected morality tale. Once the obligatory prop gags are run through, the film gets to the meat of the plot: a newly-arrived (outsider hero) track coach sacrifices his principles in competition in order to safeguard a pillar of the community threatened by a local mobster. Put otherwise, he makes a purposeful decision not to be a Beautiful Loser. This is an especially interesting juxtaposition considering that Blackbeard is acting in an opposite quest for redemption. Clearly, cheating and good deeds are not necessarily opposed, and outcomes count. The inextricable intertwining of the locals' ancestry with their identity is also noteworthy; rarely is such a thing depicted on film.
Suitability: Children and up
Key themes: Local community, sacrifice, ancestry
04.04.202503:59
Legend (1985)
Legend is a dark fairtytale whose influences come from all over European folklore and literature, and are truly too many to enumerate. A boy raised in the wild unwittingly sets in motion a cataclysm by introducing a princess he is courting to the inner workings of his world; to avert the summoning of an everlasting winter and darkness, he confronts a daemonic force (and rival suitor) in his lair. The story is full of symbolic messages regarding metaphysics and the cosmos, some subtle and some blunt.
The film was a critical flop on release, due partly to it being hacked down extensively from its original running time. The above is a director's cut that restores much of the film and renders the plot sensical, but lacks the Tangerine Dream score present in the theatrical version.
Trivia: Tim Curry's buff-Satan costume inspired The Reaper of the Dungeon Keeper games and a thousand and one heavy metal album covers.
Suitability: Older children and up
Key themes: Cosmic order, fidelity, nature
Legend is a dark fairtytale whose influences come from all over European folklore and literature, and are truly too many to enumerate. A boy raised in the wild unwittingly sets in motion a cataclysm by introducing a princess he is courting to the inner workings of his world; to avert the summoning of an everlasting winter and darkness, he confronts a daemonic force (and rival suitor) in his lair. The story is full of symbolic messages regarding metaphysics and the cosmos, some subtle and some blunt.
The film was a critical flop on release, due partly to it being hacked down extensively from its original running time. The above is a director's cut that restores much of the film and renders the plot sensical, but lacks the Tangerine Dream score present in the theatrical version.
Trivia: Tim Curry's buff-Satan costume inspired The Reaper of the Dungeon Keeper games and a thousand and one heavy metal album covers.
Suitability: Older children and up
Key themes: Cosmic order, fidelity, nature
21.03.202503:59
FernGully: The Last Rainforest (1992)
Set in a fairy society visited by an outsider hero, FernGully oozes folkloric elements and emphasises conservation. A local filth deity sealed in an ancient tree is unwittingly released from his prison (cf. Ernest Scared Stupid), and begins a rampage; the heroes, a fit, post-adolescent, will-they-or-won't-they couple with big 80s hair, thwart him and restore peace to the verdant bower. The film takes its time with its simple plot, preferring to demonstrate the importance of the natural, the seminal and the magical than to hurry itself along, and the climax makes it clear that a community and its environment are inextricable - quite literally a blood-and-soil message.
Trivia: Robin Williams, a bat escaped from an unethical scientific lab (cf. The Secret of NIMH), delayed the production of Aladdin in preference for working on FernGully, so passionate was he about the role and the film's message.
Suitability: Young children and up
Key themes: Youth, vitality, mullets
Set in a fairy society visited by an outsider hero, FernGully oozes folkloric elements and emphasises conservation. A local filth deity sealed in an ancient tree is unwittingly released from his prison (cf. Ernest Scared Stupid), and begins a rampage; the heroes, a fit, post-adolescent, will-they-or-won't-they couple with big 80s hair, thwart him and restore peace to the verdant bower. The film takes its time with its simple plot, preferring to demonstrate the importance of the natural, the seminal and the magical than to hurry itself along, and the climax makes it clear that a community and its environment are inextricable - quite literally a blood-and-soil message.
Trivia: Robin Williams, a bat escaped from an unethical scientific lab (cf. The Secret of NIMH), delayed the production of Aladdin in preference for working on FernGully, so passionate was he about the role and the film's message.
Suitability: Young children and up
Key themes: Youth, vitality, mullets
31.10.202403:59
The Mummy (1959)
Ostensibly a re-envisioning of The Mummy (1932), but really a blend of it, The Mummy's Hand (1940) and The Mummy's Tomb (1942), The Mummy relies on the living-descendent-guardian mechanism to move the plot, but complicates it with a romance element that ends up being key to the violent climax. The film showcases glimpses of the lifestyles of both the well-to-do and lower classes (if only all pubs were still so inviting...), and the cosiness of both runs up hard against the brutality of the killings; the home is no castle when an otherworldly assassin simply destroys the door and crushes his target with his mere hands. This is of course a reflection of the crime of tomb-robbing itself. As ancient Egypt's sanctity is violated, so it retaliates against merry England. The finale shares this tone - what better ending than a shotgun ambuscade in a swamp (L-shaped and all) for a monster so brutal?
Suitability: Teenagers and up
Key themes: Intrusion, retribution, the old belief
Ostensibly a re-envisioning of The Mummy (1932), but really a blend of it, The Mummy's Hand (1940) and The Mummy's Tomb (1942), The Mummy relies on the living-descendent-guardian mechanism to move the plot, but complicates it with a romance element that ends up being key to the violent climax. The film showcases glimpses of the lifestyles of both the well-to-do and lower classes (if only all pubs were still so inviting...), and the cosiness of both runs up hard against the brutality of the killings; the home is no castle when an otherworldly assassin simply destroys the door and crushes his target with his mere hands. This is of course a reflection of the crime of tomb-robbing itself. As ancient Egypt's sanctity is violated, so it retaliates against merry England. The finale shares this tone - what better ending than a shotgun ambuscade in a swamp (L-shaped and all) for a monster so brutal?
Suitability: Teenagers and up
Key themes: Intrusion, retribution, the old belief
02.05.202504:11
It should be pointed out that the above is the Final Cut published in 2013.
18.04.202503:01
With apologies, Folkish Film Revue will be on hiatus this week.
29.03.202518:32
14.02.202504:59
Don't Be a Menace... (1996)
DBaMtSCwDYJitH is a densely-packed, gross-out comedy that satirises the tear-jerker black dramas from the era, and is so crass that it was debated whether to include it at all at FFR. The crudity of the film's humour is, however, strong enough to force a laugh from most viewers at any rate; the truly interesting parts of the film are its portrayals of the social ills plaguing American blacks. Its 'agree and amplify' approach does not detract from its (South) central points: that the blacks themselves are responsible for their violence, fatherlessness, drug abuse, promiscuity et al.; that black nationalists are unserious people; that those with enough potential and discipline to make change would rather leave The Hood than be dragged down into the figurative bucket. All this to say that, from the horse's mouth, the pity-the-blacks films are wrong, and so too the egalitarian worldview.
Suitability: Adults for language, sexuality, mild violence
Key themes: Social ills, adulthood
DBaMtSCwDYJitH is a densely-packed, gross-out comedy that satirises the tear-jerker black dramas from the era, and is so crass that it was debated whether to include it at all at FFR. The crudity of the film's humour is, however, strong enough to force a laugh from most viewers at any rate; the truly interesting parts of the film are its portrayals of the social ills plaguing American blacks. Its 'agree and amplify' approach does not detract from its (South) central points: that the blacks themselves are responsible for their violence, fatherlessness, drug abuse, promiscuity et al.; that black nationalists are unserious people; that those with enough potential and discipline to make change would rather leave The Hood than be dragged down into the figurative bucket. All this to say that, from the horse's mouth, the pity-the-blacks films are wrong, and so too the egalitarian worldview.
Suitability: Adults for language, sexuality, mild violence
Key themes: Social ills, adulthood
30.08.202403:59
Reign of Fire (2002)
Set in a post-apocalyptic vision of an early 2000s burned out by dragon's breath, Reign of Fire splits the difference between 'stupid explosion movie' and 'contemporary update of dragon-slaying knight-errant tale.' A consequence of this shift in setting is a kind of archeofuturism wherein the people retreat to a mediaeval fortification with autoloading rifles in hand, and by the same token, retreat to a simpler, more tribal way of life in order to survive. Obviously, the film is not so serious-minded as this (it is at bottom tongue-in-cheek), but this is food for thought regardless. There is a lot to say about the colouring of McConaughey's wandering warrior as American military, but suffice it to say for now that it belies the New-Worlders as being as much a part of this European tradition as those in the old country.
Suitability: Teens and up for gunplay and violence
Key themes: Community, leadership, the mad quest
Set in a post-apocalyptic vision of an early 2000s burned out by dragon's breath, Reign of Fire splits the difference between 'stupid explosion movie' and 'contemporary update of dragon-slaying knight-errant tale.' A consequence of this shift in setting is a kind of archeofuturism wherein the people retreat to a mediaeval fortification with autoloading rifles in hand, and by the same token, retreat to a simpler, more tribal way of life in order to survive. Obviously, the film is not so serious-minded as this (it is at bottom tongue-in-cheek), but this is food for thought regardless. There is a lot to say about the colouring of McConaughey's wandering warrior as American military, but suffice it to say for now that it belies the New-Worlders as being as much a part of this European tradition as those in the old country.
Suitability: Teens and up for gunplay and violence
Key themes: Community, leadership, the mad quest
02.05.202503:59
The Wicker Man (1973)
The Wicker Man eschews a focus on the dark and ugly for the bright and friendly, its horror stemming from an irreconcilable alien-ness. Sgt Howie is an outsider both physically and spiritually; his gallantry and his naivety ultimately lead him to his doom in a reversal of the knight-errant trope. Howie's judgement is clouded by his own umbrage when faced with the heathen mores of the islanders - it is beyond his grasp that groups of other people may simply be unlike himself. This is the most important lesson of the film.
On the trivia side, the belief system of the islanders seems to be a syncretisation of various Scottish, English and Welsh traditions, fittingly for the New Age-heavy period in which it was published, and also the Victorian era in which it was said to be established. The wicker man itself stems from an anecdote by Julius Caesar, the veracity of which is debated to this day.
Suitability: Teens and up
Key themes: Gallantry, the outsider, fertility
The Wicker Man eschews a focus on the dark and ugly for the bright and friendly, its horror stemming from an irreconcilable alien-ness. Sgt Howie is an outsider both physically and spiritually; his gallantry and his naivety ultimately lead him to his doom in a reversal of the knight-errant trope. Howie's judgement is clouded by his own umbrage when faced with the heathen mores of the islanders - it is beyond his grasp that groups of other people may simply be unlike himself. This is the most important lesson of the film.
On the trivia side, the belief system of the islanders seems to be a syncretisation of various Scottish, English and Welsh traditions, fittingly for the New Age-heavy period in which it was published, and also the Victorian era in which it was said to be established. The wicker man itself stems from an anecdote by Julius Caesar, the veracity of which is debated to this day.
Suitability: Teens and up
Key themes: Gallantry, the outsider, fertility
11.04.202504:30
The Addams Family (1991)
Altogether ooky, a clan for whom modern sensibilities hold no appeal and the bonds of familial ties defeat all comers. Gomez, a man for whom romance and tradition are everything, is deceived by an imposter impersonating his long-lost brother, only for the same to overcome his brainwashing (at the hands of a fake psychologist in the form of an overbearing mother) and become who he truly is, rejoining the fold at the end. Director Barry Sonnenfeld might have given away the game with this film.
The Addamses spend their days at play, at dance, at martial practise - their contempt of danger loops around in a horseshoe theory to a love of it. They thumb their noses at the local law, they host lavish balls, perform folk dances and engage in ancestor-worship rituals reconnecting them with their forebears. Most poignant: to defeat subverters' machinations, it is necessary to physically engage with the family traditions.
Suitability: Children and up
Key themes: Tradition, clan, aristocracy
Altogether ooky, a clan for whom modern sensibilities hold no appeal and the bonds of familial ties defeat all comers. Gomez, a man for whom romance and tradition are everything, is deceived by an imposter impersonating his long-lost brother, only for the same to overcome his brainwashing (at the hands of a fake psychologist in the form of an overbearing mother) and become who he truly is, rejoining the fold at the end. Director Barry Sonnenfeld might have given away the game with this film.
The Addamses spend their days at play, at dance, at martial practise - their contempt of danger loops around in a horseshoe theory to a love of it. They thumb their noses at the local law, they host lavish balls, perform folk dances and engage in ancestor-worship rituals reconnecting them with their forebears. Most poignant: to defeat subverters' machinations, it is necessary to physically engage with the family traditions.
Suitability: Children and up
Key themes: Tradition, clan, aristocracy
28.03.202503:58
The Adventures of Tintin (1991)
Tintin's attempt at a vacation, combining the adventures The Cigars of the Pharaoh and The Blue Lotus into a single plot, reads like a Dennis Wheatley novel (with perhaps more comic relief), replete with exotic locales, smuggling, banditry, mystical enemies and full-blown political terrorism. No explanation is proffered as to the supernatural events in the story - they simply happen, and they must be dealt with - which adds a sense of romanticism to the setting.
It bears pointing out that the inspiration for the character of Tintin is Léon Degrelle, who had a successful career as a journalist before the war. Those unfamiliar with Degrelle's story are encouraged to look him up.
Suitability: Children and up
Key themes: Decency, courage, conspiracy, racial caricature
Tintin's attempt at a vacation, combining the adventures The Cigars of the Pharaoh and The Blue Lotus into a single plot, reads like a Dennis Wheatley novel (with perhaps more comic relief), replete with exotic locales, smuggling, banditry, mystical enemies and full-blown political terrorism. No explanation is proffered as to the supernatural events in the story - they simply happen, and they must be dealt with - which adds a sense of romanticism to the setting.
It bears pointing out that the inspiration for the character of Tintin is Léon Degrelle, who had a successful career as a journalist before the war. Those unfamiliar with Degrelle's story are encouraged to look him up.
Suitability: Children and up
Key themes: Decency, courage, conspiracy, racial caricature
02.11.202400:01
Guys will see this and just think "hell yeah"
23.08.202403:59
Sword of the Valiant (1984)
Sword of the Valiant is a cheesy, fun romp through the tale of the Beheading Game with a star-studded cast and rather good soundtrack. While the fight scenes are at parts laughable and even the dining scenes are silly (you don't need plate armour to eat dinner), there is a kind of strange respect for the dreamlikeness of the story - a perhaps accidental nod to the legend's Celtic origins.
It is also devoid of racial foreigners in leading roles, unlike a more recent adaptation of the tale.
Suitability: Older children (it is about decapitation, after all)
Key themes: Romance, wisdom, adventure, honouring one's word
Sword of the Valiant is a cheesy, fun romp through the tale of the Beheading Game with a star-studded cast and rather good soundtrack. While the fight scenes are at parts laughable and even the dining scenes are silly (you don't need plate armour to eat dinner), there is a kind of strange respect for the dreamlikeness of the story - a perhaps accidental nod to the legend's Celtic origins.
It is also devoid of racial foreigners in leading roles, unlike a more recent adaptation of the tale.
Suitability: Older children (it is about decapitation, after all)
Key themes: Romance, wisdom, adventure, honouring one's word
02.05.202503:58
To mark the passing of Beltane, another one of the big ones.
11.04.202504:20
Another one of the big ones.
28.03.202503:49
The following is an FFR special presentation. Originally aired in four parts, the feature has been re-assembled with extraneous credit and title cards excised for a more immersive viewing experience. The original scene breaks and fadeouts have been left untouched; consider them markers for intermissions.
31.10.202416:01
It is now All Hallows' Eve come sundown. FFR wishes you all an evening safe from ghouls and ghosts. Hug your children, enjoy your hauls of candy, showcase your spooky carvings, snuggle close with a pretty girl in front of a spooky movie or campfire story. Most of all, remember that this tradition is older than we can say. We feel it in the blood and carry it on the same way. Oidhche Shamhna shona dhuibh.
11.07.202403:59
Fantastic Voyage (1966)
A Cold War adventure predicated on impossible science and driven by the potential, political ramifications of failing a daunting task, Fantastic Voyage harks back to a time when a scientist on the cutting edge of new developments could also be a man of action with a strong jaw. That the end twist is not the result of a betrayal, but of an emotional failing adds a human touch to what might otherwise be a two-dimensional film, and a psychological element in contrast with the materialist themes otherwise dominating the text. A fun bit of a film trivia is that a classic scene in Fantastic Voyage would later be spoofed in Airplane!, which has by now become better-known than the original being mocked.
Suitability: Older children (pre-teen) and up, if only for the gunplay in the establishing scenes
Key themes: cold war, duty, biology, science, inner space, shellshock
A Cold War adventure predicated on impossible science and driven by the potential, political ramifications of failing a daunting task, Fantastic Voyage harks back to a time when a scientist on the cutting edge of new developments could also be a man of action with a strong jaw. That the end twist is not the result of a betrayal, but of an emotional failing adds a human touch to what might otherwise be a two-dimensional film, and a psychological element in contrast with the materialist themes otherwise dominating the text. A fun bit of a film trivia is that a classic scene in Fantastic Voyage would later be spoofed in Airplane!, which has by now become better-known than the original being mocked.
Suitability: Older children (pre-teen) and up, if only for the gunplay in the establishing scenes
Key themes: cold war, duty, biology, science, inner space, shellshock
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