This Saturday, I’ll be at the Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival (BIFFF) for a book signing of my horror movie guides.
🕐 When: Saturday, from 1:00 PM to 11:00 PM
📍 Where: Palais 10, Heysel – right in front of Cine 1
🎟️ Entry: Free!
Come say hi, grab a signed copy, and let's chat all things horror.
I'm excited to be part of the FACTS convention in Ghent on April 5 & 6. I’ll be signing books throughout the weekend, including my latest release, Meow! Cats in Horror, Sci-Fi, and Fantasy Movies.
Stop by and say hello—plus, check out the amazing guest list, including Elijah Wood, Jason Priestley, Alan Shivers, Andrew McCarthy, Evanna Lynch, Gabrielle Carteris, Ben Barnes, and many more.
Think you’ve seen it all when it comes to folk horror and the Wyrd? Think again. From eerie pagan rites to chilling countryside nightmares, these 27 must-see folk horror and wyrd films from the UK and Ireland will haunt your imagination.
And the best part? You can catch them all on the big screen at the Offscreen Film Festival in Brussels this month.
Ready to get unsettled? Let’s dive in.
It isn't just houses that are haunted. Entire nations can be haunted as well.
The islands comprising Great Britain and the Republic of Ireland gave birth to three of horror's seminal gothic horror archetypes - Frankenstein, Dr Jekyll/Mr Hyde, Dracula - conceived in the 19th century by, respectively, an Englishwoman, a Scotsman and an Irishman. But there is another form of horror haunting the collective psyche of these lands, though it wasn't until 2003 that this subgenre was labelled Folk Horror by British director Piers Haggard in an interview about his film The Blood on Satan's Claw (1971). This, Witchfinder General (1968) and The Wicker Man (1973) are considered the "Unholy Trinity" of Folk Horror, setting out the subgenre's "rules". Such films typically contain one or more of the following elements: a small, isolated community on an island or in the countryside; a connection to the landscape; the unearthing of old artefacts of suppressed pagan cultures with links to blood sacrifice and witchcraft; the past intruding on the present, sometimes channelled through standing stones or ancient trees; an obsession with legends and superstition.
The subgenre's roots lie in the 1960s counterculture flirtation with the occult and an arcadian past. In Britain, this spawned an abundance of folkloric TV, films and documentaries drawing on paranormal or uncanny events that would later be grouped together under the Anglo-Saxon term "wyrd", reflecting the existential unease permeating so much of post-war British culture, particularly in the work of writers such as Nigel Kneale (Quatermass and the Pit, The Stone Tape). This sense of collective anxiety peaked in the 1970s, a decade of political, economic and social turmoil, and infiltrated the nation's living-rooms by way of TV series such as A Ghost Story for Christmas, telefilms such as Alan Clarke's Penda's Fen (1974), even children's programmes such as Doctor Who. In between, younger viewers would be traumatised by government-funded Public Service TV spots, commissioned by the Central Office of Information, which warned, sometimes explicitly, of the lethal consequences of trespassing on farmland or railway tracks.
Folk Horror reached its zenith in the 1970s, but the children of that decade, now adult creators in their own right, have spearheaded a 21st century revival, exemplified by films such Ben Wheatley's Kill List (2011), Liam Gavin's A Dark Song (2016), Mark Jenkin's Enys Men (2022) and Paul Duane's All You Need Is Death (2024). "The Haunted Isles" retrospective at the Offscreen Film Festival in Brussels (March 12 - March 30, 2025) comprises features, TV episodes and shorts, including The Outcasts (1982), screened in the presence of writer-director Robert Wynne-Simmons, and Ken Russell's The Lair of the White Worm (1988). Rupert Russell launches this retrospective with his 2024 documentary The Last Sacrifice, while a special "Wyrd British TV Night" completes the programme. Finally, the concepts of Folk Horror and Wyrd Media will be explored at an international conference.
A deceptively affable English warlock casts a hex on a visiting American, who refuses to believe he will be killed by a demon in three days' time. Can the niece of a previous victim change the sceptic's mind in time for him to save himself? Tourneur's classic supernatural chiller is based on a story by M.R. James.
Christopher Lee, sporting a dapper goatee, plays one of the good guys for a change in Hammer's spiffing adaptation of Dennis Wheatley's novel of the occult, set in 1920s England. His mission? To extricate a young couple from the clutches of evil satanists by storming their Grand Sabbat orgy on Salisbury Plain!
Rupert Russell's documentary traces the folk horror boom back to a ritual murder in 1945, a case that exposed the dark side of the British psyche and sparked an interest in occultism that peaked in the 1970s. Includes a cornucopia of extracts from The Wicker Man and many of the other films showing at Offscreen this year!
A family moves to a country cottage, where their ill-advised attempt to remove a megalith from the garden afflicts the mother with uncontrollable bleeding. The first of the A Ghost Story for Christmas series not adapted from a pre-existing story shifts into full-on body horror, and still packs a disturbing punch.
First beamed into unsuspecting British households on Halloween, a jokey "live" BBC investigation into a haunted house, presented by beloved TV personalities, turns into a terrifying experience. This controversial mockumentary horrified audiences (who thought what they were seeing was real!) and stoked a tabloid furore.
In the 17th century, four deserters from the English Civil War find a field full of magic mushrooms and are forced to help an alchemist search for buried gold. Folk horror at its most hallucinatory and unhinged, with Reece Shearsmith, in particular, making the sort of unholy faces that will haunt your nightmares.
A lesser-known Bram Stoker novel gets the Ken Russell treatment, turning it into a bonkers horror-comedy starring young Hugh Grant as an aristocrat who teams up with an archaeologist to battle a legendary giant worm. Amanda Donohoe's deliriously camp performance as the snake god's slinky priestess is not to be missed.
A pious police sergeant searches for a missing schoolgirl on a remote Scottish island where he is shocked by the pagan traditions, presided over by Christopher Lee at his most patrician. This uniquely unsettling landmark in folk horror, hailed as "The Citizen Kane of Horror Movies", builds up to a devastating climax.
The third and most accomplished film from whizz-kid Reeves before his untimely death is a grim revenge "western" set during the English Civil War. Vincent Price gives one of his best - and scariest - performances as the infamous Matthew Hopkins, who roams the land, torturing suspected witches for profit and pleasure.
Rural Ireland, 1810: eccentric Maura is accused of witchcraft by her community, but finds solace in the company of "Scarf Michael", a roving fiddler, and his magical otherworld. This landmark Irish film from Robert Wynne-Simmons (who wrote The Blood on Satan's Claw) was only recently rediscovered and restored.
A montage of film clips drawn from 100 years of archive footage coalesces into a fever dream exploring the British people's connection to their land. What begins as elegiac becomes increasingly surreal (cheese rolling!), even ominous, set to a soundtrack by Portishead's Adrian Utley and Goldfrapp's Will Gregory.
An 18th century farmer unearths a deformed skull in his field, a discovery that leads to local youngsters sprouting patches of demonic fur and forming a satanic cult in which they sacrifice their friends. A landmark folk horror film scripted by Robert Wynne-Simmons, who went on to write and direct The Outcasts.
A grouchy occultist and a bereaved woman sequester themselves in a remote house, where they intend to summon a supernatural entity to help her come to terms with her grief. But the rituals are long and gruelling, neither party is telling the whole truth, and nothing goes as planned in Gavin's haunting debut feature.
Helen invites her friend Anne, a writer, to stay at her mansion in the English countryside. But the big old house is full of strange noises, the handyman is a creep, and Anne senses a mystery that she sets out to solve. Larraz's eerie psychochiller gives Angela Pleasence, who plays Helen, the role of her career.
%20(Larraz).jpg "Symptoms")
In the third and best of Hammer's big screen versions of Nigel Kneale's BBC TV trilogy, workmen digging a London Underground extension unearth what seems to be an unexploded bomb. But no - it's worse! Ghosts, aliens and the devil collide in one of the most mind-boggling origin stories in the horror and sci-fi canon.
A nature volunteer keeps watch over a rare flower on an island off the coast of Cornwall in Jenkin's immersive, semi-experimental reworking of folk horror tropes. As creeping lichen, an eerie menhir and the island's ghosts jostle with visions from her past, the solitude begins to take its toll on her mental state.
Scientists move into a haunted house, hoping to use its stone walls as a radical new recording medium. But they don't know what they're dealing with! Nigel Kneale's teleplay revolutionised the traditional ghost story, lent its name to a paranormal theory, and was a big influence on John Carpenter's Prince of Darkness.
A lone traveller encounters a railway signalman whose signal box is stationed near the mouth of a tunnel, and finds him living in fear of a mysterious figure whose visitations invariably presage disaster. Denholm Elliott gives an acting masterclass in this hair-raising adaptation of a ghost story by Charles Dickens.
While digging in his garden, a man unearths an ancient Celtic stone head which gives his wife a bad nightmare. One of the first horror films in the Welsh language, this eerie little number was produced by Bwrdd Ffilmiau Cymraeg, the Welsh Film Board, which - incredibly - arranged for it to be screened in primary schools, thus well and truly terrorising a generation of small Welsh children.
Jay, ex-soldier turned hitman, puts his domestic problems on hold to embark on a triple-killing mission with his Irish buddy. But glimpses of their shady client, pagan symbols and Jay's escalating bloodlust hint that this is not so much a hitman thriller as a deadly expedition into the depravity of the human soul.
People's souls are trapped in pebbles on the north coast of Devon in this gripping adaptation of an uncanny story by Robert Graves. A strange traveller (Alan Bates) disrupts the lives of a composer and his wife, claiming a shaman has taught him a shout that will kill anyone who hears it. Is he mad, or truly dangerous?
The 2012 film of Susan Hill's ghost story, with Daniel Radcliffe, is nowhere near as frightening as this earlier TV version with a screenplay by Nigel Kneale. A young London solicitor, assigned to settle a widow's estate, goes through her papers in a big empty house, where he is unnerved by a threatening presence.
The past clashes (and sometimes meshes) with the present in this portrait of an English village, as seen through the eyes of an old man tending the graveyard. Docudrama slips into folk horror as dead villagers rise from their tombs to share their memories, and rural tranquility is rudely shattered by a biker gang.
Alan Clarke, better known for his down-and-dirty social realism, also directed this visionary, eloquent coming-of-age telefilm. A vicar's son finds his staid views on religion and sexuality challenged by visitations from the pagan past and secret military experiments conducted in the mystical landscape around his village.
What begins as a spooky chiller turns into a nail-biting exercise in mounting dread when a middle-class father (Edward Woodward) is obliged to miss his teenage daughter's violin recital because of a business appointment. There are dark forces at work, with bad dreams and portents building up to a shattering finale.
In this classic BBC adaptation of an M.R. James story, the peerless Michael Horden plays a fusty professor holidaying on England's east coast, where he finds a whistle in a graveyard - and makes the mistake of blowing it. His nightmares are creepy enough, but you'll never look at a spare bed the same way again.
"No digging here!" In 1930s East Anglia, a cash-strapped amateur archaeologist (the great Peter Vaughan) is hunting for a legendary crown, rumoured to be buried off the bleak Norfolk coast. Unfortunately for him, the treasure is guarded by a vicious ghost in this petrifying adaptation of an M.R. James story.
Have you seen all 27 folk horror films on this list, or did we introduce you to some new nightmares? Let us know in the comments—which ones are your favorites, and which still haunt you?
If you want more eerie movie fun, check out Meow! Cats in Horror, Sci-Fi, and Fantasy Movies.
Covering films from 29 countries, it’s a deep dive into the weirdest, wildest, and most unexpected cat-centric genre movies. Perfect for horror and sci-fi fans looking for something a little different!
The program of the 18th edition of the Offscreen Film Festival (for which I am a programmer) is now online.
The festival keeps an eye on exciting new talent while continuing to explore alternative film history. We have once again assembled an exhilarating programme of more than 60 screenings that swim against mainstream trends. From March 12 until March 30, we plunge into the wonderful world of film at its most offbeat and stimulating, edgy cult viewing, and all the genres from B to Z. And as always, to complement our selection of premieres, we present a special focus, a tribute and a retrospective.
In an extensive restrospective under the heading "The Haunted Isles: Folk Horror and the Wyrd in the UK and Ireland" we will be showing over 30 films, many in newly restored versions, at Cinema Nova and Cinematek. In addition to the original "Unholy Trinity" of Folk Horror classics rooted in the British landscape and its superstitions - Witchfinder General (1968), The Blood on Satan's Claw (1971) and The Wicker Man (1973) - we dip into paganism, witchcraft, stone circles and ghosts in a rich selection of otherworldly tales, including the newly rediscovered Irish classic The Outcasts (1982), screened in the presence of writer-director Robert Wynne-Simmons. Also on the menu: Jacques Tourneur's magnificent Night of the Demon (1957), Hammer's adaptation of The Devil Rides Out (1968), directed by the great Terence Fisher, and Ken Russell's bonkers horror-comedy The Lair of the White Worm (1988), starring Hugh Grant and Peter Capaldi at the start of their careers.
This retrospective will be launched with a screening of Rupert Russell's documentary The Last Sacrifice (2024), which traces the origins of the Folk Horror boom, lavishly illustrated by clips from many of the films in our retrospective, making it the perfect introduction to this theme. The eerie alienation of the subgenre transcends boundaries of genre and format to permeate science fiction (as in Hammer's 1967 big screen version of Nigel Kneale's Quatermass and the Pit) and fantasy, as well as television dramas and series, which we'll be celebrating in a special "Wyrd British Television Night" presented by Bob Fischer of "The Haunted Generation" blog. Among the treats on offer are episodes from spooky TV series such as BBC's A Ghost Story for Christmas, the controversial mockumentary Ghostwatch (1992), and a selection of terrifying government-sponsored Public Information clips showing what happens to naughty children who trespass on farmland or railway lines.
The Folk Horror phenomenon may have peaked in the 1970s, but we show, too, how its influence can be felt in more recent work by filmmakers who grew up in that decade: Ben Wheatley's Kill List (2011), Liam Gavin's A Dark Song (2016), Mark Jenkin's Enys Men (2022) and Paul Duane's All You Need Is Death (2023). Finally, the concepts of Folk Horror and Wyrd Media will be further explored and contextualised at an international conference featuring specialist speakers and a panel discussion. And, not entirely unconnected with these themes, our matinee screening will be the newly restored version of Watership Down (1978), the gripping animated film of Richard Adams' bestselling rabbit epic.
Under the banner "Weird Greece", we sample the recent "Greek Weird Wave", spearheaded by the film that put this movement on the map - Yorgos Lanthimos's internationally acclaimed Dogtooth - followed by lesser-known gems such as Suntan (2016) and Pity (2018). Then we dive back into the 1960s and 1970s, when the Hellenic film industry let off steam in an unprecented deluge of B-movies and exploitation pics featuring all manner of felons, jealous lovers, crazed killers and hedonistic youngsters besporting themselves on sun-drenched Aegean beaches, choice examples of which can be seen at Cinema RITCS, Cinéma Aventure and Cinema Nova. Revelling in provocative titles such as The Wild Pussycat, Diamonds on Her Naked Flesh and Island of Death, these productions travelled abroad to find enthusiastic audiences in non-Greek grindhouse markets, but have since been largely forgotten. Jacques Spohr, "Greeksploitation" specialist and editor of the zineL'Insatiable, will be hosting a special evening of trailers, outtakes and two sexploitation films. Meanwhile, rare items from his collection of posters, lobby cards and other paraphernalia will be on display at Cinema Nova.
Finally, in a special tribute to the creative Belgian team of Picha and Boris Szulzinger, we present exclusive screenings of seven of their films, all freshly restored by Cinematek and the Royal Belgian Film Archive. Picha, professional pseudonym of Jean-Paul Walravens, is a Brussels-born cartoonist whose adult animated features, such as The Missing Link (1980) and The Big Bang (1987), are risqué, grotesque and defiantly non-PC, but also scabrously funny and boundary-pushing. He took his first steps in cinema under the aegis of the late producer Boris Szulzinger, himself a notable director of such cult titles as Les tueurs fous (1973), which prefigures the likes of Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, and Mama Dracula (1980), a horror-comedy in which One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest's Louise Fletcher plays Countess Elizabeth Báthory. Two documentaries - Cartoon Circus (1972) by Picha and Benoît Lamy, and Luc Jabon's brand new Picha, envers et contre tout - help put the work in context, while Picha himself will be attending the festival in person to talk about his outrageous 1975 succès de scandale, Tarzoon: Shame of the Jungle.
📚🐾 Join me for a book signing at the cat café Cup Cats in Brussels on February 8 at 1 PM! I’ll be bringing my cat-themed books: AVALON, CLOWDERS, and MEOW! 🐈 Come say hi and grab a signed copy!
Hi everyone!
On January 4, I’ll be heading to Breda, the Netherlands, for a book signing at Winter BUT! The place to be is Poppodium Phoenix from 12:00 pm to 07:00 pm.
The festival celebrates all things underground and alternative and always has something interesting happening, so make sure to check out their full program if you’re planning to visit.
It’s going to be a laid-back and friendly vibe, so don’t hesitate to stop by and say hello. And if you’ve got one of my books already, feel free to bring it along for a signature!
Looking forward to seeing some familiar faces and meeting new ones!
This Friday, the Cinematek in Brussels has a treat for fans of feline terror. Two cat-forward classics, The Shadow of the Cat (1961) and Sleepwalkers (1992), will grace the big screen in their original 35mm format. I’ll be there in person to introduce both films, sharing behind-the-scenes insights and stories from my latest book, Meow! Cats in Horror, Sci-Fi, and Fantasy Movies.
Intrigued? You can pre-order the Kindle edition now at 50% off, with the full release (including paperback) coming on February 7.
But first, let’s dig into why these two films deserve a spot in your weekend plans.
A Hammer film in disguise, The Shadow of the Cat is a quintessential example of the “Old Dark House” sub-genre. Set in a sprawling English manor, it unravels a mystery involving nine ill-fated visitors—and a cat named Tabitha who exacts her unique brand of justice.
This 1961 gem owes much to Edgar Allan Poe’s The Black Cat, borrowing the motif of a feline symbolizing justice and vengeance. Directed by John Gilling (known for Hammer classics like The Reptile and Plague of the Zombies), the film also boasts a rare horror score by renowned composer Mikis Theodorakis, better known for Zorba the Greek and Serpico.
Tabitha the cat steals the show, but fans of vintage horror will also appreciate performances from Hammer queen Barbara Shelley (Dracula, Village of the Damned) and André Morrell (The Hound of the Baskervilles).
From the mind of Stephen King comes Sleepwalkers (1992), a tale of shape-shifting creatures and the hero cat who stands in their way. Unlike most King adaptations, this one was based on an original screenplay, marking the first collaboration between King and director Mick Garris. The duo would go on to work together on The Stand and The Shining miniseries.
Sleepwalkers is unapologetically fun, blending horror, camp, and early ‘90s CGI morphing effects—a technique pioneered just a year earlier in Terminator 2 and Michael Jackson’s Black or White.
The true hero? Clovis, the brave cat who takes on the titular Sleepwalkers to protect Tanya, played by Mädchen Amick. The cat, portrayed mostly by an exceptionally talented feline named Sparks, became an icon in horror circles.
To celebrate the release of Meow! Cats in Horror, Sci-Fi, and Fantasy Movies, I’m also hosting a $25 Amazon Gift Card giveaway! The giveaway is open worldwide and runs until January 25. Participating is simple—fill out the Rafflecopter below to enter. Good luck!
I’m excited to officially share the cover of my new book, Meow! Cats in Horror, Sci-Fi, and Fantasy Movies, and to let you know that the Kindle version is now available for pre-order at 50% off! 🛒🐱
Both paperback and Kindle will be available on February 7, 2025!
This book has been a long time in the making, and I’m thrilled to reveal this comprehensive guide that celebrates the role of cats in some of the most iconic—and underrated—movies across horror, sci-fi, and fantasy.
Meow! is more than just a guide—it’s a treasure trove of feline film history and insights, spanning over 250 movies from 29 countries. From hidden gems to cult classics, it’s a must-have for anyone who loves cats, movies, or better yet, both!
Contributions from 29 writers make this book a true collaborative effort. Their essays bring diverse perspectives and unique insights into the world of feline cinema, exploring themes of mythology, symbolism, and cats as cinematic icons.
Here’s a sneak peek at what you’ll find inside:
🐾 Extensive Cat Movie List: An ultimate guide to cat-centric horror, sci-fi, and fantasy films, including short films and TV episodes.
🐾 Best Cat Moments: Uncover iconic cat jumpscares and memorable scenes that have thrilled and terrified audiences alike.
🐾 Behind-the-Scenes Trivia: Learn fascinating stories about the making of these films and how our feline friends found their way into some of the most unforgettable roles in cinema.
🐾 Expert Reviews & Recommendations: Get tips for your next movie night and discover films you may have never heard of before.
Whether you’re a horror buff who loves a good fright, a sci-fi fan curious about cats as cosmic travelers, or a fantasy enthusiast fascinated by mythical felines, Meow! has something for everyone.
Meow! Cats in Horror, Sci-Fi, and Fantasy Movies is available for Kindle pre-order starting today. Reserve your copy now at 50% off and be among the first to dive into this ultimate guide to feline film magic.
Follow me on Instagram, X, or Facebook (or subscribe to my newsletter) for more updates, including exclusive excerpts, contributor highlights, and behind-the-scenes peeks at how this book came together.
Thank you for your support—and for sharing my love of cats and cinema. I can’t wait for you to hold this book in your hands and explore the world of feline film magic with me!
P.S. Have you ever been startled by a cat scare in a movie or charmed by a magical feline on screen? Share your favorite cat movie moments in the comments—I’d love to hear them!
Enter this $25 Amazon Gift Card toe celebrate the pre-order release of Meow! For a chance to win, fill out the Rafflecopter below. The giveaway is open worldwide and ends January 25, 2025. Good luck!
THE DEEP ONES (2020) is Ferrin’s take on Lovecraft’s The Shadow over Innsmouth. The film plunges viewers into a world where an idyllic seaside community hides a terrifying secret tied to ancient, aquatic beings known as the Deep Ones. With its eerie atmosphere and unsettling storyline, it’s a modern tribute to Lovecraft’s influence on horror.
