All The Deets on All The Haunts Be Ours: A Compendium of Folk Horror Volume Two

Release Date: Nov 12, 2024

Everything fans of folk horror want to know but were afraid to ask is continuing to be explored in an all new continuation, simply titled All The Haunts Be Ours: A Compendium of Folk Horror Volume Two. And when I own a copy of the first set, there’s no turning back! Not only am I a rabid completist but also this new collection offers recent movies that define what this genre is all about.

As for older works that can’t be easily found online or not available, half the list includes films making their debut on the optical medium. The care and attention put into these collections says it all. I’m particularly glad there’s a lot more to explore. What’s offered is an extension of the documentary that started it all, Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched Documentary (review link)

Here, the films included in this set are finally delving into a region I’ve been wanting to learn more about–South Asia! While I could have posted this list as one huge read, it has been separated into parts. That way, each group can be appreciated for what each film is about.

From the Press Release:

Unquiet spirits have gathered once again: ALL THE HAUNTS BE OURS: A COMPENDIUM OF FOLK HORROR VOLUME TWO brings together 24 films representing 18 countries for more of the best-loved, rarely seen, thought-lost and brand-new classics of folk horror, most making their disc debuts including the North American Disc Premieres of the Severin Films Original Productions TO FIRE YOU COME AT LAST directed by Sean Hogan and the documentary SUZZANNA: THE QUEEN OF BLACK MAGIC directed by David Gregory, which will have its World Premiere at the Sitges Film Festival on October 12th. The set also features 55+ combined hours of new and archival Special Features including trailers, interviews, audio commentaries, short films, video essays, historical analyses and bonus feature-length films; a 252-page hardcover of newly commissioned folk horror fiction by luminaries that include Ramsey Campbell, Cassandra Khaw and Eden Royce with illustrations by Drazen Kozjan, and much more, all curated and produced by WOODLANDS DARK AND DAYS BEWITCHED creator Kier-La Janisse.

In this collection are:

Disc 1: TO FIRE YOU COME AT LAST / PSYCHOMANIA Blu-ray

TO FIRE YOU COME AT LAST (UK/USA, 2023)
A Severin Films Production
Worldwide Disc Premiere

In 17th century England, near a rural village where unquiet spirits gather, a grieving Squire hires three local men to help carry his son’s coffin to a graveyard across the countryside. But as darkness descends upon their journey, disturbing secrets will be revealed. Violence will rise to the surface. And as the hellhounds of local lore howl in the night, this quartet of the damned will discover a realm of supernatural terror that not even dawn – or death – can readily contain.

Mark Carlisle, Harry Roebuck, Richard Rowden, Stephen Smith and James Swanton star in this “chilling” (Nigtmarish Conjurings), “intense” (Bloody Flicks) and “satisfyingly wicked” (Horror Fuel) shocker written and directed by Sean Hogan (THE DEVIL’S BUSINESS, THE BORDERLANDS), produced by Severin Films and hailed by Starburst as “a great addition to the pantheon of British folk horror.”

Special Features For TO FIRE YOU COME AT LAST

• Audio Commentary With Director Sean Hogan And Co-Producers Paul Goodwin And Nicholas Harwood
• On The Lych Way – Corpse Road Chronicler Dr. Stuart Dunn Discusses The Pathways Of The Dead
• Trailer
• Audio Commentary With Director Sean Hogan And Co-Producers Paul Goodwin And Nicholas Harwood
• EPK For WE ALWAYS FIND OURSELVES IN THE SEA
• OUR SELVES UNKNOWN
• Short Films
  WE ALWAYS FIND OURSELVES IN THE SEA

PSYCHOMANIA (UK, 1973)
4K Scan from the original camera negative provided by the British Film Institute

‘Seven suicides!’ screamed the posters, ‘and they roared back as The Living Dead!’ In this “incredible, to say the least” (The Psychotronic Encyclopedia Of Film) cult classic, Nicky Henson (THE WITCHFINDER GENERAL) stars as the leader of motorcycle gang whose pact with Satan grants life him after death. After convincing his cohorts to commit their own creative self-destructions, the bikers burst from their graves to wreak havoc, taunt the law, and crush a world of psychedelic hippie pleasures under the wheels of black leather occult mayhem.

Beryl Reid (THE BEAST IN THE CELLAR), Robert Hardy (ALL CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL) and Oscar® winner George Sanders (ALL ABOUT EVE, VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED) star in this beloved ‘70s mindblower – also known as THE DEATH WHEELERS – directed by horror veteran Don Sharp (KISS OF THE VAMPIRE, RASPUTIN: THE MAD MONK, DARK PLACES) from an insane script by the blacklisted Hollywood screenwriters of HORROR EXPRESS and featuring some of the wildest cycle stunts of the decade. This cult classic known as “the grooviest zombie biker movie of them all” (Cinesploitation) has now been scanned in 4K from the original negative.

Special Features For PSYCHOMANIA

• Introduction By Film Historian Chris Alexander
• Audio Commentary With Maria J. Pérez Cuervo, Founding Editor Of Hellebore Magazine
• Stone Warnings – Dr. Diane A. Rodgers On Stone Circles And Standing Stones In Film And Television
• Return Of The Living Dead – Interviews With Actors Nicky Henson, Mary Larkin, Denis Gilmore, Roy Holder And Rocky Taylor
• The Sound Of PSYCHOMANIA – Interview With Soundtrack Composer John Cameron
• Riding Free – Interview With “Riding Free” Singer Harvey Andrews
• Theatrical Trailer

Disc 2: THE ENCHANTED / WHO FEARS THE DEVIL Blu-ray

THE ENCHANTED (USA, 1984)
4K Scan from the Original Camera Negative
Worldwide Home Video Premiere

According to backwoods Central Florida folklore, there’s one world for humans, another for magic, and what sometimes crosses between them is known as The Enchanted: When a young man returns to his remote family home, he’ll encounter a strange family working the land. But as he becomes romantically involved with their eldest daughter, her bizarre contradictions – and the mysterious arrival of a beast that slaughters local livestock – may unlock a supernatural secret that cannot be explained by the laws of man or nature.

Julius Harris (LIVE AND LET DIE, BLACK CAESAR) stars in this “good and creepy” (Miami Herald), “stunningly beautiful” (Dallas Times Herald) and rarely seen regional thriller that EOFFTV hails as “offbeat and haunting horror that feels like it’s been based on the real thing and is right for rediscovery”, now scanned in 4K from the original camera negative.

Special Features For THE ENCHANTED

• Audio Commentary With Director Carter Lord And Camera Assistant Richard Grange, Moderated By Filmmaker/Author Kier-La Janisse
• Audio Commentary With Chesya Burke, Author Of Let’s Play White, And Sheree Renée Thomas, Author Of Nine Bar Blues
• A Magical Place – Interview With Composer Phil Sawyer
• Hole In The Wall – Character Notes By Screenwriter Charné Porter
• Trailer
• Short Film
  SWIMMER

WHO FEARS THE DEVIL (USA, 1972)
2K Scan from the Last Existing 35mm Print
Worldwide Disc Premiere

In this rarely seen adaptation of the ‘Silver John’ stories by American pulp author Manly Wade Williams and set in the Ozark communities of moonshine, sawmills, hound dogs and divining rods, Grandpappy John (Denver Pyle of The Dukes Of Hazzard and The Life And Times of Grizzly Adams) challenges the devil to a guitar duel. But will his defiance of local superstition lead his free-spirited troubadour grandson (Hedges Capers) into his own battles with manifestations of ancient evil?

Severn Darden (BATTLE FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES), Susan Strasberg (THE MANITOU), Harris Yulin (SCARFACE) and R.G. Armstrong (CHILDREN OF THE CORN) star in “offbeat and unique” (Every ‘70s Movie) fantasy adventure – also known as THE LEGEND OF HILLBILLY JOHN – directed by John Newland (DON’T BE AFRAID OF THE DARK) with music by Oscar®-nominee Roger Kellaway (A STAR IS BORN) and featuring songs by Hoyt Axton, now scanned in 2K from the only 35MM print known to exist.

Special Features For WHO FEARS THE DEVIL

• THE LEGEND OF HILLBILLY JOHN Alternate Opening Introduced By Actor Severn Darden
• Audio Commentary With Television Historian Amanda Reyes
• Crumble Will The Feet Of Clay – Interview With Producer Barney Rosenzweig
• Silver Strings – Interview With Actor/Musician Hedges Capers
• Manly Of The Mountains – Author David Drake Remembers anly Wade Wellman
• Occult Appalachia – Occult Historian Mitch Horowitz On The Arcane Texts Of Wellman’s John The Balladeer Stories
• Theatrical Trailer

Disc 3: THE WHITE REINDEER / EDGE OF THE KNIFE Blu-ray

THE WHITE REINDEER (Finland, 1952)
4K Scan from the Original Camera Negative
North American Blu-ray Premiere

The debut feature film by acclaimed Finnish cinematographer and documentarian Erik Blomberg (KUN ON TUNTEET, KIHLAUS), this “fascinating, intoxicating and truly haunting folk horror fairy tale” (Behind The Couch) remains a pioneering shocker of shamanism, vampirism and female sexuality: Unknowingly born a witch, a frustrated young Lapland wife shape-shifts into a bloodthirsty white reindeer with an insatiable appetite for the local herdsmen. Co-writer, star and Blomberg’s spouse/creative collaborator Mirjami Kuosmanen gives an award-winning performance in this “eerie and spectacularly filmed horror experience that’s hard to shake” (Mondo Digital) which also won Le Grand Prix International des Films Légendaires at the 1953 Cannes Film Festival and Best Foreign Language Film at the 1956 Golden Globe Awards, now scanned in 4K from the original camera negative.

Special Features For THE WHITE REINDEER

• The Projection Booth Episode On THE WHITE REINDEER Hosted By Mike White And Featuring Kat Ellinger, Author of Daughters Of Darkness, And Talk Without Rhythm’s El Goro
• Short Films
  A WITCH DRUM
  THE NIGHTSIDE OF THE SKY
  WITH THE REINDEER

EDGE OF THE KNIFE (Canada, 2018)
4K Scan from the Original Camera Negative
American Disc Premiere

The first feature film made entirely in the Haida language — a critically endangered language spoken fluently by only two dozen people — Edge of the Knife is a stunning cinematic achievement and a spellbinding tale of pride, tragedy, and remorse set in Haida Gwaii in the 1800s. Two extended families meet at their annual fishing camp one summer on the shores of Haida Gwaii, in the Pacific Northwest of Canada. Charming Adiits’ii is close with the family of his best friend, Kwa, and an ardent teacher to Kwa’s young son. The boy looks up to him, but Kwa’s wife, Hlaaya, is concerned that Adiits’ii’s appetite for challenge may lead to reckless choices. Tragedy strikes when a storm hits the small encampment and Adiits’ii becomes estranged from the group. Presuming him dead, they return to their winter home without him. Adiits’ii creeps deep into the forest and begins his ominous transformation into Gaagiixid — the legendary Haida Wildman.

In this spectacular rendering of a classic Haida story, life on the land is shaped by the power of the elements, where natural and supernatural forces co-exist. Co-directed by Haida filmmaker Gwaai Edenshaw and Tsilhqot’in filmmaker Helen Haig-Brown, this ambitious project was a collaboration with Isuma, the team behind the landmark film Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner. Made with a Haida cast and in collaboration with the Haida Council, Edge of the Knife proves that cinema can be at once a powerful vessel for riveting storytelling and a vital act of Indigenous language and culture revitalization.

Special Features For EDGE OF THE KNIFE

• Audio Commentary With Directors Gwaai Edenshaw And Helen Haig-Brown
  RETAKE – Making The World’s First Haida-Language Feature Film
• Short Films
  HAIDA CARVER
  NALUJUK NIGHT

Disc 4: BORN OF FIRE Blu-ray

BORN OF FIRE (UK, 1987)
4K Scan from the Original Camera Negative
North American Disc Premiere

It’s been called “hallucinatory and powerful” (Screen Anarchy), “visually ravishing” (Mondo Digital) and “a breathtaking journey for the senses” (DVD Drive-In). Now experience “one of the most beautiful British horror movies of the ‘80s” (DVD Beaver) like never before: when a renowned concert flutist (Academy Award® Nominee Peter Firth of EQUUS and LIFEFORCE) is unnerved by visions of unnatural solar phenomena, he will become obsessed with finding the enigmatic ‘Master Musician’ who counseled his late father just before his fiery demise. His search will lead to the mountains of Turkey where djinns roam the plains, mysticism rules the night, and an increasingly unstable volcano threatens devastation. But will this infernal quest for meaning ultimately deliver the most shocking secrets of all?

Suzan Crowley (THE DEVIL INSIDE, THE DRAUGHTSMAN’S CONTRACT), Stefan Kalipha (THE JUNGLE BOOK) and Orla Pedersen (THE ELEPHANT MAN) star in this “fascinating and startling work of surrealism with tinges of macabre horror” (Rock! Shock! Pop!) from award-winning producer/director Jamil Dehlavi (JINNAH, INFINITE JUSTICE), now scanned in 4K from the original camera negative.

Special Features For BORN OF FIRE

• Igniting The Fire – Interview With Director Jamil Dehlavi
• The Silent One Speaks – Archival Interview With Actor Nabil Shaban
• Between The Sacred And The Profane – Archival Lecture On The Cinematic World Of Jamil Dehlavi By Dr. Ali Nobil Ahmad
• The Djinn Revisited – Director Dalia Al Kury Examines The Role Of The Djinb In Contemporary Arab Culture
• BORN OF FIRE And The Roots Of Pakistani Horror – Interview With Scholar Syeda Momina Masood
• Trailer
• Short Films
  TOWERS OF SILENCE
  QÂF

To be continued…