Frewaka

Irish fairies, Catholic guilt and one extremely ominous red door. Frewaka is exactly the sort of film FolknHell should fall for, which made it all the more annoying when it kept wandering off into the mist with its own plot. Episode summary Frewaka arrives wearing all the right clothes for folk horror. Remote Irish village. Fairy lore. Iron nailed up around the house. Bells in trees. Missing children. Family trauma. Village oddballs. A goat, naturally. It is thick with the sort of atmosphere that makes you sit up and think, right, here we go. And for a while, it really does feel like we are in safe, dread-soaked hands. Shoo, still reeling from her mother’s death, takes a care job with Peg, an elderly woman living in a lonely old house full of rules, warnings and the sense that something is very wrong just outside the frame. From there the film starts digging into changelings, inherited fear, buried history and old supernatural debts, all wrapped up in Irish folklore and religious unease. There is a lot here to admire. The imagery is strong, the mood is properly eerie, and when Frewaka lands on a creepy idea, it really lands. The trouble is that it also seems oddly determined not to explain itself until far too late. FolknHell spent a good chunk of the discussion trying to work out whether the film was being richly mysterious or just plain muddled. Peg appears to know absolutely everything and says almost nothing. Shoo strolls through moments that would send most people into the sea. And some of the film’s best ideas, especially the red door and the final procession, feel more haunting than satisfying. On the all important question, though, there was no real argument. This is folk horror. No hedging, no qualifiers, no “adjacent” nonsense. The ingredients are all there and they are properly baked in. The frustration is that a film this atmospheric, this folkloric and this loaded with unsettling promise should probably have hit harder. Dave was the most forgiving with a 6, while Andy and David both landed on 4, giving Frewaka a FolknHell total of 14 out of 30. A proper folk horror, then. Just one that leaves you doing a bit more admin than you might like. Key takeaways Completely, undeniably folk horror. No debate there Gorgeous eerie bits and folklore detail do a lot of the heavy lifting The central mystery feels more tangled than clever by the end That red door is doing award-worthy work The final procession is exactly the sort of thing this film needed more of Final FolknHell score: 14 out of 30 Links and references IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt27828550/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_8_nm_0_in_0_q_Fr%C3%A9waka Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/frewaka TMDb: https://www.themoviedb.org/search?language=en-GB&query=Frewaka Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frewaka Referenced in this episode that you might want to look up Sidhe Changeling folklore The Wicker Man Lord of Misrule Sator Rabbit Trap Philomena FolknHell Score 14 out of 30 🔗Give us your score and share your thoughts on this film here 🔗Visit folknhell.com for more review, discussions and ideas on which folk horror film to watch next Folknhell is the folk horror podcast where Andy Davidson, Dave Houghton and David Hall dig into strange cinema, argue about whether it really counts as folk horror, and score every film out of 30. Add your own score and comments about the films at https://www.folknhell.com/scores Find us on the socials: YouTube: @folknhell Facebook: FolknHell X: @FolknHell Bluesky: FolknHell