ABSTRACT
According to Adam Scovell, one important element in Folk Horror is the presence of skewed belief systems and skewed morality. These are seen to pose an existential threat to the way of life established by hegemonic forces, and thus, adherents to the alternative lifestyles engendered by the skewed beliefs and morality must either be converted or eradicated. It is this theme that centres queerness in many Folk Horror films. Because these films often feature characters who do not conform and who must confront a hostile society, they can be productively examined through the lens of queer theory, a critical framework that elucidates how hegemonic power structures try to regulate nonconforming behaviours. This essay uses Michael Warner's concept of ‘counter-publics’ to theorise how Folk Horror films foreground queerness by portraying counter-hegemonic cultures and nonnormative characters who engage in a struggle for the right to be different. It explores David Rudkin's ‘Penda's Fen’ (1974), Kurtis David Harder's Spiral (2019), and Robin Hardy's The Wicker Man (1973), showing how the protagonists in these pieces are surrogates for various types of ‘queer’ populations. It also sheds light on how some Folk Horror films foreground the demonisation of the ‘Other’, and that it is the struggle of those who do not conform that is truly at the core of the sub-genre.
