A double bill of British folk horror films set in the English Civil War, directed by Michael Reeves and Ben Wheatley, as part of the FilmFear programme.
HOME is pairing two British folk-horror films set during the English Civil War on Friday 31 October, as part of FilmFear, a four-night programme running from Thursday 29 October to Sunday 1 November. The double bill brings together Witchfinder General and A Field in England, both set in the same historical period, and it forms the Friday night of the series, which HOME is running in partnership with Film4 over the Halloween weekend.
Witchfinder General (dir. Michael Reeves, 1968, 87 mins) stars Vincent Price and Ian Ogilvy and is widely regarded as the first of the 'unholy trinity' of British folk horror from the turn of the 1970s, alongside The Blood on Satan's Claw (1971) and The Wicker Man (1973). It follows a witch hunter roaming the East Anglian countryside, and it's the one that set the template for the whole subgenre.
A Field in England (dir. Ben Wheatley, 2013, 90 mins) stars Reece Shearsmith and Michael Smiley. It's shot in striking monochrome and powered by psychedelic fungi and formal experimentation, so it's a very different beast from the 1960s half of the night. Pairing them puts the two side by side: one a classic that helped define the folk-horror tradition, the other a modern take on it, both sharing the same Civil War backdrop.
Every week we pick 🏆 the 5 best 🏆 things to do in Manchester and send them to your inbox. Just one weekly email, no spam.
By submitting your email, you accept our Privacy Policy
Together they make up the Friday night of FilmFear, which runs for four nights at HOME with back-to-back cult and classic horror each evening. Witchfinder General and A Field in England run on Friday 31 October, with the full programme running from Thursday 29 October to Sunday 1 November.
