Horror films are a great space to explore collective fears but older forms of storytelling like folklore, myths, cultural practices etc. were doing this long before film’s invention.
In this article, we will analyse why horror stories, even now, like to draw on these cultural touchstones, before looking at some horror films and the folklore and myths that inspired them.
Past Horrors
Older forms of storytelling like myths, legends, folklore etc. have concerned themselves with confronting our fears of the unexplained for thousands of years. Whether it be existential, rooted in the problems of a particular region/culture or often both. Many of these stories act as tales of morality or explorations of the fantastical, they are also seen as formative teaching moments for children to learn about the world and the moral frameworks through which to view it. But these stories also have a hint of horror about them. With the dire consequences visited upon those who are evil (e.g. burning to death or in hell) and villains being capable of scary/dark things (e.g. devouring people in their path). Thus these stories act as a foundation for horror stories by prominently using the fantastic and unexplained.
Since the beginning of cinema films have been drawing inspiration from this kind of storytelling. Allowing stories from across the Earth to be experienced in a way that foregrounds a sense of reality and immediacy.
Horror and Myths
So why do horror films keep returning to these older stories? Well, one reason is that these types of stories value reinterpretation. These stories have been told differently in various regions with each storyteller giving the story a different spin. Providing filmmakers with a great license for creativity.
Equally, these sources can provide production with an air of seriousness due to drawing on older traditions that those outside of the genre are more familiar with.
They also add an extra eerie factor. Due to the association of myths and folklore with formative childhood experiences and a time before cinema, it allows films using these stories to act as a dark confrontation of childhood innocence and evokes feelings of a time before modern technology which creates feelings of unfamiliarity and thus unease in viewers.
But most significantly horror as a genre has a habit of recontextualising these older stories. With many of these older stories attempting to explain the unexplained or offering definitive morals their use in a modern context, where many questions posed by these stories have been answered and morality is less black and white, refocuses the story’s meaning to show humanity’s fallibility. Notably folk horror, which focuses a lot on invoking folklore, takes the trappings of old tales and puts more focus on humanity’s capacity for self-destruction.
Folklore in Horror Films
To see how widespread the influence of older stories are in horror here are three horror films and the stories that inspired them:
Haxan
The groundbreaking silent horror essay film dramatises and analyses the folklore of witches and the societal factors that resulted in these stories being used to destroy the lives of women from the Middle Ages to the then modern day.
Midsommar
This film’s story has ties to several traditions and folk tales. For example, Midsommar’s Hårga cult is influenced by a folk story which concerns a group of villagers who are visited by the devil and made to dance to death – something at the heart of the dramatic displays of Midsommar. Plus there is the use of May Queen imagery. This symbolises someone being chosen to embody the coming of growth in Spring, with Dani representing the growth of the cult’s ideology.
Huesera: The Bone Woman
Huesera’s central threat is based on a Mexican legend. The story concerns a woman who collects bones. Upon having enough to form a skeleton she brings them to life. Creating a wolf which then becomes a woman. The story is said by scholars to be about restoring lifeforce, which does not want to be tamed. The movie updates this theme by making the central threat encompass how women are viewed by and harmed under patriarchy, with the main character Valeria’s visits from the bone woman revealing more about herself and how society views her.
Also Read: Animated Horror: The Overlooked Genre Fusion
