The Blood in the Snow Film Festival is back and so is our coverage of the one-of-a-kind festival that celebrates the very best in independent Canadian genre film. While the festival has numerous titles to choose from, we at Horror Facts thought we would check out the French horror short, Folk, from director Gabriel Miron.
Folk official synopsis: Late on Halloween night, a woman is harassed by young trick-or-treaters with a sinister agenda.
Folk opens on a lone woman who’s enjoying a late-night movie at home on Halloween night when, suddenly, two strange children with burlap sacks over their heads wander up to her door asking for candy.
In exchange for candy, they promise to give her their pumpkin, which they claim will protect her from being haunted all this night when the veil between the living and the dead is at its weakest.
Not buying into their superstition, she shoos the masked children away.
After going out to the barn to retrieve more firewood, she returns to find a mask tucked into her laundry basket.
Without warning, her TV begins to act erratically before the power goes out and completely plunges the house into darkness.
The young woman then hears a sound coming from inside the house and, after attempting to investigate the source of the noise, she discovers that the children have returned, bringing two additional children with them.
As if drawn by some unnatural force, she follows the children out to the barn where she sits around a table where they instruct her to put the mask on.
The children then begin to summon the spirits to their location, before beginning to consume the feast they have gathered on the table.
They continue to shove food into their mouths, instructing the woman to partake in their feast if she doesn’t want more guests to arrive at their little gathering.
It’s not hard to get Trick ‘r Treat vibes when watching Folk, as the film focuses on masked children who appear to adhere to the traditions of Halloween and seek vengeance on those who would break tradition. In this instance, the significance is on the mythology of the Jack-o’-Lantern and the belief that they help to ward off evil spirits from entering your home.
The woman, unfortunately, disregards the children’s warning and quickly learns the hard way that some traditions are in place for a reason.
The film succeeds in setting the atmosphere and letting the audience know that there is something sinister and unnatural about these children. It makes sure to give you just enough to get a sense of what’s happening, but not enough to completely understand what’s happening. This leaves the viewer with the task of attempting to fill in the gaps and formulate what they think is happening and could potentially happen.
Folk was the winner of the Coven’s Choice: Best of Fest award at this year’s NYC Halloween Film Festival.
Airing as part of the Super Channel line-up, Folk is scheduled to premiere on Super Channel on November 22, 2022.
Folk stars Sara-Sue Vallee, Liam Patenaude, Jacob Lemieux, Xavier Gaudreau-Poulin, and Eve Gaudreau-Poulin.
I have come here to chew bubblegum and write horror, and I’m all out of bubblegum.
Senior Editor at Horror Facts
