All the Haunts Be Ours: A Compendium of Folk Horror Vol. 1 [15-Disc Blu-ray Box Set]

The most comprehensive collection of its kind begins with the definitive genre documentary of our time, Kier-La Janisse’s award-winning WOODLANDS DARK & DAYS BEWITCHED. From there, experience 19 of the best-known, least-known, rarely-seen and thought-lost classics of folk horror from around the world, all restored from the best available vault elements with Special Features that include short films, audio commentaries and exclusive featurettes. The ultimate genre exploration continues with the original WOODLANDS soundtrack by Jim Williams and a reading of the classic short story ‘The White People’ by actress Linda Hayden, as well as a 126-page illustrated book curated by Janisse and designed by Luke Insect featuring all-new writings by renowned film scholars, authors and historians. DISC 1: WOODLANDS DARK AND DAYS BEWITCHED Kier-La Janisse, USA, 2021 192 mins | 1.85 | Color | Region Free English and Portuguese with English subtitles Stereo HD Digital Master WOODLANDS DARK AND DAYS BEWITCHED explores the folk horror phenomenon and its culturally specific manifestations in international horror, from its first wave in the 1970s to today. Special Features: Video Introduction By Writer/Director/Producer Kier-La Janisse (9 mins) Animating Folk Horror — A Conversation with Ashley Thorpe (12 mins) Animator Ashley Thorpe discusses his processes and inspirations for the animated sequences he created for the film. Outtake: What is Folk Horror? (2 mins) Expanded definitions of folk horror cut from the film’s introductory sequence. Outtake: Harvest Hymns — The Sounds and Signals of Folk Horror (22 mins) Historians and Composers—including Marc Wilkinson, John Cameron, Jim Williams, Pentagram Home Video and more—weigh in on the sounds of folk horror from trad to electronica. Outtake: Terra Assombrada — Expressions of Folk Horror in Brazil (7 mins) Filmmaker Dennison Ramalho and Scholars Carlos Primati and Laura Loguercio Cánepa discuss the impact of Brazilian folk literature and songs on folk horror. Folk Poetry (5 mins) WITCHFINDER GENERAL star Ian Ogilvy and BLOOD ON SATAN’S CLAW’s Linda Hayden recite classic folk poems set to Super 8 footage. Trailer _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ DISC 2: EYES OF FIRE Avery Crounse, USA, 1983 86 mins | 1.85:1 | Color | Region Free English Mono | Closed Captions 4K restoration from the original negative The seminal American folk horror film, unavailable on home video for decades, now debuts in a new 4K restoration. A rogue 18th century preacher and his followers make their way downriver to establish a new settlement beyond the western frontier and encounter a forest enchanted by strange spirits that will bring an apocalyptic madness upon them. Special Features: Audio Commentary With Colin Dickey, Author of “Ghostland: An American History In Haunted Places” The Secret Is In The Trees — “Nightmare USA” Author Stephen Thrower Interviews Avery Crounse (29 mins) Crying Blue Sky Alternate Longer Cut restored in 2K from Director's personal 35mm answer print Plus Bonus Short Films: The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow (Sam Weiss, USA 1972) (13 mins) Genre icon John Carradine narrates this atmospheric animated adaptation of Washington Irving’s classic story, newly scanned from 16mm for this release by educational film archive AV Geeks. Courtesy of Pyramid Films. Transformations (Barbara Hirschfeld, USA 1972) (8.5 mins) A fascinating feminist experimental film shot on location in Vermont about a group of witches performing white magic. Courtesy of the Vermont Archive Movie Project (VAMP). vamp.vtiff.org Backwoods (Ryan Mackfall, UK 2018) (15 mins) A scholar drifts from his path and finds himself in a house he takes for deserted. Based on H.P. Lovecraft's “The Picture In The House.” Courtesy of Myskatonic Films. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ DISC 3: LEPTIRICA Djordje Kadijevic, Serbia, 1973 65 mins | 1.33:1 | Color | Region Free Serbian mono with optional English subtitles HD master from Public Service Media Radio Television of Serbia Based loosely on by Milovan Glišić’s classic 1880 Serbian vampire story After Ninety Years – which preceded Bram Stoker’s Dracula by nearly two decades – Djordje Kadijevic’s adaptation is a subversive, darkly erotic take on Glišić’s pastoral tale of a group of rural villagers beset upon by the infamous vampire Sava Savanovic, who has taken up residence in their local flour mill. Special Features: Radical Fairy Tales — Interview With Director Djordje Kadijevic Plus bonus short films newly remastered in HD from archival film elements at Public Service Media Radio Television of Serbia: Štićenik (Djordje Kadijevic,1973) (45 mins) A terrified young man is being pursued by a mysterious man in black. He hides out in nearby mental hospital, but can he escape his fate? Diary Of An Inmate (10 mins) An interview with Štićenik actor Milan Mihailovic Devičanska Svirka (Djordje Kadijevic,1973) (60 mins) A man travelling through the countryside is drawn to a strange castle, which is reputed by the locals to be haunted. There he meets a beguiling young woman who ensnares him in her world of secrets. Prisoner Of Song An interview with Devičanska Svirka actor Goran Sultanovic _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ DISC 4: WITCHHAMMER Otakar Vávra, Czechoslovakia, 1970 107 mins | 2:35:1 | Color | Region Free Czech mono with optional English subtitles HD restored master supplied by the Czech Film Center Otakar Vávra’s film about 17th century witch hunter Jindřich František Boblig and the horrors he visited on the small village of Velké Losiny has been called an Eastern European counterpart to Michael Reeves’ WITCHFINDER GENERAL and Michael Armstrong’s MARK OF THE DEVIL. Special Features: Audio Commentary With Czech Film Historian And Curator Irena Kovarova The Womb Of Woman Is The Gateway To Hell (22.5 mins) A filmed appreciation by essayist and critic Kat Ellinger and film historian Michael Brooke. Courtesy of Second Run Films. The Projection Booth Podcast (62 mins) The renowned film podcast’s episode on WITCHHAMMER, with host Mike White and guest critics Samm Deighan and Rahne Alexander. ------------------------ VIY Konstantin Ershov, Georgiy Kropachyov, Soviet Union, 1967 76 mins | 1.33:1 | Color | Region Free Russian mono with optional English subtitles / English mono HD restored master supplied by Mosfilm Based on the classic novella by Nikolai Gogol, VIY remains the height of Soviet fantasy cinema. In 19th century Russia, a seminary student is forced to spend three nights with the corpse of a beautiful young witch. But when she rises from the dead to test his faith, it will summon a nightmare of fear, desire and the ultimate demonic mayhem. Special Features: From The Woods To The Cosmos — John Leman Riley On The History Of Soviet Fantasy And Sci-Fi Film (34 mins) Trailer Plus Bonus Silent Short Films: Satan Exultant (1917, 20 mins), The Queen of Spades (1916, 16 mins) and The Portrait (1915, 8 mins) _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ DISC 5: LAKE OF THE DEAD Kåre Bergstrøm, Norway, 1958 77 mins | 2.40:1 | B/W | Region Free Norwegian mono with optional English subtitles Restored in 2K from the original negative Considered a classic of Norwegian cinema, a group of colleagues venture to a remote cabin to look for a missing friend and are spooked by an old legend: that the cabin had belonged to a man who killed his sister and her lover and then drowned himself in the lake. Since then, it is said that anyone who stays in the cabin will be driven to the same fate. Special Features: Audio Commentary With Film Historians Jonathan Rigby And Kevin Lyons ------------------------ TILBURY Viðar Víkingsson, Iceland, 1987 57 mins | 1.33:1 | Color | Region Free Icelandic mono with optional English subtitles Restored in 2K from the original negative at the Film Museum of Iceland This made-for-TV film shares the Icelandic lore of the Tilbury, a creature who could be summoned by women in times of financial hardship and starvation. But the gifts of the Tilbury come with their own brand of destruction. Set in 1940, during the British occupation, a country boy discovers his childhood sweetheart is having an affair with a British soldier, but suspects it could be one of the evil creatures. Special Features: Audio Commentary With Director Viðar Víkingsson And Screenwriter Þórarinn Eldjárn, Moderated By Film Scholar Gudrun D. Whitehead With Enough Tilbury Butter, Anything Is Good — Interview With Karl Ágúst Úlfsson A Boy From The Country — Interview With Kristján Franklin Magnúss White Spot In The Back Of The Head (Viðar Víkingsson, 1979) (33 mins) This early student film from the director of TILBURY transposes the ghostly Icelandic legend of The Deacon of Dark River to 1970s France. “The Moon Fades, Death Rides” Viðar Víkingsson discusses the folkloric origins of White Spot In The Back Of The Head _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ DISC 6: THE DREAMING Mario Andreacchio, Australia, 1988 90 mins | 1.85:1 | Color | Region Free English mono | Closed Captions Restored in 2K from best surviving 35mm positive print When a group of Indigenous activists attempt to repatriate ancestral artifacts found in a cave on Australia’s Kangaroo Island, one of them is shot evading police and taken to a local hospital. When the patient dies in her care, the doctor attending to her experiences strange visions relating to violent events from the past. Special Features: Audio Commentary With Director Mario Andreacchio, Moderated By Film Historian Jarret Gahan Trailer ------------------------ KADAICHA James Bogle, Australia 1988 88 mins | 1.85:1 | Color | Region Free English mono | Closed Captions Mastered from only surviving broadcast quality video master Though conceived as a commercial horror film, this tale of teens being condemned to death in their dreams by an Aboriginal magician as recompense for a housing development having been built on a sacred burial ground also serves as an admission of national guilt. Special Features: Audio Commentary With Director James Bogle, Moderated By Veteran Film Journalist Michael Helms (Fatal Visions) The Final Girl Of KADAICHA (13 mins) An audio interview with actress Zoe Carides, conducted by film historian Jarret Gahan. Composing KADAICHA (17.5 mins) An audio interview with composer Peter Westheimer, conducted by film historian Jarret Gahan. Behind The Scenes Of KADAICHA (7 mins) Recently-unearthed footage of director James Bogle and the cast and crew in a typical day on set. Trailer _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ DISC 7: CELIA Ann Turner, Australia, 1989 103 mins | 1.85:1 | Color | Region Free English mono | Closed Captions Restored in 2K from 35mm original negative In 1950s Australia, after 9-year-old Celia hears the disturbing fairy tale of "The Hobyahs" in school, it colors her interpretation of real life conflicts such as her parents' struggling relationship, the threat of communism and the country's plague of rabbits. Ann Turner's award-winning film paints a disquieting picture of innocence trying to make sense of the harsh and complex world around her through escape into dark fantasy. Special Features: CELIA And Me (40 mins) A new interview with director Ann Turner From Crawfords To CELIA (17 mins) An interview with veteran editor Ken Sallows The Rabbit In Australia (24 mins) This short documentary produced by Australia’s national science agency CSIRO in 1979 traces the introduction of the European rabbit to Australia and subsequent attempts to control its population, which includes the rabbit cull of the 1950s that serves as the backdrop for Ann Turner’s CELIA. ------------------------ ALISON’S BIRTHDAY Ian Coughlan, Australia, 1981 97 mins | 1.85:1 | Color | Region Free English mono | Closed Captions Restored in 2K from 16mm CRI Getting its first official release since the VHS era, this Australian paranormal cult is unearthed! During a Ouija board session with her teenaged friends, 16-year-old Alison gets a message from beyond the grave not to go home for her 19th birthday. Fast forward three years later to the week of her 19th: she gets a call from her mother that they're having a party to celebrate and they want her there... alone. Special Features: Extended Interviews From NOT QUITE HOLLYWOOD With Producer David Hannay And Cast Members Joanne Samuel And Belinda Giblin The Devil Down Under — Satanic Panic In Australia From Rosaleen Norton To ALISON’S BIRTHDAY A new video essay narrated by film scholar Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, based on her chapter of the same name from the book “Satanic Panic: Pop-Cultural Paranoia in the 1980s.” _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ DISC 8: WILCZYCA Marek Piestrak, Poland, 1983 103 mins | 1.33:1 | Color | Region Free Polish mono with optional English subtitles Restored in HD from original negative by WFDIF in Warsaw A domestic hit in Poland on first release, Marek Piestrak’s stunning wintry werewolf film is a sexually-charged folktale that pits a 19th century Polish patriot against the ghost of his unfaithful wife, who haunts him from beyond the grave as a she-wolf. Special Features: Unleashing The She-Wolf — An Interview With Director Marek Piestrak ------------------------ LOKIS: A MANUSCRIPT OF PROFESSOR WITTEMBACH Janusz Majewski, Poland, 1970 100 mins | 1:66:1 | Color | Region Free Polish mono with optional English subtitles Restored in HD from original negative by WFDIF in Warsaw A pastor and ethnographer visits a remote corner of 19th century Lithuania where folk customs associated with the area’s pagan past still have a hold on the population. There he finds himself the guest of a strange old family consisting of a sadistic Count and his mad mother, who—legend has it—was raped by a bear on her wedding night; the Count himself reputed to be the product of this bestial assault. Special Features: Wild Country Of The Were-Bear — An Interview With Director Janusz Majewski _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ DISC 9: CLEARCUT Ryszard Bugajski, Canada, 1991 98 mins | 2.35:1 | Color | Region Free English 5.1 / English 2.0 | Closed Captions Restored in 4K from 35mm answer print A white lawyer arrives to a remote area in Northern Ontario to defend Indigenous activists who are blocking a logging company’s clearcut of old growth on their land. A pacifist by nature, and perceiving himself as sympathetic to Indigenous concerns, he finds his values shaken wh