Troubling Folk Horror: Exoticism, Metonymy, and Solipsism in the Unholy Trinity and Beyond

This article seeks to make a critical intervention in troubling early understandings of folk horror by subjecting its emergent discourses to interdisciplinary scholarly critique, drawing in particular upon perspectives from culture studies, political theory, and critical anthropology. Beginning with an examination of the word folk, this article identifies three key tropes within folk horror: (I) a sense of the past as a foreign country; (II) the framing of indigenous communities as monstrous; and (III) an alternate underlying narrative archetype, premised upon encounters with difference.

Automated summary

This article critically intervenes in the early understanding of folk horror by subjecting its emergent discourses to interdisciplinary scholarly critique. It draws upon perspectives from culture studies, political theory, and critical anthropology, and identifies three key tropes within folk horror: a sense of the past as a foreign country, the framing of indigenous communities as monstrous, and an alternate underlying narrative archetype based on encounters with difference.