★ 4 / 10
*Fréwaka* contains almost everything you might reasonably order
FolknHell
*Fréwaka* contains almost everything you might reasonably order from the folk-horror catalogue: an isolated Irish village, an old woman barricaded behind iron…
*Fréwaka* contains almost everything you might reasonably order from the folk-horror catalogue: an isolated Irish village, an old woman barricaded behind iron, a fairy tree hung with offerings, hostile locals, a goat, Catholic iconography, inherited trauma and something ancient waiting for a family debt to be settled. The problem is not that the film lacks ideas. It is that it keeps putting them somewhere we cannot quite see them.
Shoo arrives to care for Peig after the death of her own mother, and soon discovers a house organised around keeping something out. Iron objects guard doors and windows. A red door sits at the end of a corridor looking wonderfully wrong. Peig refuses contact with the village. These are good, specific pieces of horror storytelling because they make us ask the right question: what does Peig know?
Unfortunately, *Fréwaka* spends much of its running time declining to answer even the questions that would make its uncertainty interesting.
There is a difference between making us work and making us repeatedly check whether we have understood the basic sequence of events. The wedding, the missing bride, the child, Peig’s history, Shoo’s mother and the unfinished bargain with the sídhe eventually begin connecting, but the connections often arrive as delayed explanation rather than discovery. We like a film that hands us pieces of a puzzle. This sometimes feels as though somebody has hidden half the pieces and then, near the end, reads the picture on the box aloud.
Which is frustrating because individual moments genuinely work. A corpse at a wake suddenly grabbing Shoo’s hand is splendidly horrible. The increasingly strange villagers create real unease. The final procession, with its rough folkloric costumes and obscured faces, turns the community into something older and less human. Even Peig’s apparently cruel behaviour gains an intriguing second possibility once protection, rather than simple abuse, enters the equation.
There is a rich film buried here about mothers, daughters, pregnancy, Catholic guilt and obligations passed down through generations. *Fréwaka* can be creepy, peculiar and unmistakably folk horror. We just wish it trusted its strongest ideas enough to let us follow their roots.
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Reviewed by FolknHell, the folk horror film podcast · folknhell com
Hear the full FolknHell podcast discussion of Fréwaka: folknhell com/frewaka-review along with our other reviews, transcripts and episodes.
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★ 8 / 10
My first Irish-language film — and what a
Darja S
My first Irish-language film — and what a way to start. Inherited trauma, Magdalene Laundries, colonial ghosts, and folklore I'd never encountered before. No…
My first Irish-language film — and what a way to start. Inherited trauma, Magdalene Laundries, colonial ghosts, and folklore I'd never encountered before. No jump-scares, just the kind of dread that comes from history. Quiet, heavy, and completely worth it.
Full review → darjasuri.com/reviews/frewaka/
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★ 7 / 10
Last night we watched this; 'Fréwaka' This film
Vaughn R
Last night we watched this; 'Fréwaka' This film is mostly spoken in Irish Gaelic worth a blend ov some English so most ov it is subtitled. Brief synopsis…
Last night we watched this;
'Fréwaka'
This film is mostly spoken in Irish Gaelic worth a blend ov some English so most ov it is subtitled.
Brief synopsis;
Shortly after thee death ov her estranged mother, 'Shoo', a primary care nursing student, takes a placement in a remote Irish village to care for 'Peig', a reclusive, elderly woman who lives in fear, haunted by her experiences in a Catholic asylum.
Peig's house in thee woods holds plenty ov dark secrets and her paranoia begins to rub off on Shoo, whose own troubled, abusive past begins to catch up with her.
By thee end ov ‘Fréwaka,’ Shoo and Peig’s story takes a drastic turn as they both realize how they are connected through intergenerational trauma and a history ov abuse suffered by Irish women.
Although initially hesitant about trusting Peig’s version of events, Shoo finds herself increasingly pulled into her way of thinking as her stay in thee remote Irish village turns into a nightmare situation.
Thee house’s dark secrets and her own past catch up with her, forcing her to confront some deeply uncomfortable truths in a new light.
Meanwhile, thee same is true for Peig, who also learns thee true extent ov her actions, including what happened to her years ago during her wedding night.
As such, thee movie’s ending leaves much to be discussed due to its ambiguous nature as it grapples with some profound themes at its heart.
Enjoyed this one quite a bit and it's finale has some ov thee energy that was present in thee original 'Wicker Man' from 1973.
Lots ov Pagan imagery and based, albeit loosely, on some real Irish Folklore that is brought to thee screen nicely.
Vaughn Roxx gives this 3.5 Stars
☆☆☆\
Sun Angel Roxx gives this 3.5 Stars
☆☆☆\
Total 7 Stars out ov 10
☆☆☆☆☆☆☆
Check it out.
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what does any of that have to do with this movie? take your weird racial rants back to 4chan