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The Field
Guide To Evil
Fun-sized folk horror
Release Out now
Director Various
Cast Various
Distributor FrightFest Presents/
Signature Entertainment
Certifi cate 15
Format VODThe Field Guide To Evil opens with
the text of a rhyme about the power of
dream-like, fi ctive tales to tell truths.
It is programmatic for this anthology
of short fi lms, each of which takes a different
folk tale as its starting point, and weaves from
it an allegory, however distorted, of the human
condition. This is ‘folk horror’ par excellence,
hopping the globe in search of the collective
origins of our errant unconscious. The result
is a trans-national, multi-generic, ambisexual
compendium of psychological fl otsam and
jetsam, latent and unresolved yet all somehow
vaguely familiar, like a deep-buried memory.
Each short is introduced by a title card that
summarises the relevant piece of folklore,
although these prefaces can be there as much to
wrong-foot as to inform the viewer. ‘The Sinful
Women Of Höllfall’, for example, directed by
Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala (Goodnight
Mommy), promises the terrifying ‘Trud’ that
visits sinners, but in this all-female milieu,
Kathi (Malene Hauser) not only surrenders to
(perceived) sin, but embraces the Trud, drinking
deep from the teat of forbidden desire.
The best of the selection is the Hungarian
story ‘Cobblers’ Lot’, directed by Peter
Strickland (In Fabric). It is a tale of fraternal
shoemakers vying jealously for the hand of
the king’s daughter (Fatma Mohamed), all told
through a mix of baroque, exquisitely fetishistic
imagery and wry intertitles.
As with all omnibus fi lms, the biggest fl aw
of is also its chief appeal. For in showcasing so
many different talents, it is a fi lm of many parts
and no coherent whole. Its episodes are not long
enough to offend or outstay their welcome, and
their variety is both entertaining and essential
to the fi lm’s multicultural viewpoint. These
disparate reports might not be useful guides
to the areas of the world from which they
originate, but they certainly chart the darker
regions of our common psychic landscapes.
Anton Bitel
The
Mermaid:
Lake Of The
Dead
Ariel would never
Release Out now
Director Svyatoslav Podgaevskiy
Cast Viktoriya Agalakova,
Efi m Petrunin, Sofi a Shidlovskaya,
Nikita Elenev
Distributor 4Digital Media
Certifi cate 15
FormatIf you go down to the water
today, you’re going to get a
mermaid asking if you love her
and probably murdering you. This
Russian horror movie comes from director
Svyatoslav Podgaevskiy (Queen Of Spades:
The Dark Rite, The Bride) and is a surprisingly
po-faced bit of schlock. Roma (Efi m Petrunin)
deeply loves his fi ancée Marina (Viktoriya
Agalakova), but when he heads down to
the lake, he bumps into a lovelorn aquatic
creature who puts him under her spell.
Now, Roma is seeing this monster
everywhere he turns. Can Marina fi nd out
the truth behind monster and put a stop to it
before she loses her man?
Podgaevskiy has an eye for a striking
visual and the stars give it their all, but it’s too
silly to take itself so seriously and the script
doesn’t offer any surprises. There are some
nice ideas in the mythology and family guilt
but you won’t miss anything by missing this.
Jonathan Hatfull
Mirai
Sibling rivalry
Release Out now
Director Mamoru Hosoda
Cast Moka Kamishiraishi, Haru Kuroiki,
Kumiko Aso, Gen Hoshino
Distributor Anime Ltd
Certifi cate PG
Format tWriter-director Mamoru
Hosoda (Wolf Children, The Girl
Who Leapt Through Time) delivers
another treat with Mirai, a sweet-
hearted, imaginative and deeply moving
family drama seen through the eyes of a four-
year-old boy.
Kun is used to getting all his parents’
attention but when his mother comes home
with a new baby girl, he can’t stand it. After
one massive tantrum he starts to receive visits
from impossible new friends, including the
teenage version of his baby sister, and
learns that growing up is not something to
be afraid of.
While Hosoda has made fi lms for all
age groups, it is, at times, a little hard to see
who the target audience for Mirai is. There
are certainly jokes for the grown-ups but
the focus is so squarely on Kun and his
experiences that it may alienate some less
patient viewers.
It’s absolutely worth bearing with the
fi lmmaker, however, as the emotional scope
of the fi lm continues to broaden and the
fi nal act has a soaring impact (and one
genuinely scary sequence). This is another
triumph from one of the form’s most
exciting talents.
Jonathan Hatfull