Frewaka Film Review

 

Frewaka Film Review

Halfway to Halloween Presented by Shudder

Sadly, Halfway to Halloween is coming to a close.

But, that just means we’re one month closer to Halloween!

Shudder’s line-up included 825 FOREST ROAD, SHADOW OF GOD and DEAD MAIL.

This final week brings you Irish folk horror, FREWAKA.

From Aislinn Clarke (The Devil’s Doorway), FREWAKA, a largely Irish-language film, follows home care worker Shoo, who is sent to a remote village to care for an agoraphobic woman who fears the neighbors as much as she fears the Na Sídhe — sinister entities who she believes abducted her decades before.

As the two develop a strangely deep connection, Shoo is consumed by the old woman’s paranoia, rituals, and superstitions, eventually confronting the horrors from her own past.

FREWAKA is a large metaphor for inter-generational trauma, specifically with women, and Catholic guilt.

Frewaka, a word taken from the longer Irish word “fréamhacha,” translates to “roots” which in this film includes Ireland's collective historical trauma around the Magdalene Laundries, inter-generational violence, birth and death.

All the above are wrapped up in Irish superstition and folklore with haunting scenes of goats, horseshoes, fairy trees and parading costumed villagers. But the religious imagery, specifically a neon cross, are more frightening than the possibility of fae looking to break into our world.

With vivid cinematography, superb acting, and eerie dissection into trauma, it’s hard to decide which factor hits home closest.

For me, it was the music and sound that lasted the longest post credits. I can still hear the neon red cross. It haunts me at night when I get up to our red nightlights. (Josh insists they have less blue light for less sleep interruption. I insist they’re creepy as hell.) I can still hear the recurring leitmotif (chattering percussion and loud droning).

FREWAKA is one of those films that purposefully gets under your skin. Grab your folk horror loving friend to watch and dissect this film together.