Fréwaka

Opening in 1973 at a wedding Ireland, the bride takes off and disappears leaving the groom in despair.

Moving to ‘today’ Fréwaka doesn’t lighten up with a suicide surrounded by religious icons. Turns out it was the mother of Shoo (Clare Monnelly) who with her fiancée Mila (Aleksandra Bystrzhitskaya) arrive at the flat to clear it out. Shoo is adamant that the lot is to be cleared.

She in turn as primary care nurse has been given the job of looking after Peig (Bríd Ní Neachtain) a recluse in a small village in rural Ireland. Her agency is clear that she’s there as she is an Irish speaker, not convinced that she has the experience to deal with a difficult patient.

And Peig is difficult or assertive depending on your view. Keeping relics and wards around doors and windows to keep something away. The focus is a red door leading down to the basement. Slowly the pair get to understand each other, both having dealt with extreme trauma at early ages and have the mental and physical scars.

Written and directed by Aislinn Clarke, Fréwaka is a slowburn. Using a large rundown house, with plenty of folk horror themes, Irish myth and weird villagers.

For the most part this works very well with a constant state of unease and dread as things begin to develop and the viewer learns more about the characters’ backgrounds. Monnelly and Ní Neachtain play effectively off each other at times becoming very intense.

But the film does tend to drag at times in particular towards the end, though that does eventually work pretty well. The weird villagers triggers The Wicker Man, but that film has such a reach over this sub-genre that almost anything could be referred back to it.

More interesting is Shoo’s background that suggests Carrie with her mother being very religious, with a mix of paganism and a penchant for torture.

Once the film gets into gear there is very little light relief and much of that is due to Die Hexen whose discordant score ensures that the film’s dread and unease are maintained throughout.

Fréwaka is available on Shudder.