Official synopsis: The Irish folk horror follows home care worker Shoo (Clare Monnelly), who is sent to a remote village to care for agoraphobic woman Peig (Bríd Ní Neachtain) 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.
When it comes to moody, brooding, and thoroughly chilling fear fare, it’s hard to beat Irish folk horror. Writer/director Aislinn Clarke’s Frewaka (Ireland, 2025) is the latest terrific example of why that is.
Clarke has crafted an enthralling tale of generational horror. The relationship between Shoo and Peig is presented marvelously, as it goes from the elderly woman deliberately urinating at the front door upon Shoo’s initial arrival, showing her displeasure of the caretaker’s intrusion, to their unease at one another, to understanding one another and forming a bond.
That drama is handled well, and the eerie tension that takes place both in Peig’s cluttered, weirdly decorated house and in the surrounding small, remote village is also highly effective. Clarke paces the gripping proceedings impressively, with a keen sense for slowly unraveling the mystery of her story.
Monnelly and Neachtain are both fantastic in their roles, splendidly capturing the toll that the tragedies of each of their lives have taken on their characters. Alexsandra Bustryzhickaya also turns in a solid supporting performance as Shoo’s fiancée Mila.
Sound is highly important to the events, with Die Hexen providing both chilling sound design and a suitably creepy score. Die Hexen was also the composer for the excellent 2021 Irish folk horror feature You Are Not My Mother, which would make an excellent double feature with Frewaka.
Hypnotic and eldritch, Frewaka comes highly recommended by this reviewer. Aficionados of folk horror especially should consider it must-see viewing.
Frewaka makes its exclusive streaming debut Friday, April 25 on Shudder as part of the platform’s Halfway to Halloween celebration.
