Witte Wieven (Heresy) (Netherlands, 2024)
Director Didier Konings tackles patriarchal oppression of women, religious hypocrisy, and the search for self-identity in his beautiful looking folk horror Witte Wieven (Heresy). The story is set in a small rural Dutch village in the Middle Ages, where religion makes the rules that favor men and also where women unable to bear children have little to no use. Devout couple Frieda (Anneke Sluiter) and Hikko (Len Leo Vincent) have been unsuccessful in trying to have a baby, and even religious leader Father Bartolomeus (Reinout Bussemaker) has been unable to help. Village butcher Gelo (Leon Van Waas), who has recently been punished for what the film hints at as sexual assault on one of the village women, is released. His advances toward being able to make Frieda pregnant turn into a rape attempt in the nearby woods, during which Frieda is saved by a supernatural entity. When villagers accuse her of being in league with the devil — as no woman has ever returned from those woods alive before — she becomes an outcast and revisits the forest, finding herself stronger in independence while her religious faith fades. Konings, working from a screenplay by Marc S. Nollkaemper, crafts a gorgeous looking, suspenseful, absolutely fascinating folk horror that drips with atmosphere. The film is a visual feast, with set pieces of the gruesome, breathtakingly beautiful, and trippy varieties. Cinematographer Luuk de Kok splendidly captures the bleakness of the village and the otherworldly mysteries of the surrounding woods. Sluiter gives a riveting performance as the put-upon Frieda who decides to seek her own path, heading up a fine cast.
Stomach It (U.S., 2024)
Official synopsis: A crime scene cleaner struggles with emotionally detaching from the deceased’s personal possessions. While on a late night job, he convinces himself a monstrous presence is toying with him.
Crime scene cleaner Joel (Jon Lee Richardson in a solid performance) does his best to emotionally distance himself from his work, turning around photos and the like — except, for example, for the times when he is fascinated by toys of murder victims. He finds himself with an increasingly upset stomach, and no amount of pink bismuth is going to help. Writer/director Peter Klausner does a terrific job of exploring Joel’s increasingly fragile psychological state, delivering a short film that deals in an increasingly eerie atmosphere and gory body horror.
Witte Wieven (Heresy) and Stomach It screened as part of Screamfest, which runs October 8–October 17, 2024 in Los Angeles. For more information, visit https://screamfestla.com/.
