Behind the Couch

The figure of the witch has had a formidable presence in cinema since images were first captured on film to flicker across the silver screen. From early titles such as The House of the Devil (1896) and Haxän (1922), through to classic Gothic horror films such as Black Sunday (1960) and Suspiria (1977), right up to contemporary works like The Love Witch (2016), The Craft (1996) and The Witch (2015), the figure of the witch has intrigued, terrified and seduced audiences across the world. Over the years she has gradually come to represent ideas concerning female empowerment and sexuality, and defiance of patriarchal conventions and societal expectations. Author Keri O’Shea’s new book,  Celluloid Hex: The Witch in Horror and Genre Cinema, serves to explore the figure of the witch and her evolution on film. By exploring key titles throughout the history of cinema, and the times in which they were produced, O’Shea considers how factors such as social and political climates and sh...

Written and directed by documentary filmmaker Paul Duane, All You Need Is Death follows two underground musicologists, Anna and Aleks, as they travel the backroads of Ireland recording and collecting traditional folk songs. Things take a turn for the sinister when they hear about a woman in County Armagh who can sing them an ancient song, never recorded or transcribed, but passed down through generations of women. Sung in a language older than Irish, the song unleashes an otherworldly force and Anna and Aleks find themselves navigating a shady realm of arcane lore and forbidden knowledge. With its tantalising premise involving the recording of ancient folk songs, and shadowy black markets in which eccentric collectors vie for the rarest recordings, All You Need Is Death is a darkly beguiling folk horror. The story unfolds in rural, backwoods pubs and small farmhouses, gradually straying into strange hinterlands and creepy urban edgelands of disused industrial spaces. The contemporaneou...

Mandrake tells of probation officer Cathy Madden (Deirdre Mullins), who is assigned to help with the rehabilitation of recently released ‘Bloody’ Mary Laidlaw (Derbhle Crotty), who had been incarcerated years prior for the murder of her abusive husband. Rumours have long swirled in the local area concerning Mary’s dabbling in witchcraft and involvement in cases of missing children. No sooner has she been released, than the bodies of several local children are found in the woods near her farmhouse. As Cathy and local police delve deeper, the veil between real and imagined starts to fray and Cathy is drawn into a dark world of occult ritualism and blood sacrifice. Directed by Lynne Davison and written by Matt Harvey, Mandrake is a delicious slice of witchy, Northern Irish folk horror, dripping with atmosphere and arcane lore. While Irish horror is having a moment right now, with acclaimed titles such as Aislinn Clarke’s Fréwaka and Kate Dolan’s You Are Not My Mother mining rich and cr...

A group of high school friends who were responsible for the accidental death of a classmate years before are targeted by a mysterious stalker at their senior prom. One of the first slasher films produced in the wake of the success of Halloween  (1978), Paul Lynch’s Prom Night strictly adheres to the now standard slasher blueprint, unfolding as a lean and moody potboiler. All the tropes, cliches and conventions are present and correct. Significant calendar date? Check. A group of hormonal teens for the body count? Check. A masked killer emerging to avenge a past misdeed? Check. Ineffectual authority figures? Check. A heroic final girl who will eventually defeat the killer? Check. Prom Night has it all, including Jamie Lee Curtis as its star! If there’s comfort in the familiar, then Prom Night is the goose down duvet of slasher films. The opening shot of an old, discarded mirror, reflecting the image of a creepy, abandoned building, conjures notions of the double, and ideas regardi...

A year after they cover up their involvement in a fatal road accident, a group of friends are targeted by a mysterious, vengeful killer. In their desperation, the friends seek help from the survivors of a similar massacre from years before. The original I Know What You Did Last Summer   came hot on the heels of  Scream (1996) and was a huge hit in the late 90s. It was a taut, effective throwback to minimalist slashers of the 80s, and very much a part of the late 90s slasher film revival, unfolding as a compelling story of the (violent) end of innocence. It spawned a Bahamas-set sequel a year later, in which the murderous fisherman pursues surviving heroine Julie James and her friends to a tropical island retreat, and a further, unconnected supernatural sequel in the 2000s (the events of which are not part of the cannon established by the first film). The I Know films were never as critically acclaimed as the likes of Scream , but they were still slickly produced, effective s...

One year after the brutal murder of her friends by psychotic fisherman Ben Willis, Julie James continues to struggle with the trauma and grief. When her BFF Karla wins a holiday to an island in the Bahamas, Julie hopes the change of scenery will help her put the nightmares behind her. However, someone is waiting for her on the island. Someone who still remembers the events of last summer , and the summer before. Someone who wields a hook and craves bloody vengeance and will stop at nothing to obtain it… Get ready for some sun, sea, solitude... and slaughter! Written by Trey Callaway and directed with stylish aplomb by Danny Cannon, I Still Know What You Did Last Summer might arguably be a generic slasher sequel, but it’s also a highly entertaining, well-made and atmospheric slasher sequel. Not only does it have a great cast (including Mekhi Phifer, Bill Cobbs, Jeffrey Combs, Jennifer Esposito, Jack Black and 70s soul singer Ellerine Harding ), but an interesting location, engaging her...