Join the Vermont International Film Foundation (VTIFF) and the Vermont Folklife Center (VT Folklife) for the Vermont Folk Horror Roadshow, bringing Transformations (1972) and Walter Ungerer’s The Animal—two eerie films shot and set in Vermont—to the Latchis Theatre on Saturday, Oct. 26, at 4 p.m.

Film historian, horror authority and cartoonist Stephen R. Bissette will introduce the films and lead a question-and-answer session. This event is free and open to all. A $10 suggested donation is welcome.

The term folk horror describes films that draw elements of folklore into the conventions of horror cinema. The phrase is often used in reference to British films that explore rural landscape, paganism and witchcraft and sources of fear. The Vermont Folk Horror Roadshow emerged through pondering the question: is there such a thing as Vermont folk horror?

In search of an answer, folklorist and VT Folklife Center Associate Director Andy Kolovos turned to the collection of Vermont-made films preserved by the Vermont Archive Movie Project (VAMP), a VTIFF program. Kolovos was already familiar with the short film Transformations, preserved by VAMP in 2015. “More than anything else, Transformations is a celebration of the 70s women’s movement and the importance neo-pagan spirituality within it,” said Kolovos. “At the same time, it is filled with night fires, music, and ritual, and permeated by the presence of hidden power—it soundly fits the folk horror bill.”

Kolovos and VTIFF executive director Orly Yadin then began to explore the idea of staging a Vermont folk horror film tour for Halloween. The pair reached out to Bissette for his thoughts on other Vermont films that could fit the folk horror bill. Bissette’s answer was immediate and brief: “Walter Ungerer’s The Animal.” Preserved by VAMP in 2017, Ungerer’s haunting, avant garde film, The Animal highlights rural isolation and the winter landscape as sites of loss and terror.

The Vermont Folk Horror Roadshow is a partnership between the Vermont International Film Foundation, Vermont Folklife Center, Highland Center for the Arts, Latchis Arts, Pentangle Arts, Savoy Theater and White River Indie Films. Details on each event available at vtfolklife.org/folkhorror.

The Vermont Folklife Center’s mission is to broaden, strengthen, and deepen our understanding of Vermont; to assure a repository for our collective cultural memory; and to build connections among the diverse peoples of Vermont.