Belfast, Northern Ireland-based writer-director Aislinn Clarke rose to fame with her 2018 debut horror film Devil’s Gate. her new movie frevacaThe film had its world premiere at the 77th Locarno Film Festival, in both Irish and English, and is hailed as the first Irish-language horror film ever made.
“Xu is sent to a remote village to care for an agoraphobic woman who is afraid of an evil entity, Na Sídhe,” the plot description reads. “As they form a connection, Xu is consumed by the old woman’s paranoia, rituals, and superstitions, ultimately confronting the horrors of her past.”
The film stars Clare Monnelly and Bríd Ní Neachtain (The Banshee of Inisherin) and Aleksandra Bystrzhitskaya, screened during Locarno77’s non-competition slot.
Clark sat down THR in Locarno to discuss her fascination with horror and religion, and why horror movies have global appeal.
Sorry, I don’t know enough Irish. Can you read me the title of the film and explain its significance?
It is pronounced “fréwaka”. The literal translation in English is “roots”, but in Irish – which you can tell by its pronunciation with the word “roots” – it’s thicker and textured. It has the feel of a heavy root that is difficult to pull out of the ground. That’s the feel I was going for, rather than the English translation, which is a little too slight for me.
Xu must face family problems and the horrors of her past. Why is this a subject for you?
This may well be true in many other places, but my direct experience in Ireland is of historical trauma, and there is a lot of trauma in Ireland. Therefore, there is still much work to be done. It’s always there and it’s hard to get rid of. So you can talk about intergenerational trauma and how it gets passed down from generation to generation.
There was even a study a few years ago about how the Potato Famine had physiological effects on future generations because their ancestors had experienced starvation. So, there’s the physical inheritance of trauma, but there’s also stuff that’s been passed down to you from your parents and grandparents, and there’s stuff in stories and mythology. So I think it’s hard to escape that. It is ever present and brings color to everything.
I’m glad you mentioned mythology. I loved the film’s use of Irish folklore and found myself reading some of it. How much do you know compared to the situation you have to study?
I haven’t actually looked into this. I grew up listening to Irish myths and stories. The Irish are born storytellers. So it is difficult to avoid this at school and at home. I don’t want to research and then find some kind of rubber-stamp version of the myth because I don’t think that’s how it was established. I think Irish stories are passed down from generation to generation through word of mouth, and if the person drinks some whiskey, or they’re in a different mood, they change a little bit. So, I think that texture is really where the Irish mythology is. So here’s my take on these stories. This is what I remember. Here are the stories I heard as a kid and what I remember from them, or what I think about them. So I thought I would continue the oral tradition. This is my addition to this.
The film was billed as the first Irish horror film. Why did you start producing in Irish and how did you decide to mix it in English?
If you make a film in Irish, for this particular financing system that we have, you can do 70% Irish and 30% English. To me, you could have shot the entire movie entirely in Irish. But I wanted to put some English into it because I wanted it to reflect our modern society as authentically as possible as well.
We have Shoo who comes from the city and she goes to this country, but she’s very modern. She is a very modern Irish character. And she was in a same-sex relationship. She sees herself as the opposite, a progressive version of Peg, who is very stuck in the past and following the old ways. I love this confrontation of two things, and in rural, Irish-speaking parts of Ireland you sometimes get the feeling that people from the outside don’t speak Irish, or that they’re a bit blocked off. So we have that moment [in the film] Xu was in the shop and they said, “Oh, she’s another tourist.” She said, “Well, actually I’m from Dublin.” She was able to use the fact that she spoke fluent Irish to her advantage For a moment, I thought it was interesting and reflective of [life]. I’m not trying to romanticize any element of it. I try to present Ireland as I see it.
‘Frevaca’
Provided by Alibi Communications
The film features two particularly strong women. Do you consider yourself a feminist filmmaker?
If you’re a woman, if you have self-respect, it’s really hard not to be a feminist. Even if you don’t use the word, you can’t escape it. I have… the right word is probably angry, [against] The historical treatment of women in Ireland. It just comes naturally. The way I approach the story is not to put the cart before the horse. If I were to make a film that was primarily a female story, that was intentional because I think there are a lot of Irish stories that are actually male stories, and I thought I had an opportunity to do that. Because there is so much to say about the Irish women’s experience, it naturally becomes a feminist story, but that’s not necessarily the point. It’s just a natural place where it takes you.
Devil’s Gate Also a religious mystery. I think I know part of the answer, but where did your interest in exploring religious issues come from?
Historically, the influence of the church on Ireland has been so heavy and overbearing that it has penetrated into every aspect of life and is difficult to escape. Also, in Ireland we have our own little brand of Catholicism. People rightly assume that Ireland is a very Catholic country, and it is. But it has its own take on it. In Ireland there are many folklore, superstitions and myths – indeed pagan elements – that are woven into the actual religious beliefs of the people.
If you ask around in any rural town in Ireland you will find that there is a faith healer somewhere. There will be people who are the seventh son of the seventh son, or something like that, and they can cure diseases. But when they do, they invoke the Virgin Mary. They will use the cross. They will incorporate Catholic elements into it.
So in Ireland, things like folklore, superstition, mythology and religion, Catholicism, are completely intertwined. But anyway, they’re the same thing, aren’t they? Superstition, mythology, religion. It doesn’t make any difference if you’re not a religious person, and I’m not a religious person. But I cannot escape the power of the Church of Ireland. So if I’m talking about the trauma that I experienced in this movie, it has to be there. This is the primary type of totem.
Where does your fascination or even love for horror come from? Someone recently told me that watching horror movies might not be as scary as watching the news…
There were many horror fans and ghost stories in the house and family I grew up in. My dad loves movies in general, and horror movies in particular. So I watched horror movies when I was very young. i saw The Exorcist When I was seven years old. I learned all this early on. I was a very anxious child. I was one of those kids who worried about everything going on in the world. So fear became a comfort to me. This is what we do as a family on Friday nights.
As your friend said, the outside world is so bad, but horror happens in controlled spaces. We know the movie is coming to an end. We know it will have rules. I think this is a useful valve for people who are naturally prone to anxiety. I think it could work that way. I think it’s also a very useful tool for exploring trauma and subtle issues that are difficult to cope with and deal with. I think horror is a really good way to bring it into the public conversation and explore some things that we don’t necessarily want to look at positively. We can do this through the filter of narrative.
Aisling Clark
Courtesy of Aisling Clark
do you think frevacaOr do horror films in general have universal appeal and find a global audience?
I wanted this film to be an unapologetically Irish film. I wanted to show my perspective on Ireland and how we deal or don’t deal with past trauma, that was my first goal. But I always believe that horror does spread because it is an emotional medium and it will find its way. In this sense, it is universal. We all understand. We can see this by how successful Japanese and Korean horror films or Spanish horror films are in the Western world. Horror fans are very keen to watch movies from other places and cultures. So I treated it faithfully as an Irish horror film. But I also believe that if you deal with fear well, it will spread.
The house where Peg lives is also a key character in the film. How did you find it?
no one [in film or TV] It’s never been used for anything before, which is incredible because Ireland is a small place – a lot of stuff was shot there, but no one had ever used this place as a location before. I think this is because it’s pretty much on the border between the north and south of Ireland. So for decades, as the war continued, it was going to be a very tricky place to be.
But a producer discovered it. Someone told him there was this house in the forest. So he went to see it, and then took me to see it. This was the only house we looked at. But I was there for two minutes before I started getting this crazy feeling of déjà vu. I thought, “I’ve been to this house before.” I talked to the owner and learned that I had been to a party when I was 21 years old. Yes, I’ve been to that house before and it felt eerie. This was the first and only place we saw. This is the right place.
The family still lives in the house. It was an old man and his son, especially the kitchen, which we didn’t even touch. But our production designer Nicola Moroney did a fantastic job with the rest of the house. The only thing we built was the red door [that plays a key role in the movie]. Everything else, this is what that house is like.
Is there anything you can share about your next film? Do you think you’re working on a non-horror project?
I think it would be weird to categorize myself as someone who only makes horror films. I’ve always felt a little weird. I think it has to do with story and what you’re drawn to. But I do love horror movies, and since I’ve made two horror movies, that’s what I talk about in the industry.
But I do have some stuff that isn’t directly horror, although it always leans towards the dark side in some way. I probably wouldn’t do a romantic comedy. I’m currently developing a project with Paramount, which is a horror movie, a simple genre movie. I think if everything goes well and everything goes according to plan, this could be my next work, and that’s what I’m going to do next. I have no idea [I can share more].
But in the future, if this is a story that I feel like I can really do something about, I’m open to pretty much anything.
