{"podcast":{"title":"FolknHell","slug":"folknhell-7405500","podcast_index_feed_id":7405500,"rss_url":"https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/686d2a6a37e3cb9d349cb1d7","website_url":"https://www.folknhell.com/","image_url":"https://assets.pippa.io/shows/686d2a6a37e3cb9d349cb1d7/1773565308006-12534475-9a2b-47fa-861b-f3902e05b0a0.jpeg","author":"David Hall","episode_count":25,"summary":"FolknHell is the camp-fire you shouldn’t have wandered up to: a loud, spoiler-packed podcast where three unapologetic cine-goblins – host Andy Davidson and his horror-hungry pals David Hall & Dave Houghton, decide two things about every movie they watch: 1, is it folk-horror, and 2, is it worth your precious, blood-pumping time. Armed with nothing but “three mates, a microphone, and an unholy amount of spoilers” Intro-transcript the trio torch-walk through obscure European oddities, cult favourites and fresh nightmares you’ve never heard of, unpacking the myths, the monsters and the madness along the way. Their rule-of-three definition keeps every discussion razor-sharp: the threat must menace an isolated community, sprout from the land itself, and echo older, folkloric times. Each episode opens with a brisk plot rundown and spoiler warning, then erupts into forensic myth-picking, sound-design geekery and good-natured bickering before the lads slap down a score out of 30 (“the adding up is the hard part!\") FolknHell is equal parts academic curiosity and pub-table cackling; you’ll learn about pan-European harvest demons and still snort ale through your nose. Dodging the obvious, an…","last_synced_at":"2026-06-11T22:18:25.618351+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/folknhell-7405500"},"episode":{"title":"Men","slug":"men","published_at":"2026-05-14T10:06:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/folknhell-7405500/men","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/folknhell-7405500","url":"https://folknhell.com","audio_url":"https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/686d2a6a37e3cb9d349cb1d7/e/6a01eef792e9663a6f88a8c4/media.mp3","summary":"A country retreat should be peaceful. Unless every man you meet has the same face, the same blame, and eventually, rather more birth canal than anyone ever asked for! Alex Garland’s Men follows Harper, played by Jessie Buckley, as she retreats to a rural house after the violent death of her husband. What looks like a healing break quickly becomes an unnerving confrontation with grief, guilt and a village full of men, all played by Rory Kinnear, who seem to embody different shades of male threat, blame and entitlement. Andy, Dave and David are split on how well it works. David finds a lot to admire in the film’s attempt to explore trauma from a woman’s perspective, reading the house as Harper’s head and the male characters as psychological archetypes rather than literal villagers. Dave is intrigued but kept at arm’s length by the film’s allegorical style, feeling that the lack of reality also reduces the sense of jeopardy. Andy is the least convinced, praising the performances and visuals but finding the film heavy handed, especially once the final act starts birthing Rory Kinnears like a cursed Russian doll. On the folk horror question, the verdict is clear but nuanced. Men uses folk horror imagery beautifully, with the Green Man, fertility carvings, old houses, rural isolation and ancient symbolic weight all doing plenty of atmospheric work. But the hosts land on it being dressed in folk horror rather than truly being folk horror. The threat is not the land or the community. It is Harper’s trauma, guilt and the men in her head. Final score: 15 out of 30. Folknhell is the folk horror podcast where Andy Davidson, Dave Houghton and David Hall dig into strange cinema, argue about whether it really counts as folk horror, and score every film out of 30. Add your own score a…","meta_description":"A country retreat should be peaceful. Unless every man you meet has the same face, the same blame, and eventually, rather more birth canal than anyone eve…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":2490,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/folknhell-7405500/episodes/men/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/folknhell-7405500/men.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}