26/04/2022 - The director tells us about embracing the darkness of folk horror in her feature debut

(© Night Visions)

In Mandrake [+see also:
film review
interview: Lynne Davison
film profile], probation officer Cathy (Deirdre Mullins) faces off with ‘Bloody’ Mary Laidlaw (Derbhle Crotty), a notorious murderer who comes back to her old community after decades in jail. When two kids disappear, the locals know just who to blame. We spoke to its director, Lynne Davison, straight after the movie’s screening at Night Visions 2022.

Cineuropa: Night Visions decided to celebrate folk horror this year with a separate mini-section. What’s your relationship with the subgenre? In some countries, it never went away.
Lynne Davison: It certainly didn’t in Ireland. In Ireland, people have always been in tune with nature. I was raised on pagan stories, myths and monsters. There is a deep connection there. I always watched endless amounts of horror in general, but the addition of folklore just makes it more haunting, like in The Wicker Man. Also, one thing I really wanted to do was to keep my film very grounded, and folk horror allows you to do that. It makes magic feel real, and shows that it’s all around us and that there are certain gifted people who wield it. I thought a lot about Frankenstein, too, about how natural forces were used to create this almost magical monster. I remember how the community reacted to him, and now, in this film, we have them going through the woods and searching for “the monster” again. I had to stop myself from having everyone carry flaming torches and pitchforks!

It's true that there is something about this film that feels very grounded. There is so much sadness, too. Everyone here experiences pain in the end.
One of the most striking things about the script were these two female characters: flawed, nuanced and very, very real. In establishing the sorrow of their lives, I wanted to show that this isn’t your average story about witchcraft or a mum leading a normal life. I wanted to show the grey areas of motherhood and how it’s different for everyone.

When you mentioned that everyone experiences pain, I started to think about the character of Grace [Cathy’s ex-husband’s new wife, played by Roisin Gallagher], who probably loses the most. She is hit so badly that she is a completely different person by the end. At one point, I kept thinking: “She is so irritating, this perfect vision of what a woman is meant to be.” It seems like, unconsciously, I was trying to punish her for that.

What’s interesting about Mary, who has been released from jail yet is still guilty in many people’s eyes, is that one is not sure what to make of her. You certainly keep it very vague.
There was a discussion about that, as we had different ideas about who Mary was, and how evil she may or may not be. I wanted to hold off as much as possible, making you wonder if you are right. Or maybe it’s just a rumour, a rumour that could cost someone their life? It was almost my intention to avoid showing her as a stone-cold villain. She has her own moral code, and I wanted to hint at her regret. Also, I used to teach and collaborate with a charity that deals with prisoners, and I wanted to bring that experience in. I wanted to show how I felt when dealing with these people, who had done something horrible, but I didn’t know what.

Why did you want this film to be so dark, literally? It’s hard not to feel confused sometimes.
I wanted the audience to feel like the victims, to feel as disorientated as possible. We had more arguments about that aspect than anything else, but a film like this can only work in the darkness – that’s the scariest place to be when there is something happening, something you cannot control. I really wanted to get that across. But there is a lot of texture to this darkness.

With the myth of the mandrake root, we have seen it tackled multiple times – Guillermo del Toro’s take in Pan’s Labyrinth [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] stuck with me, also because of its female aspect, as he used it in the birth scene. What did you find interesting about it?
There is something fascinating about the story of a creature born beneath the gallows, this horrid little half-man, half-nature creature. When I was designing it, there were twisted roots and potatoes I was able to take inspiration from, but I also looked at the creatures from Hellraiser. Pan’s Labyrinth was one of the main sources of inspiration, but another was Harry Potter! I just hoped to do it justice. I didn’t actually end up with this prop; my producer has it. But I have a great photo of myself holding both of them, like they are my babies.

Is that something you might want to continue, combining genre with a more down-to-earth approach?
Yes, I think so. My next project is a post-apocalyptic sci-fi that’s really about the psychological struggle of someone living in that world. They are surviving and trying to find a purpose, find forgiveness. Great genre films always have great human stories behind them. One of my favourites, Alien, would be nothing without that terrifying sense of isolation or that torn, dying ship that they are all living on. Without it, it would have been forgotten.