WITCHES Between madness and sorcery, director Kate Dolan terrifies with “Samhain” in theaters this Wednesday
Caroline Bracken in “Samhain” by Kate Dolan — Cait Fahey/Star Invest Film
- “Samhain” by Kate Dolan received one of the Jury Prizes at the Gérardmer Festival.
- The Irish director looks back on the origins of the Halloween party.
- She signs a feminist tale around a daughter and her mother who suddenly seems to be inhabited by a malevolent force.
“Horror movies that draw on folklore are the most frightening because they appeal to people. our deepest fears, says Kate Dolan, director of Samhain at; 20 Minutes. With her pumpkin tattooed on her arm, the young Irishwoman made the Gérardmer Festival tremble and won a Jury Prize by returning to the origins of the Halloween party. A grandmother, a mother and a daughter are at the center of a resolutely feminine story.
It mixes visceral horror and family drama around a mom, suddenly inhabited by a strange creature that could be either a vicious demon or a terrible mental illness. “Family is the most terrifying thing in the world,” says the young heroine, confirmed by this chilling feature debut.
Between ;Celtic legends and reality
“I played; on the ambiguity between Celtic legends rich in witchcraft and the madness of an unbalanced mother, insists the filmmaker. She transforms the daily life of peaceful suburbanites into a pure nightmare. The spectator was easily made to slip into the skin of the heroine trying to save her mother and escape. malicious classmates. “The girl is experiencing a truly terrifying form of Halloween, without disguises or spells, insists Kate Dolan. The fears she has to face are caused by those around her, which is the worst that we can know, this moment when we are no longer safe; among his own.” Samhain is the stuff out of which bad dreams are woven. brings us a very gifted director.