Mick Jordan braves the darkness with his review of Fréwaka.
Films in the Irish language, once a rarity, have now become part of the mainstream in Irish cinemas — and now, in 2025, two horror films as Gaeilge have been released in cinemas. The latest is Fréwaka, written and directed by Aislinn Clarke. Opening with a prologue set in 1973, Horslips’ Dearg Doom sets the era perfectly while evoking the musical tradition the song itself is based on. The sudden appearance of a gang of men in ancient straw masks gatecrashing a wedding helps too. This is followed by old, faded newspaper headlines about the mysterious disappearance of the bride — and we’re off and going.
In the present day, Shoo (Clare Monnelly) is a care worker who has been hired by an agency to look after Peig (Bríd Ní Neachtain), an elderly woman recovering from a stroke. Peig doesn’t want any help and would prefer to return to her contented existence as a paranoid recluse. Naturally, she lives in a very remote part of a very remote village. Meanwhile, Shoo’s partner Mila (Aleksandra Bystrzhitskaya) is pregnant with their first child. Mila doesn’t want Shoo to go, but she insists they need the money. Perhaps what Shoo also needs is a distraction, following the recent death of her estranged mother by suicide. In her past, Peig has faced similar trauma — something Shoo learns, as the barriers between these two women start to break down. Peig’s fear of being taken away by “them” won’t go away so easily, and Shoo begins to realise that she may have a point.
Gradually, the events from different time periods start to weave together as the mystery at the heart of the story is revealed. This is an exceptionally well-constructed film. This narrative is not content to just throw together a bunch of damaged characters into a strange setting and add a load of jump scares. There is mounting tension throughout and a constant, wary questioning of reality. Even the agency that assigned Shoo to this placement is “off”. Peig’s house is filled with religious images — pictures of Jesus, a statue of the Infant of Prague and, in particular, a Sacred Heart lamp. For those of a certain age, these are all long-standing and comforting symbols of traditional Irish life. Here, however, they are used to unnerve and unsettle.
The film is equal parts engrossing and frightening — but the unease is alleviated now and then by a good smattering of humour, thanks to the entertaining banter between Shoo and Peig. Peig herself is a comic eccentric who loves nothing more than cutting out newspaper death notices of people she knew and sticking them in her scrapbook. “When you die, someone always picks out a shit picture of you,” she says as she does so.
The unsettling soundtrack by Die Hexen really plays on the nerves — haunting and, at times, jarring, it constantly maintains the tense atmosphere. And hearing the aforementioned Dearg Doom blasting out of the speakers is worth a cinema trip in itself.
There is a renaissance of high-quality Irish horror films at the moment: Kate Dolan’s You Are Not My Mother, Paul Duane’s All You Need Is Death, Damian Mc Carthy’s Oddity, John Farrelly’s An Taibhse — and now Fréwaka keeps the trend going. It is a film that both unnerves and intrigues. It is absorbing and compelling — the cinematic equivalent of a page-turner. You simply have to know what’s going to happen next. In the end, all the strands are brought together in a very satisfying way. And make sure not to rush off at the end — there is a mid-credits epilogue which adds another layer to the story.
In cinemas from 25th April 2025.
