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nica00's review
4.0
Favourite essay: The King of Terrors by Verity Holloway discussing the ruined medieval doom paintings of St Peter & St Paul church in Bardwell.
barry_x's review
adventurous
challenging
informative
reflective
fast-paced
5.0
I'm quite late to the 'Hellebore' party, discovering the zine quite by accident on a 'folklore zine' thread on Mastodon. As soon as I saw the covers of the first nine issues I knew I really wanted to read this, and rather than trial an issue, I took the plunge and ordered the first nine, and even whilst ploughing through my to-be-read pile carried on buying the most recent issues before even reading this one. My leap of faith has been rewarded!
'Hellebore' is an occult / folklore / folk horror small press printed zine with each zine having it's own theme. The theme for this is 'sacrifice' or perhaps more accurately 'ritual sacrifice'.
The zine looks gorgeous. The art direction is superb throughout. It looks and feels like a horror film, but one you are unsettled by, or scared by rather than one that goes for shocks. As other reviewers have noted it manages to capture the aesthetic of 60's and 70's pulp / occult magazines whilst not touching the salaciousness of the era (many of the covers of the era, particularly related to witchcraft sold on the complete lack of clothing the 'witches' on the cover wore). Balance comes to mind here, and one that touches the editorial approach too - one can recognise the touch points and references easily, and yet the direction of the zine never feels derivative. It pays homage to it's influences, but has it's very own identity and context.
As other reviewers have noted, the zine strikes a wonderful balance. I've got one academic book on the go, and another finished yesterday and if someone told me 'Hellebore' was going to be academic I'd have run a mile. It is academic - there is little sensationalism in the pieces. All the articles are well referenced and supported by research, and the perspectives considered and thoughtful. It gives the reader much to reflect upon. At the same time the pieces are engaging and accessible. One never feels they are reading theory or a research paper draft. The articles are accessible to a wide readership (well as wide as folk horror is) which isn't always easy. A minor gripe is that the articles are quite short so sometimes leave you wanting a little more, but I guess this is a clear editorial choice. What it does mean is that you can easily pick this up, read a piece and put down.
The authors are mostly somewhat familiar to me as I think I follow most of them on Twitter (and there is part of me that thinks I would love to have a bunch of folklore interest friends), and they all seem really sound people.
The contents include:
'The Bones of the Land' by Katy Soar which is a fascinating study of ancient stones and megaliths and examines the relationship and evidence for human sacrifice.
'Eye of New and Toe of Frog' by Dee Dee Chainey challenged my vegan sensibilities with an exploration of animals in sacrifice, medicine, witchcraft etc.
'From His Blood the Crops Would Spring' by Maria J. Pérez Cuervo examines folklore and sacrifice from a Victorian perspective
An interview with Ronald Hutton who I am not to familiar with but is a well known folklore historian who rather delightfully has managed to annoy many for his perspectives on witchcraft
'The Bodies in the Bog' by John Reppion is brilliant, examining the evidence that 'Lindlow Man' was murdered in a ritual sacrifice. Having visited Denmark in the summer I went to a museum and viewed some exhibits related to sacrifice and bodies preserved in peat bogs so it was a really interesting piece for me.
'The Ritual of the Hearts' by Mercedes Miller examines 'Lost Hearts' by M.R. James and it's influences.
'The King of Terrors' by Verity Holloway was an article that needed more exploration for me as it was fascinating. It's about folkloric art discovered in a Suffolk church and it's preservation
'Re-Enchantment is Resistance' by David Southwell is a short piece about reclaiming folklore from the influences of fascism and continually re-evaluating our relationship to the past and to magic. David Southwell's 'Hookland' account on Twitter is brilliant!
(as an aside there is one review that refers to the 'left-wing' nature of 'Hellebore'. Ignore them - there is a reference to anti-fascism in the editorial in relation to the last two page piece, which merely alludes to the need to reclaim folklore. There is a frightening tendency of fascists to co-opt tradition and folklore to 'other' minorities whilst appealing to a pastoral, patriotic, back to the soil past that has never existed. 'Hellebore' isn't left wing per se, but they are clear they are not opening the door to undesirables.)
'Hellebore' is an occult / folklore / folk horror small press printed zine with each zine having it's own theme. The theme for this is 'sacrifice' or perhaps more accurately 'ritual sacrifice'.
The zine looks gorgeous. The art direction is superb throughout. It looks and feels like a horror film, but one you are unsettled by, or scared by rather than one that goes for shocks. As other reviewers have noted it manages to capture the aesthetic of 60's and 70's pulp / occult magazines whilst not touching the salaciousness of the era (many of the covers of the era, particularly related to witchcraft sold on the complete lack of clothing the 'witches' on the cover wore). Balance comes to mind here, and one that touches the editorial approach too - one can recognise the touch points and references easily, and yet the direction of the zine never feels derivative. It pays homage to it's influences, but has it's very own identity and context.
As other reviewers have noted, the zine strikes a wonderful balance. I've got one academic book on the go, and another finished yesterday and if someone told me 'Hellebore' was going to be academic I'd have run a mile. It is academic - there is little sensationalism in the pieces. All the articles are well referenced and supported by research, and the perspectives considered and thoughtful. It gives the reader much to reflect upon. At the same time the pieces are engaging and accessible. One never feels they are reading theory or a research paper draft. The articles are accessible to a wide readership (well as wide as folk horror is) which isn't always easy. A minor gripe is that the articles are quite short so sometimes leave you wanting a little more, but I guess this is a clear editorial choice. What it does mean is that you can easily pick this up, read a piece and put down.
The authors are mostly somewhat familiar to me as I think I follow most of them on Twitter (and there is part of me that thinks I would love to have a bunch of folklore interest friends), and they all seem really sound people.
The contents include:
'The Bones of the Land' by Katy Soar which is a fascinating study of ancient stones and megaliths and examines the relationship and evidence for human sacrifice.
'Eye of New and Toe of Frog' by Dee Dee Chainey challenged my vegan sensibilities with an exploration of animals in sacrifice, medicine, witchcraft etc.
'From His Blood the Crops Would Spring' by Maria J. Pérez Cuervo examines folklore and sacrifice from a Victorian perspective
An interview with Ronald Hutton who I am not to familiar with but is a well known folklore historian who rather delightfully has managed to annoy many for his perspectives on witchcraft
'The Bodies in the Bog' by John Reppion is brilliant, examining the evidence that 'Lindlow Man' was murdered in a ritual sacrifice. Having visited Denmark in the summer I went to a museum and viewed some exhibits related to sacrifice and bodies preserved in peat bogs so it was a really interesting piece for me.
'The Ritual of the Hearts' by Mercedes Miller examines 'Lost Hearts' by M.R. James and it's influences.
'The King of Terrors' by Verity Holloway was an article that needed more exploration for me as it was fascinating. It's about folkloric art discovered in a Suffolk church and it's preservation
'Re-Enchantment is Resistance' by David Southwell is a short piece about reclaiming folklore from the influences of fascism and continually re-evaluating our relationship to the past and to magic. David Southwell's 'Hookland' account on Twitter is brilliant!
(as an aside there is one review that refers to the 'left-wing' nature of 'Hellebore'. Ignore them - there is a reference to anti-fascism in the editorial in relation to the last two page piece, which merely alludes to the need to reclaim folklore. There is a frightening tendency of fascists to co-opt tradition and folklore to 'other' minorities whilst appealing to a pastoral, patriotic, back to the soil past that has never existed. 'Hellebore' isn't left wing per se, but they are clear they are not opening the door to undesirables.)
hexedmaiden's review
informative
medium-paced
5.0
The Sacrifice Issue was a great introduction to this indie published magazine. Focused on folk horror and even taking a look at bog bodies and debunking human sacrifice this magazine is full of interesting look at the history of the occult, witchcraft, myth, and more. This is my new favorite magazine that I will be collecting all the issues of.
arthurbdd's review
4.0
Solid folk horror-themed journal. Could do with a longer page count to allow the articles to go into more depth. Full review: https://fakegeekboy.wordpress.com/2019/11/11/fresh-folk-horror-for-the-darkening-seasons/