Frewaka – Movie Review | Shudder (3/5)

FRÉWAKA on Shudder is a new Irish folk horror movie from Aislinn Clarke. It has levels of creepiness that should please most fans of both horror and the folk horror niche. Read our full Frewaka horror movie review here!

FRÉWAKA is a new Shudder horror movie from Ireland. And yes, Frewaka is in Irish, so you will need the subtitles for this one. English is spoken as well, but mostly it’s Irish. Or rather, it’s not that dialogue-heavy, so it’s not like you need to worry about this.

Instead, it has a deliciously creepy folk horror vibe of the kind that Irish horror movies, in particular, excel at. The runtime is 1 hour and 43 minutes, which is perhaps a tad too long. Still, I wasn’t eager for it to end. I was completely sucked into this world of superstition.

Continue reading our Fréwaka horror movie below. Find it on Shudder from April 25, 2025.

A world beneath our world

In the new Irish folk horror movie Frewaka, we meet a nursing student, Shoo (Clare Monnelly), just after her mother has passed away. The two were estranged, which will play a role in what comes next in the movie.

While trying to clean out the mess left behind in her mother’s apartment, she’s offered a job. And with a wedding and a baby coming up, she needs the money.

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The job requires someone who speaks Irish, as it’s a placement in a remote Irish village. Here, she needs to care for Peig (Bríd Ní Neachtain), who isn’t exactly thrilled about having someone there to help. Peig is a reclusive, elderly woman recovering from a stroke.

However, the stroke is the least of Peig’s troubles as she lives in constant fear and battles unseen dangers. Peig is haunted by her experiences in a Catholic asylum, which Shoo is quick to take as a sign that it’s all in her mind.

But is it?

When watching Fréwaka, you will start to wonder this yourself. Could there be a house beneath her house? A world that exists somehow beneath our world, and has all the demons we’ve tried to fight throughout our lives?!

Fortunately, for Shoo, the two very different women develop a strangely deep connection rather quickly. Maybe because Shoo tries to understand the old woman’s paranoia, rituals, and superstitions. Not encouraging them in any way, but accepting her need for them.

And maybe even acknowledge that there is a need for these rituals to stay safe.

OCD masked as superstition – or vice versa?

In Fréwaka, we’re getting yet another look at the vast world of Irish folk horror. And I love it. For this story, we’re seeing how those who truly believe in the myths and legends do their best to keep danger at bay.

Not always successfully, despite their very elaborate rituals.

In fact, from the outside, many of these methods of staying safe look a lot like OCD. Counting things and having little rituals to maintain the peace. For the record, I am no stranger to OCD, so I recognize the behavior in myself as well.

As things escalate, the main characters seem increasingly paranoid and neurotic. Or rather, they would seem that way from the outside, but seeing that we’re witnessing the strange events they live with and through, it’s easy to understand.

In other words, I would absolutely use all the tricks and rituals I believed might help.

Watch Fréwaka on Shudder!

Writer and director of Fréwaka is Aislinn Clarke, and she delivers on all the aspects of folk horror that I’ve come to love. Previously, Aislinn Clarke also wrote and directed The Devil’s Doorway (2018). Also, she did a segment of Bite Size Halloween, so she is very much a horror filmmaker.

Fréwaka is only her second feature film, so we should have plenty to look forward to from this filmmaker. Personally, I hope she continues diving into these Irish folk horror stories. And she could also continue working with Clare Monnelly in the lead role. This was a great match.

If you’re a fan of folk horror (especially Irish Folk Horror), then you cannot miss out on this Shudder addition. Frewaka hits so many notes perfectly that we’re closer to 3½ out of 5.

Frewaka premieres on Shudder on April 25, 2025.

Details

Director: Aislinn Clarke
Writer: Aislinn Clarke
Starring: Clare Monnelly, Bríd Ní Neachtain, Aleksandra Bystrzhitskaya, Clare Barrett