Once and a while I find a film marketed and masquerading as a horror, but really it is something entirely original that is playing by its own set of rules. In the past, such films might include Climax or The Killing of a Sacred Deer. (Sure, there is an argument to be made that they are horror, but they are so in an unconventional sense.) These are the films that tend to separate the cinephiles from the horror purists, but they have a welcome spot on my list as they each better define the boundaries of what adult horror truly is.

You Won’t Be Alone is one of these films. It intentionally repurposes elements of the horror genre for its own interests. In fact, the film itself is a bit of a paradox. It is, indisputably, a folk horror and yet a part of me feels it is wrong to even classify this as a horror movie.   

You Won’t Be Alone is the debut feature by Goran Stolevski. Set in 19th century Macedonia, the film starts with a new mother who has found herself visited by a Wolf-eateress, or witch, known by the nick-named “Old-Maid Maria”. (She knows it is Maria because of the witch’s hideous burnt appearance and previous history living in the house.) Maria has the mother’s newborn and intends to drink its blood to obtain more power- an act that would surely kill the baby- but the mother pleads for more time with her daughter. After a brief exchange a deal gets struck, but it is lopsided. The mother gets to raise the child until she’s 16, but after that the girl goes to Maria. Then, in a final act of cruelty, Maria also takes away the baby’s voice before leaving the mother’s home.   

If this plot sounds a little like something from the pages of Brothers Grimm, just wait. 

In an attempt to fool Maria, the mother tries raising her daughter, Nevena, in a cave away from the company of people. But the mother’s feeble attempt to trick the witch doesn’t work and on Nevena’s sixteenth birthday she gets a visit by a raven. The mother, suspecting the bird is the witch in disguise, tries to chase the bird out of the cave. Off screen, we hear the distinct sounds of death before the mother, obviously changed, suddenly reappears and tells Nevena she can finally leave the cave.  

It doesn’t take long for Maria to reveal herself and transform Nevena into another witch. For a short time Maria tries taking Nevena on as a prodigy, but Nevena is too mesmerized by the wonders of the outside world- she was raised in a cave after all- to care much about the witch’s lessons. Things go sideways after Nevena shows little interest in biting into animals to taste their blood. Maria, unable to enact the role of a nurturing, empathetic surrogate, scolds Nevena for capturing fish and then letting them go. Nevena, in return, throws a rock at her. This causes an enraged Maria to abandon Nevena to her own devices. But before she leaves, Nevena sees Maria force a wolf’s entrails into her chest before turning into one- thus teaching the secret to shapeshifting.

The rest of the film follows the mute Nevena’s exploration of the world and her newfound abilities. As she murders and morphs into different people, or in one case a dog, she then attempts, often successfully, to integrate into the world of people. But a bitter Maria is always close be a buzzkill, reminding Nevena that at some point the villagers will learn her secrets and turn on her.  

After that synopsis, you might think you know where You Won’t Be Alone is heading, but you really don’t. After watching Nevena’s unexpected journey into maturity, the last lines Maria delivers at the end of the film have a lingering effect.

There will be some who will dismiss You Won’t Be Alone as slow-paced, meandering, art-house dribble. If you look at the comments on-line, you’ll find that one person’s exquisite and breath-taking is another’s tedious and pretentious. For the detractors, it probably doesn’t help that most of the film is narrated in beautiful poetic prose from the perspective mute Nevena. 

As a first time director, Stolevski deserves praise for what he has accomplished. You Won’t Be Alone makes a lot of bold and innovative choices that only work because Stolevski forgoes conventions and refuses to compromise on his vision. It is unusual to have a film where the main character is played by so many different actors, all of which get substantial screen time. Stolevski’s recreation of a village in 19th century Macedonian countryside is stunning. And the flashback of Maria’s haunting tragic tale is particularly heartbreaking. 

But where You Won’t Be Alone really shines is in its astute observations`on the social privileges men are provided and the ways women can band together to exert power. As Nevena switches from body to body, she sees how the world’s occupied by each gender are remarkably different. Stoevsky makes full use of its “creature” protagonist in a manner similar to Under the Skin, offering us a fascinating gaze into human behaviour from the perspective of an outsider. (I also find it interesting that both films essentially tell empathetic reverse or reformed serial killer stories. Hey, there’s a good film school paper.) 

You Won’t Be Alone also tells a powerful coming of age tale interwoven into one of the most unique folk horrors to come out in the last decade. I suggest pairing this one up with Hellbender. Both films use witchcraft as a means to say interesting things to say about mother-daughter relations, but they each go in a wildly different direction. (Wow, I must be on a roll. I think I just wrote another film school student’s paper.) And to hammer home their points, both of these films have rather unusual endings.

But is You Won’t Be Alone really, really horror? I guess that all depends on how open you are with the definition. But personally, I thought it was great! And in the end, isn’t that all that really matters?