109 Folk Horror in the Ozarks: The Genre Hybridity of Debra Granik’s Winter’s Bone Beth Kattelman (The Ohio State University) As described by Adam Scovell, films that can be considered part of the folk horror genre exhibit common elements that fall along what he describes as the ‘folk horror chain’ which includes particular deployments of landscape, isolation, skewed belief systems/morality, and the inclusion of a happening/summoning. Scovell gleaned this ‘chain’ by taking a look at the commonalities among the three films that are often considered the founding triumvirate of the genre, Witchfinder General (Michael Reeves, 1968), The Blood on Satan’s Claw (Piers Haggard, 1971), and The Wicker Man (Robin Hardy, 1973), thus establishing a category that has continued to gain popularity and interest among film theorists and aficionados (2017: 17-18). Yet, even Scovell himself recognizes the need for flexibility in the parameters of the folk horror genre and emphasizes the fruitful discoveries that might be made by exploring the subtle connections with films that might, at first, be considered outliers: ‘Folk Horror is best seen, not simply as a set of criteria to be read with hindsight into all sorts of media, but as a way of opening up discussions on subtly interconnected work and how we now interact with such work’ (2017: 5-6). Influential film theorist Rick Altman also argues for the flexibility of genre in his seminal book on the subject: ‘Genres are not inert categories shared by all (though at some moments they certainly seem to be), but discursive claims made by real speakers for particular purposes in specific situations’ (1999: 101). Following Scovell’s and Altman’s prompts, I will trouble the boundaries of folk horror by taking a look at Debra Granik’s 2010 film Winter’s Bone, positioning it as a hybrid that sits on the cusp of the genre. The film is indeed an excellent example of hybridity,