Black Shuck and green children feature in new Suffolk folklore film

Alice Cunningham, Suffolk Scott Godding, Once Upon a Time in Suffolk features a twist on the classic fairytale *Red Riding Hood* and includes the demonic hound *Black Shuck*. A new film will pull together Suffolk’s folklore, involving demonic hounds, wolves, and children with green skin. *FILM Suffolk* is due to release its third anthology feature film titled *Once Upon a Time in Suffolk*, created entirely with volunteers. One of the producers, Julien Mery, said the county’s folklore is rich in myths and legends, and they wanted to honor it. The film will premiere on 4 September at Abbeygate Cinema in Bury St Edmunds and features tales of *Black Shuck*, the *Green Children of Woolpit*, and more. Producers Julien Mery, Matthew McGuchan, and Nick Woolgar worked with story editor Ruth Selwyn-Crome. The project began in March 2023 with a callout for scripts on folklore themes, receiving around 100 submissions narrowed down to a few. *Black Shuck* is said to have terrorized villages in East Anglia, including a 1577 incident where it burst into St Mary’s Church in Bungay, killing two people. The film includes a storyteller introducing the tales, with each chapter centered on a protagonist navigating the supernatural. The *Green Children of Woolpit*—found in 1150 speaking gibberish—also appear, with a modern twist on *Rapunzel* and *Red Riding Hood*. One story was filmed at Suffolk’s Yoxman figure in Yoxford. The film involved over 200 volunteers from East Anglia and will screen in cinemas across the region, including Lowestoft, Halesworth, and Colchester. Mery expressed excitement about the premiere and the enthusiasm from audiences.