“I urge you to please notice when you are happy, and exclaim or murmur or think at some point, ‘If this isn’t nice, I don’t know what is.’” – Kurt Vonnegut, A Man Without a Country
This week’s film is the landmark Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris, which was directed by Shusuke Kaneko, and originally released in Japan on the 3rd of March, 1999. Here’s the film’s Japanese theatrical poster.
The Black Phooka
The black Phooka is a shape-shifting creature from old Celtic mythology. It is a benign but mischievous creature. Their normal appearance is similar to that of a cat (its tail will twitch when its angry much like a cat), but this creature can take the form of horses, goats, cats, dogs, hares and even humans. No matter what shape they take, their fur is always dark.
They mostly prefer to take the form of a pony and will try to entice humans to take a ride on their back. If a someone does get on, they will give the rider a wild and terrifying journey before dropping the unlucky person back at the place they were taken from.
While they’re mostly mischievous creatures, they’re also known to be benevolent and will help farmers with their harvest and field work. Due to this, they are associated with Samhain, a Goidelic harvest festival.
The character Puck from A Midsummer Night’s Dream is based off of this creature.
SOURCE for pic on right
1st Picture is from Arthur Spiderwick’s Field Guide to the Fantastical World Around You
