The 20 best folk horror movies

Kill List begins as a film about a British soldier who comes back from Eastern Europe and becomes a paid killer, but it soon takes a turn into darker, more folk horror territory. The main character, Jay, finds himself drawn into a series of far greater threats and dangers involving targeted killings, strange symbols, and human sacrifice. What’s remarkable is how the film gradually unfolds the true horror and devastation at the heart of its story, and its climax is one of those that will stay with the viewer long past the film’s ending.

The Wailing, which hails from South Korea, is the perfect watch for anyone who wants to see the forms that folk horror can take outside of an American context. Like many other examples of the genre, this one takes place in a distant village, where the residents become inexplicably ill and start killing each other. Of course, this being folk horror, a policeman is sent to investigate, only to get more than he bargained for. What’s particularly striking about the film is its ample use of its long runtime to keep the audience invested and terrified from the beginning to the end.

Goran Stolevski made quite the film debut with You Won’t Be Alone, a haunting and beautiful film following a young woman who falls under the sway of a shapeshifting witch who changes her life forever. The film is pure folk horror, though director Stolevski brings his own artsy touch to the material. At times, it can be a bit difficult to follow, mainly because it tends to get a bit self-indulgent. Nevertheless, this type of folk horror film rewards multiple viewings, asking the audience to find new layers of meaning with each subsequent watch.

Angela Carter’s short story of the same name is the basis for The Company of Wolves, a truly haunting and sometimes downright disturbing piece of folk horror filmmaking. Like the original series of stories by Carter, the film is powerful, evocative, and disturbing precisely because it draws on the bloody subconscious of traditional fairy tales. It is notable for the skill with which it conveys its werewolf transformations. Thanks to Angela Carter’s screenplay and Neil Jordan’s competent direction, The Company Wolves becomes a beautiful and unsettling testament to the power of the folktale unconscious to speak to the present.  

Though The Blood on Satan’s Claw might not have the subtlest title, it still manages to be suspenseful and deeply disturbing. As with Stephen King’s Children of the Corn, this one focuses on a small village where the children begin worshiping a sinister and ancient evil. It proved to be a particularly important film for the folk horror genre. Moreover, it is also a remarkably sophisticated film, juxtaposing as it does the beautiful 18th-century English countryside with the evil capable of taking root in even the most bucolic of settings. 

If one classic Hollywood actor can be associated with horror in all its forms, it would be Vincent Price. With his imposing frame, patrician looks, and distinct voice, he could always be counted on to give a memorable performance. The folk horror film Witchfinder General focuses on Price’s character, Matthew Hopkins. With England falling into chaos due to the Civil War, Hopkins is free to terrorize the countryside. Price brings a suitable level of menace and malice to a man who uses the veil of sanctimony to justify his cruelty, malice, and sadism. 

Stephen King has, throughout his career, solidified his reputation as the finest purveyor of horror stories. Not every one of the film adaptations of his novels and short stories has attained greatness, but Children of the Corn is more than a little terrifying, focusing on a town inhabited by children who have taken to sacrificing adults to the malevolent being known as “He Who Walks Behind the Rows.” While it might sometimes give into its own horror movie tropes, it still manages to be genuinely disturbing, if for no reason other than that it shows how unsettling children can be.

Many of the most well-known folk horror films hail from Europe and the US, but the genre has flourished in other national cinemas. Kwaidan, for example, is one of the most noteworthy Japanese films, and, using the format of the anthology film, it draws on various traditional Japanese folk tales to construct its multiple narratives. Masaki Kobayashi is one of those directors who knows how to create horror that has the power to stick with the viewer and is also remarkably beautiful. His film shows that folk horror can, indeed, be an art in and of itself. 

In a brutal tale of bloodshed, vengeance, and witchcraft, Pumpkinhead focuses on Lance Henriksen’s Ed Harley, who contracts with a witch to gain revenge on the people who killed his son. Unfortunately, he soon discovers that this type of exchange always comes with a price and that the monstrous Pumpkinhead is an aspect of himself. Unlike so many horror films, which seem to unapologetically celebrate the ugliness of vigilante justice, Pumpkinhead is instead a warning about how pursuing such things can inevitably lead to a person becoming just as bad as those they seek to punish.

Antlers is one of those folk horror films that manages to be deeply horrifying and deeply sad, focusing on a young boy whose father becomes possessed by a terrifying spirit known as wendigo. Like all good horror films, it draws on real-life traumas, including drug and child abuse, to add further layers of emotional resonance to its story. Thus, it becomes a story that has genuine stakes. While there is no shortage of brutal action and slayings, these ultimately serve a larger purpose than mere titillation and fright factor. As so often in the folk horror film, darkness sometimes lurks right within the family itself. 

Though Dan Stevens might be best known for his portrayal of Matthew Crawley, Dan Stevens has made several other remarkable appearances, including in the haunting folk horror film Apostle. He plays the character of Thomas Richardson, a former missionary who journeys to an island to save his sister from a cult. There are elements of the Wicker Man in the film’s DNA, but it manages to be both more brutal and optimistic in its outlook than its predecessor. At the same time, it also reveals the enduring fear of pagan religions, which seem to haunt the modern imagination.

Ari Aster’s film Hereditary  features some terrific performances from the likes of Toni Collette and Ann Dowd. What begins as a haunting story about grief soon becomes something much more monstrous, as old crimes and old demons (both literal and metaphorical) come to haunt Collette’s Annie and her family. As so often in folk horror, the family at the center of the story doesn’t quite realize the scale of the horror they are up against. 

Stephen King has long shown himself comfortable in a number of sub-genres of horror, and in Pet Sematary, he gave readers a taste of folk horror. The novel and the film focus on a family who move to a small town in Maine, not realizing at first that their new house is next to a piece of land that seems to be haunted by malevolent spirits. Even more sinisterly, the land has the ability to bring the dead back to life, though they are changed and monstrous. The film highlights the dark perils that haunt the American landscape, always waiting for an opportunity to re-emerge to terrify the present. 

Though found footage horror films are now very much a part of the Hollywood world, when The Blair Witch Project was released, this particular practice was still something of a novelty. The film purports to be the true story of a group of filmmakers who set out to discover the truth behind the “Blair Witch,” only to find themselves victimized by a sinister force in the woods. Though its novelty has worn off, a great deal is still chilling about this film, particularly its final moments, which remain as terrifying as they were when the film was first released.  

Tim Burton has long had a knack for telling unusual and macabre stories, and his strengths are on display in Sleepy Hollow.  Based on the folktale of Ichabod Crane (immortalized in the short story “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" by Washington Irving), the film follows Johnny Depp’s Crane as he investigates a series of murders and discovers the sinister history of the titular town. The film takes some notable liberties with Irving’s story. Still, there’s an undeniable gothic pleasure to be had in it, and it manages to be deeply unsettling and remarkably beautiful, a combination only Burton could accomplish. 

There seems to be something inherently horrific about the idea of going abroad, which helps to explain why so many folk horror films start with this premise. In The Ritual, a group of friends decide to go to Sweden and, unsurprisingly, fall afoul of a group of villagers who worship a sinister and ancient entity that is nothing less than one of the children of Loki. The film hits many of the notes one expects from this type of story, but there’s still something uniquely terrifying about the creature design it employs. Moreover, it uses the trappings of horror film terror to explore issues related to trauma.

When it comes to folk horror movies, The Wicker Man looms large. Directed by Robin Hardy, it follows an English police officer as he investigates a mysterious cult in a distant Scottish isle. Initially believing that a young girl has gone missing, he soon finds that something far more sinister is afoot and that he will play a key role in their efforts to rejuvenate their flagging harvests. The ending of this film is one of the most disturbing in the history of horror, as the unfortunate sacrifice is burned alive in the wicker man of the title, a sacrifice to the pagan gods.

If one studio is known for producing strange folk horror films, it’s A24, and Lamb shows all signs of being an A24 film. Its story about an Icelandic couple who adopt a strange sheep-human hybrid is definitely a strange one, but there is also something touching about the bond that emerges between María and the child, whom they name Ada. Equal parts are nightmarish and strangely touching. It’s not until the final few moments of the film that the true horror unfolds. What the film lacks in traditional horror scares, it more than makes up for with brooding and atmospheric tension. 

From its first frames, Ari Aster’s Midsommar is one of the most disturbing movies of the last decade. It expertly utilizes the genre conventions of the folk horror film as it follows a group of friends who find themselves amid a Swedish cult with sinister designs for them. The film skillfully plays with light to immerse both the characters and the viewer in an unsettling world where the sun almost never sets, even as darkness and death creep up on the unsuspecting tourists. Florence Pugh gives one of the finest performances of her career, giving life to a young woman trying to make sense of grief and an unhappy relationship.  

With his feature debut, The Witch, Robert Eggers demonstrated that he was one of the most visionary directors of the 2000s. Set in colonial America, the film follows a family banished to the forest, where their lives are turned upside down once they encounter the titular witch. Brooding and atmospheric, the film immerses the viewer in the strange and dangerous world of early America, one where the forces of the supernatural were always lurking in the wild spaces, ready to destroy those who intruded on their territory. It also boasts a truly stellar cast, including a young Anya Taylor-Joy as Thomasin, the young woman who seems to have a strong connection to the witch.