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The Science Fiction Horror and Fantasy Film Review

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Theme: Folk Horror

Folk Horror is a sub-genre of horror set around paganism and folk rituals. In folk horror, we encounter people who live by the old ways, which can be Celtic and druidic ritual, or goddess worship and Wicca. Frequently, believers follow religions that tend the land – and with it naturally a belief in human sacrifice to appease the old gods of the harvest. There is the recurring theme of these emerging through into the modern world or being practiced in secrecy, and their conflict with Christianity and modern rationalism.

Folk Horror often takes places in remote country settings, island or woods brimming with supernatural entities and worshippers lurking. Supernatural entities, deities, demons and devil worship practice can be encountered. The genre is generally identified as beginning amid the Anglo-Horror Cycle of the 1960s but was popularised by the cult film The Wicker Man (1973).

There have been a number of variants on themes since then with the genre having gone a revival of interest in the 2010s. Of considerable interest is the documentary Woodland Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror (2021), which casts a very wide net over the genre and unearths obscure and fascinating examples.


Amulet (2020)

6 September 2021

Rating: ★★★

House of Mysterious Happenings

Director: Romola Garai
Actors: Alec Secareanu, Imelda Staunton, Carla Juri, Angeliki Papoulia, …
Category: Horror

Apostle (2018)

17 May 201929 January 2021

Rating: ★★½

Sinister Cult

Director: Gareth Evans
Actors: Dan Stevens, Lucy Boynton, Michael Sheen, Mark Lewis Jones, …
Category: Horror

Arbor Demon (2016)

22 April 201929 September 2019

Rating: ★★

Something Lurking in the Woods

Director: Patrick Rea
Actors: Fiona Dourif, Kevin Ryan, Jake Busey
Category: Horror

Black Death (2010)

20 February 20111 January 2022

Rating: ★★★★

Mediaeval Journey to a Village of Witches

Director: Christopher Smith
Actors: Eddie Redmayne, Sean Bean, John Lynch, Carice Van Houten, …
Category: Horror

The Blair Witch Project (1999)

2 August 199919 January 2023

Rating: ★★★½

Found Footage/Backwoods Haunting

Director: Daniel Myrick, Eduardo Sanchez
Actors: Heather Donahue, Joshua Leonard, Michael C. Williams
Category: Horror

Blood on Satan’s Claw (1971)

3 May 200010 February 2020

Rating: ★★

17th Century Devil Worship

Director: Piers Haggard
Actors: Patrick Wymark, Linda Hayden, Barry Andrews, Wendy Padbury, …
Category: Horror

The Borderlands (2013)

13 November 201424 February 2020

Rating: ★★★

Found Footage/Haunted Church

Director: Elliot Goldner
Actors: Rob Hill, Aidan McArdle, Luke Neal, Patrick Godfrey
Category: Horror

Cherry Tree (2015)

10 October 201723 July 2021

Rating: ★★★

Devil Worship and Pregnancy

Director: David Keating
Actors: Naomi Battrick, Anna Walton, Sam Hazeldine, Elva Trill, …
Category: Horror

Children of the Corn (1984)

5 June 200014 October 2022

Rating: ★

Pagan Child Cult/Stephen King Adaptation

Director: Fritz Kiersch
Actors: Linda Hamilton, Peter Horton, Courtney Gains, Robby Kiger, …
Category: Horror

Children of the Corn (2009)

21 March 20108 July 2021

Rating: ★★½

Pagan Child Cult/Stephen King Adaptation

Director: Donald P. Borchers
Actors: David Anders, Kandyse McClure, Preston Bailey
Category: Horror

Children of the Corn V: Fields of Terror (1998)

2 June 202129 July 2021

Rating: ★★

Pagan Child Cult

Director: Ethan Wiley
Actors: Eva Mendes, Alexis Arquette, David Carradine, Adam Wylie, …
Category: Horror

A Deadly Legend (2020)

1 December 20221 December 2022

Rating: ½

Folk Horror Happenings at a Summer Camp

Director: Pamela Moriarty
Actors: Kristen Anne Ferraro, Corbin Bernsen, Lori Petty, Judd Hirsch, …
Category: Horror

The Feast (2021)

17 June 202217 June 2022

Rating: ★★★½

Folk Horror/Sinister Dinner Party

Director: Lee Haven Jones
Actors: Annes Elwy, Nia Roberts, Julian Lewis Jones, Sion Alun Davies, …
Category: Horror

The Field Guide to Evil (2018)

6 December 201928 September 2022

Rating: ★★★½

Horror Anthology

Director: Severin Fiala, Veronika Franz, Can Evrenol, Agnieszka Smoczynska, …
Category: Horror

Gaia (2021)

5 November 20215 November 2021

Rating: ★★★½

Living Forest Entity

Director: Jaco Bouwer
Actors: Monique Rockman, Carel Nel, Alex Van Dyk, Anthony Oseyemi
Category: Horror

Get Duked! (2019)

11 April 202118 July 2021

Rating: ★★★

Wilderness Survival Course Comedy/Human Hunting

Director: Ninian Doff
Actors: Kate Dickie, Jonathan Aris, James Cosmo, Eddie Izzard, …
Category: Horror

The Guardian (1990)

13 December 200228 May 2021

Rating: ★★

Sinister Druidic Babysitter

Director: William Friedkin
Actors: Jenny Seagrove, Dwier Brown, Carey Lowell, Brad Hall
Category: Horror

Hellbender (2021)

10 April 202210 April 2022

Rating: ★★★

Modern Witches

Director: John Adams, Zelda Adams, Toby Poser
Actors: Zelda Adams, Toby Poser, Lulu Adams, John Adams, …
Category: Horror

The Horror at 37,000 Feet (1973)

7 January 200618 November 2022

Rating: ★★

Haunted Airplane

Director: David Lowell Rich
Actors: William Shatner, Chuck Connors, Roy Thinnes, Tammy Grimes, …
Category: Horror

In the Earth (2021)

15 May 20215 November 2021

Rating: ★★½

Folk Horror

Director: Ben Wheatley
Actors: Joel Fry, Reece Shearsmith, Hayley Squires, Ellora Torchia, …
Category: Horror

Invasion of the Blood Farmers (1972)

9 February 201310 December 2021

Rating: ½

Blood Sacrificing Druid Cult

Director: Ed Adlum
Category: Horror

Kill List (2011)

9 October 201111 May 2021

Rating: ★★★½

Domestic Lives of Hitmen/Devil Worship Cult

Director: Ben Wheatley
Actors: Neil Maskell, Michael Smiley, MyAnna Buring, Emma Fryer, …
Category: Horror

The Manor (2021)

3 August 202219 October 2022

Rating: ★★½

Sinister Retirement Home

Director: Axelle Carolyn
Actors: Barbara Hershey, Bruce Davison, Nicholas Alexander, Katie A. Keane, …
Category: Horror

Matriarch (2022)

19 March 202319 March 2023

Rating: ★★★½

Folk Horror

Director: Ben Steiner
Actors: Jemima Rooper, Kate Dickie, Sarah Paul, Keith David Bartlett, …
Category: Horror

Matthew Hopkins – Witchfinder General (1968)

5 December 199915 April 2022

Rating: ★★★½

Historical Witch Persecutions

Director: Michael Reeves
Actors: Vincent Price, Ian Ogilvy, Hilary Dwyer, Rupert Davies, …
Category: Horror

Men (2022)

9 July 20229 July 2022

Rating: ★★

Folk Entity

Director: Alex Garland
Actors: Jessie Buckley, Rory Kinnear, Paapa Essiedu, Gayle Rankin, …
Category: Horror

Midsommar (2019)

5 October 201922 November 2020

Rating: ★★★½

Pagan Religion

Director: Ari Aster
Actors: Florence Pugh, Jack Reynor, William Jackson Harper, Vilhelm Blomgren, …
Category: Horror

Outcast (2010)

29 December 201214 January 2022

Rating: ★★★★

Dark Sorceries

Director: Colm McCarthy
Actors: James Nesbitt, Kate Dickie, Niall Bruton, Hannah Stanbridge, …
Category: Horror

The Pit and the Pendulum (1991)

5 September 201217 July 2022

Rating: ★★

Edgar Allan Poe Adaptation/Inquisition Horrors

Director: Stuart Gordon
Actors: Lance Henriksen, Rona De Ricci, Jonathan Fuller, Frances Bay, …
Category: Horror

Puffball (2007)

26 August 201129 September 2019

Rating: ★★

Witchcraft and Pregnancy

Director: Nicolas Roeg
Actors: Kelly Reilly, Miranda Richardson, Rita Tushingham, Oscar Pearce, …
Category: Fantasy

Rawhead Rex (1986)

4 May 20001 October 2019

Rating: ★

Clive Barker Adaptation/Prehistoric Monster Revived

Director: George Pavlou
Actors: David Dukes, Kelly Piper, Heinrich von Schellendorf, Ronan Wilmot, …
Category: Horror

The Ritual (2017)

2 March 201810 October 2022

Rating: ★★★

Mysterious Happenings in the Woods

Director: David Bruckner
Actors: Rafe Spall, Sam Troughton, Robert James-Collier, Arsher Ali, …
Category: Horror

Sacrifice (2016)

1 July 201614 February 2023

Rating: ★★

Ritual Murders/Secret Society

Director: Peter A. Dowling
Actors: Radha Mitchell, Rupert Graves, David Robb, Joanna Crawford, …
Category: Horror

Sacrilege (2020)

20 June 202220 June 2022

Rating: ★

Folk Horror

Director: David Creed
Actors: Tamaryn Price, Emily Wyatt, Sian Abrahams, Naomi Willow, …
Category: Horror

Sator (2019)

26 March 202126 March 2021

Rating: ★★★★

Folk Horror/Mysterious Happenings in the Woods

Director: Jordan Graham
Actors: Gabe Nicholson, Michael Daniel, Rachel Johnson, Aurora Lowe
Category: Horror

Sinister (2012)

7 November 201230 June 2022

Rating: ★★

Hauntings and Ritual Killings

Director: Scott Derrickson
Actors: Ethan Hawke, Juliet Rylance, James Ransone, Fred Dalton Thompson, …
Category: Horror

Slash (2002)

1 March 201010 December 2019

Rating: ★★

Slasher Film

Director: Neal Sundström
Actors: James O'Shea, Steve Railsback, Zuleikha Robinson
Category: Horror

The Third Day (2020)

22 November 20205 June 2022

Rating: ★★★

Folk Horror

Director: Marc Munden, Philippa Lowthorpe
Actors: Jude Law, Naomie Harris, Katherine Waterston, Paddy Considine, …
Category: Horror

The Virgin Spring (1959)

21 October 200729 September 2019

Rating: ★★★★

Revenge Film

Director: Ingmar Bergman
Actors: Max Von Sydow, Birgitta Valberg, Birgitta Pettersson, Gunnel Lindblom, …
Category: Horror

Wake Wood (2011)

7 August 201115 April 2022

Rating: ★★★½

Resurrection of the Dead

Director: David Keating
Actors: Aidan Gillen, Timothy Spall, Eva Birthistle, Ruth McCabe
Category: Horror

The Wicker Man (1973)

20 August 20039 April 2021

Rating: ★★★★

Pagan Religion

Director: Robin Hardy
Actors: Edward Woodward, Christopher Lee, Britt Ekland, Diane Cilento, …
Category: Horror

The Wicker Man (2006)

18 November 200715 February 2023

Rating: 0­

Pagan Religion

Director: Neil LaBute
Actors: Nicolas Cage, Ellen Burstyn, Molly Parker, Leelee Sobieski, …
Category: Horror

The Wicker Tree (2011)

5 March 201220 November 2020

Rating: ★★★

Pagan Religion

Director: Robin Hardy
Actors: Brittania Nichol, Henry Garrett, Graham McTavish, Honeysuckle Weeks, …
Category: Horror

The Witch: A New-England Folktale (2015)

27 February 201618 May 2022

Rating: ★★★★

Puritan Era Fear of Witches

Director: Robert Eggers
Actors: Anya Taylor-Joy, Ralph Ineson, Kate Dickie
Category: Horror

Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror (2021)

15 April 2022

Rating: ★★★★

Documentary About Folk Horror

Director: Kier-La Janisse
Actors: Gail-Nina Anderson, Mariano Baino, Geraldine Beskin, Richard Blackburn, …
Category: Horror

You Are Not My Mother (2021)

24 April 2022

Rating: ★★★

Missing Mother Returns Changed/Folk Horror

Director: Kate Dolan
Actors: Hazel Doupe, Carolyn Bracken, Ingrid Craigie, Jordanne Jones, …
Category: Horror

You Won’t Be Alone (2022)

26 March 202326 March 2023

Rating: ★★★★

Folk Horror/Body Hopping Witch

Director: Goran Stolevski
Actors: Noomi Rapace, Anamaria Marinca, Alice Englert, Sara Klimoska, …
Category: Fantasy, Horror

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Theme Essays

  • Films About Atlantis
  • Werewolf Films
  • Virtual Reality
  • Imprisonment Thrillers
  • Films Depicting NASA and the Space Program
  • Human Bloodsports and Death Games
  • Animals Attack Films
  • Films About Plague and Pandemic
  • Disaster Movies
  • Steampunk Films
  • Documentaries
  • Films About Halloween
  • Films About Prophecy
  • Magicians and Sorcerers
  • Secret Societies
  • Real-Life People in Fiction
  • Techno-Thrillers
  • Twins in Fantastic Cinema
  • Asylums
  • Possession Films
  • Films About Imaginary and Magical Lands
  • Religion in Fantastic Cinema
  • Romantic Comedies
  • Film Noir
  • Spy Films
  • Jekyll and Hyde Films
  • Films That Make Dubious Claims to Being Based on True Stories
  • Coming of Age Stories in Fantastic Cinema
  • Films About Cryogenics and Suspended Animation
  • Alternate History Films
  • Disturbed Psychology as Portrayed on Film
  • Law Enforcement in Fantastic Cinema
  • Weird Westerns

© Copyright Richard Scheib 1999-2023

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