Recently, Goran Stolevksi's Men, released in April and May 2022, respectively, wowed critics with their uncanny marrying of ancient folk imagery and horror elements. The resurgence of folk horror movies in recent years has also seen directors such as Ari Aster and Robert Eggers turn folklore-inspired tales into box office hits.
Typically, folk horror films were born out of pastoral visions of the English countryside, but rather than simply being a genre associated with British filmmaking, folk horror tropes can be found in films from across the world that deal in ancestral mythology and the reawakening of a long-forgotten past. Such is folk horror's thematic diversity that critics have long ired movies that fall under its broad definition.
Midsommar (2019) - 83%
Out of all the folk horror revivalist films of the past decade, Ari Aster's Midsommar is the most typically pagan in design. It contains all the folk horror tropes that were made famous by British filmmakers in the 1970s. The movie is as unsettling as it is moving with its poetic depictions of sacrifice and being made whole again.
Surprisingly for such a phenomenon of a movie, critical appreciation for Aster's sophomore work has been far from unanimous. Midsommar is not for everyone's taste but it is a shocking, visceral, and nuanced folk horror experience nonetheless.
The Wicker Man (1973) - 88%
Along with Witchfinder General (1968) and Blood On Satan's Claw (1971), Robin Hardy's horror icon, Sir Christopher Lee as the malevolent leader of a community who still lives according to archaic lore.
The Wicker Man has all the major folk horror movie trappings, from reverence to an old religion to the usurping of modernism, and, of course, pagan ritual sacrifice. The movie's reputation has somewhat been tarnished by its recent reprisal starring Nicolas Cage, but this classic 1973 folk horror film will always be a staple of critically revered cinema.
Onibaba (1964) - 89%
As folk horror became wedded to movie discourses, appreciation for films from other cultures that included its stereotypical tropes became more ever-present. The Onibaba, is a prime example of this with its rural setting and its theme of something disturbed from the past being reawakened.
Folk horror has long been fascinated with the land and buried ancestry and these are cited as staple tropes in Japanese culture as a whole with the practice of Shintoism being focused primarily on the connection between ethnography and spirituality. Critics have championed Onibaba for as long as folk horror has been part of the filmmaking lexicon.
Hereditary (2018) - 89%
Folk Horror is preconditioned to fixate on elements of the past that try as modernism might, cannot be buried away. These themes are manifested literally in Ari Aster's debut critical hit Hereditary, where grief and occultism merge to dizzying and hypnotic effects. Aster's film is also notable for its phenomenal performance from Toni Collette.
Hereditary may not follow the folk horror blueprint as fastidiously as Aster's second film Midsommar, but it certainly won over the vast majority of critics and is often cited as one of the best horror movies of the modern age. With each watch of Hereditary, anticipation for Aster's next film, Disappointment Blvd, grows even more.
The Witch (2015) - 90%
Along with Ari Aster, Robert Eggers has become one of the defining faces of a new wave of directors who have worked folklore into their idiosyncratic visions of horror. Eggers' introduced a young Anya Taylor-Joy to the world.
Eggers is also famed for his immaculate research and the trope of using a hare to signify the presence of witches is one of the oldest and lesser-known staples in pagan history. The Witch has garnered plenty of critical praise and Eggers' movie has solidified itself into the annals of folk horror classics.
Häxan (1922) - 91%
Long before Robert Eggers' study of witchcraft in Puritan New England, the Danish silent horror film, Häxan, was a part-documentary-part-folk-horror-drama that delved deep into the historical mythology of witches and how they have been portrayed in both folklore and wider culture as a whole.
Far from being a clear-cut horror movie, Häxan posits the idea that witches have long been considered a narrative device that has been used to persecute women and those who suffer from mental disorders. It is a defining film that is loved by critics universally and is a famous everpresent of the folk horror genre.
Kwaidan (1965) - 91%
Beloved by critics across the globe, the classic Japanese horror Kwaidan followed in the footsteps of its contemporary Onibaba and merged horror with traditional Japanese folklore to create an anthology of terrifying proportions. The film is split into four separate parts, each focusing on a Lafcadio Hearn-inspired folk tale.
Kwaidan's preoccupation with the supernatural is a spellbinding experience that peers into the penumbra that surrounds preternatural mythology. It is as artful as it is terrifying and critics have placed it high on the list of folk horror classics.
You Won't Be Alone (2022) - 93%
Starring Noomi Rapace, Goran Stolveski's You Won't Be Alone has wowed critics and audiences alike since its release. The film is a harrowing coming-of-age folk horror tale that explores the primordial relationship between mother and daughter, set against the backdrop of rural nineteenth-century Macedonia.
You Won't Be Alone's folk horror influences are plain to see, but as with other contemporary revivalist folk horror tales, Stolevski's film cleverly positions its folkloric tropes in conjunction with its humanist elements. You Won't Be Alone is as beautiful as it is terrifying and critics are largely unanimous in their praise of the movie.
November (2017) - 96%
The monochrome masterpiece of folk horror November has flown somewhat under the radar since its release in 2017, but it has been received with glowing praise by critics nevertheless. November follows a series of supernatural events that plague a rural village in nineteenth-century Estonia and is a full-blooded assault on the senses.
The movie's cinematography transfixes the viewer into a partial dreamscape where liminality is overcome with primitivism. As both a piece of cinematic art and a classic folk horror tale, November has adorned cult status from critics worldwide.
The Wailing (2016) - 99%
Primordial reawakening and beasts of folkloric tradition are staples of a film with a near-perfect critical rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Na Hong-jin's The Wailing is a folk horror tale that is unrelenting in its gruesome brilliance and has shocked audiences since its release in 2016.
The story of a demon possessing villagers is a well-worn folk horror trope but The Wailing portrays it in such an imaginative way that it makes other horror films seem uninspiring in comparison. The Wailing is a critical marvel which cements its place as one of the very best examples of folk horror in cinema.
