The Best Folk Horror Movies


20 The Medium (ร่างทรง | Rang Zong), 2021

Rang Zong

Convinced she embodies the spirit of benevolent deity Ba Yan, Nim, a local healer and devoted shamaness, catches the attention of a small documentary crew. Committed to exploring indigenous religions and their spiritual practice, the team sets off on a trip to Nim’s remote mountainous village in Thailand’s Isan region to record her day-to-day life and, hopefully, provide explanation and proof of the unseen.

Director: Banjong Pisanthanakun
Writers: Na Hong-jin, Banjong Pisanthanakun, Choi Cha-won
Starring: Sawanee Utoomma, Narilya Gulmongkolpech, Sirani Yankittikan
Budget: $1 800 000
Box office: $8 854 000

Trailer:

 

 

19 Kill List, 2011

Kill List

Nearly a year after a botched job, a hitman takes a new assignment with the promise of a big payoff for three killings. What starts off as an easy task soon unravels, sending the killer into the heart of darkness.

Director: Ben Wheatley
Writers: Ben Wheatley, Amy Jump
Starring: Neil Maskell, MyAnna Buring, Harry Simpson
Budget: £500 000
Box office: $450 000

Trailer:

 

18 You Won’t Be Alone, 2022

You Won't Be Alone

Set in an isolated mountain village in 19th century Macedonia, YOU WON’T BE ALONE follows a young girl who is kidnapped and then transformed into a witch by an ancient spirit. Curious about life as a human, the young witch accidentally kills a peasant in the nearby village and then takes her victim’s shape to live life in her skin. Her curiosity ignited, she continues to wield this horrific power in order to understand what it means to be human.

Director: Goran Stolevski
Writer: Goran Stolevski
Starring: Noomi Rapace, Alice Englert, Anamaria Marinca
Box office: $335 000

Trailer:

 

17 Noroi: The Curse (ノロイ), 2005

Noroi

A documentary filmmaker explores seemingly unrelated paranormal incidents connected by the legend of an ancient demon called the “kagutaba.”

Director: Koji Shiraishi
Writers: Koji Shiraishi, Naoyuki Yokota
Starring: Jin Muraki, Marika Matsumoto, Satoru Jitsunashi
Budget: $2 000 000
Box office: $6 800

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16 November, 2017

November

In a poor Estonian village, a group of peasants use magic and folk remedies to survive the winter, and a young woman tries to get a young man to love her.

Director: Rainer Sarnet
Writers: Rainer Sarnet, Andrus Kivirähk
Starring: Rea Lest, Jörgen Liik, Arvo Kukumägi
Budget: €1 450 000
Box office: $19 000

Trailer:

 

 

15 The Fear Street Trilogy, 2021

The Fear Street Trilogy

Fear Street Part One: 1994

A circle of teenage friends accidentally encounter the ancient evil responsible for a series of brutal murders that have plagued their town for over 300 years. Welcome to Shadyside.

Director: Leigh Janiak
Writers: R.L. Stine, Kyle Killen, Phil Graziadei
Starring: Kiana Madeira, Olivia Scott Welch, Benjamin Flores Jr.

Fear Street Part Two: 1978

Shadyside, 1978. School’s out for summer and the activities at Camp Nightwing are about to begin. But when another Shadysider is possessed with the urge to kill, the fun in the sun becomes a gruesome fight for survival.

Director: Leigh Janiak
Writers: Zak Olkewicz, Leigh Janiak, Phil Graziadei
Starring: Sadie Sink, Emily Rudd, Ted Sutherland

Fear Street Part Three: 1666

The origins of Sarah Fier’s curse are finally revealed as history comes full circle on a night that changes the lives of Shadysiders forever.

Director: Leigh Janiak
Writers: Phil Graziadei, Leigh Janiak, Kate Trefry
Starring: Kiana Madeira, Olivia Scott Welch, Benjamin Flores Jr.

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14 Lamb (Dýrið), 2021

Dýrið

Haunted by the indelible mark of loss and silent grief, sad-eyed María and her taciturn husband, Ingvar, seek solace in back-breaking work and the demanding schedule at their sheep farm in the remote, harsh, wind-swept landscapes of mountainous Iceland. Then, with their relationship hanging on by a thread, something unexplainable happens, and just like that, happiness blesses the couple’s grim household once more. Now, as a painful ending gives birth to a new beginning, Ingvar’s troubled brother, Pétur, arrives at the farmhouse, threatening María and Ingvar’s delicate, newfound bliss. But, nature’s gifts demand sacrifice. How far are ecstatic María and Ingvar willing to go in the name of love?

Director: Valdimar Jóhannsson
Writers: Sjón, Valdimar Jóhannsson
Starring: Noomi Rapace, Hilmir Snær Guðnason, Björn Hlynur Haraldsson
Box office: $3 189 000

Trailer:

 

13 Apostle, 2018

Apostle

London, 1905. Prodigal son Thomas Richardson has returned home, only to learn that his sister is being held for ransom by a religious cult. Determined to get her back at any cost, Thomas travels to the idyllic island where the cult lives. As Thomas infiltrates the island’s community, he learns that the corruption of mainland society that they claim to reject has infested the cult’s ranks nonetheless – and uncovers a secret more evil than he could have imagined.

Director: Gareth Evans
Writer: Gareth Evans
Starring: Dan Stevens, Lucy Boynton, Michael Sheen

Trailer:

 

12 The Ritual, 2017

The Ritual

Reuniting after the tragic death of their friend, four college pals set out to hike through the Scandinavian wilderness. A wrong turn leads them into the mysterious forests of Norse legend, where an ancient evil exists and stalks them at every turn.

Director: David Bruckner
Writers: Joe Barton, Adam Nevill
Starring: Rafe Spall, Arsher Ali, Robert James-Collier
Box office: $1 785 000

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11 Ravenous, 1999

Ravenous

Upon receiving reports of missing persons at Fort Spencer, a remote Army outpost on the Western frontier, Capt. John Boyd investigates. After arriving at his new post, Boyd and his regiment aid a wounded frontiersman, F.W. Colghoun, who recounts a horrifying tale of a wagon train murdered by its supposed guide – a vicious U.S. Army colonel gone rogue. Fearing the worst, the regiment heads out into the wilderness to verify Colghoun’s gruesome claims.

Director: Antonia Bird
Writer: Ted Griffin
Starring: Guy Pearce, Robert Carlyle, David Arquette
Budget: $12 000 000
Box office: $2 062 000

Trailer:

 

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