Top 19 Atmospheric Folk Horror Films to try for a chilling night in this winter - Goh Ling Yong
As the days grow shorter and a definite chill hangs in the air, there’s nothing quite like the cozy ritual of a winter night in. You've got the plush blanket, a steaming mug of your favorite beverage, and the remote in hand. But what to watch? If you’re tired of predictable jump scares and CGI monsters, I invite you to venture into a subgenre of horror that’s as ancient as the hills and as unsettling as a half-remembered nightmare: atmospheric folk horror.
Folk horror isn’t about what jumps out from the darkness; it’s about the darkness that was there all along, hidden in plain sight within sun-dappled fields, isolated villages, and forgotten traditions. It taps into the primal fear of the old ways, the unsettling power of the land, and the terrifying idea that modernity is just a thin veneer over a chasm of ancient belief. Here on the Goh Ling Yong blog, we believe the best stories are the ones that linger, and these films will burrow into your psyche and stay there long after the credits roll.
So, stoke the fire, lock the doors, and get ready to explore the eerie, beautiful, and downright terrifying world of folk horror. This list is your guide to some of the most chillingly atmospheric films the genre has to offer, perfect for a long winter’s night.
1. The Wicker Man (1973)
Let's start with the undisputed king, the "Citizen Kane of folk horror." If you only watch one film from this list, make it this one. The story follows the devoutly Christian Sergeant Howie as he travels to the remote Scottish island of Summerisle to investigate a young girl's disappearance. What he finds is a thriving pagan community whose cheerful, song-filled traditions mask something deeply sinister.
What makes The Wicker Man a masterpiece is its use of daylight. There are no spooky shadows here; the horror unfolds under a bright, indifferent sun. The atmosphere is built not on fear of the dark, but on a mounting sense of cultural and spiritual alienation. Howie is a man of rigid faith in a world that operates by an entirely different, ancient logic.
Pro-Tip: Pay close attention to the folk songs woven throughout the film. They aren't just background music; they're the community's living scripture, explaining their beliefs and foreshadowing the film's unforgettable, shocking conclusion.
2. The Witch (2015)
Robert Eggers' stunning debut is a film that feels less like a movie and more like a historical document unearthed from a cursed time capsule. Set in 1630s New England, it follows a Puritan family cast out from their plantation, forced to build a new life on the edge of a forbidding, ancient forest. When their newborn son vanishes, paranoia, religious fervor, and accusations of witchcraft tear them apart from the inside out.
The film's power lies in its suffocating authenticity. The dialogue is pulled from period journals and documents, the costumes are meticulously researched, and the natural lighting creates a world of oppressive grey skies and flickering candlelight. The Witch doesn't ask if the witch in the woods is real; it immerses you so completely in the family's worldview that her presence feels terrifyingly, inevitably real.
3. Midsommar (2019)
Just as The Wicker Man found horror in the sun, Ari Aster's Midsommar bathes it in the perpetual daylight of a Swedish midsummer festival. Following a group of American grad students who visit a remote commune called the Hårga, the film is a technicolor nightmare. The traditions start as quaint and quirky before spiraling into a series of shocking, ritualistic horrors.
At its core, Midsommar is a brilliant, twisted breakup movie that explores themes of grief, trauma, and the desperate need for community—no matter how terrifying that community might be. The beauty of the floral arrangements and white-clad cultists creates a jarring dissonance with the brutal events unfolding, making the experience all the more unsettling.
Insider's Take: Go in knowing this is a 2.5-hour emotional marathon. It's a slow burn that rewards patience with some of the most memorable and disturbing imagery in modern horror.
4. Kill List (2011)
Ben Wheatley’s Kill List is a genre-bending gut punch. It starts as a gritty British crime drama about two hitmen taking on a mysterious new contract. The first half is tense and violent, but it's grounded in a grim reality. Then, slowly and masterfully, the film descends into a full-blown folk horror nightmare that will leave you breathless and bewildered.
The film is brilliant because the transition is so seamless yet so shocking. The atmosphere shifts from urban decay to rural dread, culminating in a final act that is pure, ritualistic terror. It’s a film that defies easy explanation and will have you debating its meaning for days.
5. Apostle (2018)
If you’re looking for a folk horror film with a bit more visceral, blood-soaked action, look no further. Directed by Gareth Evans (The Raid), Apostle follows a man (Dan Stevens) who travels to a remote Welsh island in the early 20th century to rescue his sister from a sinister religious cult.
The film combines the classic folk horror themes of an isolated community with its own dark god and brutal rituals with intense, wince-inducing violence. The production design is incredible, creating a muddy, rain-soaked world that feels both historical and hellish. It's a grimy, punishing, and utterly compelling watch.
6. The Ritual (2017)
Four friends hiking in the Swedish wilderness take a shortcut through an ancient forest to honor a deceased friend. It’s a decision they come to regret almost immediately. As they become hopelessly lost, they realize they are being stalked by an ancient entity, a being worshipped by a secretive community deep within the woods.
The Ritual excels at creating a palpable sense of dread. The vast, silent forest becomes a character in itself, dwarfing the men and their modern sensibilities. The film blends psychological horror, exploring the group’s guilt and fracturing friendships, with some of the best creature design in recent memory.
7. The Wailing (2016)
This South Korean masterpiece is a sprawling, epic blend of police procedural, zombie outbreak, and shamanistic folk horror. When a strange illness that incites violent madness begins to spread through a rural village, a local police officer is drawn into a terrifying mystery involving a mysterious Japanese stranger, a local shaman, and a ghostly woman.
At nearly three hours long, The Wailing uses its runtime to build an almost unbearable level of tension and confusion. It masterfully plays with genre expectations and religious symbolism, leaving the audience guessing who to trust until its devastating final moments. It's a complex, terrifying, and unforgettable film.
8. Hagazussa: A Heathen's Curse (2017)
Set in a remote 15th-century Austrian village, Hagazussa is a slow, meditative, and deeply disturbing descent into madness. The film follows Albrun, a goat-herder who is ostracized by her Christian village and lives in isolation, haunted by the legacy of her mother, who was condemned as a witch.
This is pure atmospheric horror. Dialogue is sparse, with the story told through stunning, bleak cinematography and a droning, hypnotic score. It’s a challenging but rewarding watch that explores themes of misogyny, religious persecution, and the pagan connection to nature in a way that is both beautiful and utterly horrifying.
9. Black Death (2010)
During the height of the bubonic plague in medieval England, a young monk is tasked with guiding a fearsome knight (Sean Bean) and his band of mercenaries to a remote village that is rumored to be untouched by the "pestilence." They suspect the village has forsaken God, and their mission is to uncover the truth.
Black Death is a brutal, muddy, and nihilistic film that brilliantly explores the clash between faith and paganism. It questions whether the true horror lies with the supposed necromancers in the village or the violent, self-righteous "men of God" who have come to judge them. The atmosphere is thick with grime and despair.
10. A Dark Song (2016)
This Irish-British film offers a unique take on the genre, focusing entirely on the intricate and grueling process of an occult ritual. A grieving woman hires a cynical occultist to help her perform a dangerous, months-long rite that will allow her to speak to her deceased son. They lock themselves away in a remote Welsh house, cutting off all contact with the outside world.
The horror in A Dark Song comes from the psychological toll of the ritual itself. It’s a claustrophobic and intense two-hander that treats magic not as a fantasy, but as a difficult, painful, and terrifying discipline. It’s a patient, intelligent film that builds to a truly transcendent and unexpected climax.
11. The Blood on Satan's Claw (1971)
Part of the "unholy trinity" of original British folk horror, this film is set in a 17th-century English village where a farmer unearths a deformed, demonic skull. Soon after, the village's children begin acting strangely, forming a pagan cult and engaging in horrific acts of ritualistic violence.
Where The Wicker Man was bright and psychological, The Blood on Satan's Claw is dark, grimy, and visceral. It captures a sense of historical hysteria and the terrifying power of a charismatic youth movement corrupted by an ancient evil. The film's influence can be seen in countless modern horror films.
12. You Won't Be Alone (2022)
A breathtaking and brutal folk tale set in 19th-century Macedonia. A young girl is kidnapped and transformed into a shapeshifting witch by an ancient, scarred spirit. Unable to speak, she wanders the countryside, taking on the lives of various humans and animals to understand what it means to be alive.
This film is as much a Terrence Malick-esque philosophical poem as it is a horror movie. It's a visceral, beautiful, and often gruesome exploration of humanity from an outsider's perspective. The folklore feels authentic and raw, creating a world that is both magical and terrifyingly cruel.
13. Lamb (2021)
This Icelandic film is the definition of a slow-burn, atmospheric oddity. A childless couple living on a remote sheep farm discover a strange and unnatural newborn in their barn. They decide to raise it as their own, but this "blessing" soon reveals its dark, mythological origins.
Lamb is a quiet, melancholic, and deeply weird film. The stunning, desolate Icelandic landscape creates a profound sense of isolation. The horror is less about scares and more about a pervasive sense of wrongness and the dread of nature coming to reclaim what is hers.
14. November (2017)
Shot in stunning black-and-white, this Estonian film is a surreal and darkly funny fairytale. In a poor, pagan village, werewolves, spirits, and the devil himself are a part of everyday life. The villagers use magic and build "kratts"—creatures made from old farm equipment—to steal from their neighbors in a desperate bid to survive the harsh winter.
November is unlike anything else on this list. It's a beautiful, bizarre, and enchanting film that fully immerses you in its strange and magical world. It perfectly captures the desperation and grim reality that underpins so much European folklore.
15. The Hallow (2015)
Also known as The Woods, this Irish film is a fantastic blend of folk horror and creature feature. A conservationist from London moves his family to a remote Irish village bordering an ancient forest. When he ignores the locals' warnings and trespasses on the hallowed ground, he unleashes the forest's demonic, baby-snatching inhabitants.
The Hallow takes Irish folklore about "The Fae" and makes it terrifyingly real. The film boasts incredible practical effects and builds a fantastic sense of siege warfare as the family must defend their home from the relentless creatures of the woods.
16. Hereditary (2018)
While often categorized as a psychological family drama, the final act of Ari Aster’s debut feature cements its place firmly in the folk horror canon. After the family matriarch passes away, her daughter's family begins to unravel under the weight of grief and a series of increasingly terrifying, seemingly supernatural events.
The brilliance of Hereditary is how it grounds its occult and pagan elements in raw, authentic family trauma. The final reveal, which connects everything to a generations-spanning cult, is a masterstroke that re-contextualizes the entire film into a horrifying folk horror narrative about destiny and demonic inheritance. I was discussing this with Goh Ling Yong just the other day, and we agreed the sheer inevitability of the film's conclusion is what makes it so profoundly chilling.
17. Witchfinder General (1968)
The first and most historically grounded of the "unholy trinity." Vincent Price gives a rare, terrifyingly subdued performance as Matthew Hopkins, a real-life lawyer who appointed himself "Witchfinder General" during the English Civil War, traveling the countryside and brutally exploiting the climate of fear for profit and power.
The film is a bleak and cynical look at how superstition and paranoia can be weaponized by evil men. The horror here isn't supernatural; it's entirely human. The beautiful English landscapes provide a stark, ironic backdrop to the cruelty and violence unfolding within them.
18. Tumbbad (2018)
This stunning Indian mythological horror film took years to make, and it shows in every gorgeously crafted frame. Spanning several generations, it tells the story of a man and his insatiable greed for a cursed, ancestral treasure, guarded by a monstrous fallen god named Hastar.
Tumbbad is a visual feast, creating a unique world steeped in Hindu mythology that is perpetually rainy, muddy, and decaying. It's a powerful and terrifying fable about the corrupting nature of greed, featuring some of the most creative and scary monster design you'll ever see.
19. Valerie and Her Week of Wonders (1970)
To close out the list, let's step into the surreal. This Czeck New Wave film is less a straightforward horror film and more of a fever dream. It follows a young girl, Valerie, on the cusp of womanhood. As she experiences her first menstruation, her world transforms into a bizarre, dreamlike landscape of vampires, lustful priests, and magical pearls.
It's a beautiful, unsettling, and highly symbolic film that uses folk and fairytale imagery to explore themes of sexuality, religion, and the transition from childhood to adulthood. The atmosphere is enchanting and nightmarish in equal measure, making it a perfect, strange film to get lost in.
This is, of course, just a starting point. The world of folk horror is as deep and dark as the ancient woods it so often depicts. It’s a genre that reminds us that the past is never truly gone and that some traditions are best left undisturbed.
So, which of these chilling tales will you be adding to your winter watchlist? Are there any essential atmospheric folk horror films that I missed? Share your thoughts and your own favorite recommendations in the comments below. Stay warm, and don't listen for strange noises outside your window.
About the Author
Goh Ling Yong is a content creator and digital strategist sharing insights across various topics. Connect and follow for more content:
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