"[Folk horror] is the evil under the soil, the terror in the backwoods of a forgotten lane, and the ghosts that haunt stones and patches of dark, lonely water," writes Adam Scovell, author of Folk Horror: Hours Dreadful and Things Strange.
While The Wicker Man (1973) is the most famous film in this genre, there are many others sure to freak you the folk out. The Daily Grail's John Reppion writes about three more flicks at the intersection of paganism, the occult, nature, and the weird. Here are two to get you started down the dark path:
Blood On Satan's Claw (1971)
In the late 17th century, English farm worker Ralph Gower discovers a bizarre cyclops head, triggering a series of events that lead local teenagers to fall under the sinister sway of a demonic entity called Behemoth.
"I grew up on a farm and it's natural for me to use the countryside as symbols or as imagery," director Piers Haggard has said. "As this was a story about people subject to superstitions about living in the woods, the dark poetry of that appealed to me."
The Witch (2015)
In 1630 New England, an English immigrant family is excommunicated from their Puritan colony and must live in a remote farmstead. The parents' newborn son mysterioualy vanishes triggering a descent into paranoia and chaos for the family.
Previously:
• The Wicker Man celebrates its 50th anniversary
