Daily Archives: October 18, 2025

Top Tens – Film: Top 10 Folk Horror Films

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Classic film poster art for The Wicker Man

 

 

“Who are these coming to the sacrifice?”

Folk horror is a subgenre of horror fiction or film – indeed, arguably a sub-genre of religious horror, except based on elements of folklore, supernatural or otherwise, “to invoke fear and foreboding”.

“Typical elements include a rural setting, isolation, and themes of superstition, folk religion, paganism, sacrifice and the dark aspects of nature”.

The original “unholy trinity” identified as folk horror were three British films in the 1960s-1970s – Witchfinder General (1968), The Blood on Satan’s Claw (1971) and my own personal archetype of folk horror (as well as second favorite horror film of all time), The Wicker Man (1973).

It’s tight (and I have to squint a bit at some films to make them fit) but I can just squeeze out a Folk Horror top ten on the spot – and even a few special mentions.

 

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1 – THE WICKER MAN (1973)

 

The archetypal folk horror film, eerie and otherworldly without any supernatural elements. Second place in my Top 10 Horror Films.

 

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2 – PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK (1975)

 

“Miranda!”

Light on the horror (as opposed to mystery) but the film is cited as eerie and otherworldly Australian folk horror centered around the titular landmark. The mystery at its heart is left unanswered but suggests the supernatural (which turned out to be true according to the answer to the mystery in the final chapter eventually published by the author of the book on which it is based – and a little underwhelming).

Also how has this not had an adult film parody version (well, apart from being too “artsy” and niche a film)? There’s naughty schoolgirls – and the title basically writes itself.

 

3 – ROBERT EGGERS – THE WITCH (2015)

 

All of Robert Eggers’ films have had a folk horror vibe so far – but none more so than The Witch, with the most supernatural element. Overlaps with Christian religious horror in Puritan America.

 

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4 – THE RITUAL (2017)

 

Folk horror in Sweden – definitely with a supernatural element. Ninth place in my Top 10 Horror Films, riding on the back of its supernatural antagonist.

 

5 – GARETH EVANS – THE APOSTLE (2018)

 

A surprising change of direction (heh) to supernatural folk horror by Evans after the martial arts action of The Raid. I’d have ranked it higher if it had included the signature Raid cast.

 

6 – MIDSOMMAR (2019)

 

Brightly lit Swedish folk horror – replaying many of the same beats of The Wicker Man, similarly with no supernatural element.

 

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7 – DEAD AND BURIED (1981)

 

I featured it in both my Top 10 Horror Films and Top 10 Zombie Horror Films. Perhaps somewhat light on the folk part of its American setting (which is borrowed from folk religion elsewhere) but this film definitely has a folk horror vibe to it – and supernatural to boot.

 

8 – CHILDREN OF THE CORN (1984)

 

Based on a Stephen King short story (and surprisingly a film franchise) but it’s also American folk horror – with a supernatural element.

 

9 – LAIR OF THE WHITE WORM (1988)

 

Featured in my Top 10 Vampire Horror Films, it’s also folk horror with its surviving pagan Roman cult and snake god (with a thing for Christian virgins and characteristic psychedelic imagery by director Ken Russell)

 

10 – THE SERPENT AND THE RAINBOW (1988)

 

Featured in my Top 10 Zombie Horror Films – it’s also Haitian folk horror

 

SPECIAL MENTION

 

1 – EVIL DEAD

 

My top horror film – also my top zombie horror film, stretching the definition of zombie. It’s not folk horror as such but could easily be tweaked to be, particularly as a cult to the Necronomicon – and occasionally folk horror elements pop up in the franchise

 

2 – FROM DUSK TILL DAWN

 

Featured in my Top 10 Vampire Horror Films, it’s not folk horror but has some elements suggestive of it, especially in that closing shot panning out from the Aztec pyramid at the back of the strip club – and in elements of the TV series.

 

3 – BEN WHEATLEY

 

A director whose films have been a large part of the twenty-first century folk horror revival – I’d probably rank him in my top ten if I could find his films to stream and watch.

 

RATING: 5 STARS*****

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Top Tens – Mythology: Top 10 Mythologies (Special Mention: Divine Comedy Rankings)

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An Italian joker card – public domain image Wikipedia “Joker (playing card)”

 

 

 

Life is the laughter of the gods – but sometimes they have a black sense of humor.

Ranking mythologies by their comedy and tricksters, from the laughter of the gods to serious business…

 

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(1) CLASSICAL

 

As for the equal rites of its goddesses or female figures, classical mythology has to rank highly for the laughter of the gods – in the prolific number and enduring iconic nature of myths with comedic elements or trickster figures.

The Odyssey is arguably one long trickster’s tale. Indeed, the origin of dramatic comedy is in Greek theater or drama, which tended to revolve around the tales, themes or tropes of classical mythology.

 

(2) NORSE

 

For a mythology of icy warrior gods holding the line against chaos before being swallowed up by it (literally in the case of Odin), Norse mythology is surprisingly comedic when it comes to the laughter of the gods.

Part of that comes from the prevalence of tricksters, including the head of its pantheon Odin – who always reminds me of a compulsive gambler trying to string out one trick after another to stop the house from winning.

 

(3) CELTIC (ARTHURIAN)

 

Arthurian legend might seem very earnest, but it has quite the comedic streak to it. I mean, the Questing Beast is a gag, right?

Not to mention quite a few trickster figures – I’m counting Merlin.

 

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(4) EGYPTIAN

 

There would seem to be little room for the laughter of the gods in a mythology between the desert and the deep blue sea, but surprisingly Egyptian mythology does come to the party with some divine comedy, albeit some of it seemingly unintentional and more comedic to modern readers – as well as working blue.

There’s the creation myth, admittedly one of many, of the supreme god, again one of many, literally mast*rbating the cosmos into existence – or of the sacred scarab or dung beetle rolling the sun like dung. And the less said about Horus’s special sauce in his salad dressing the better, although I presume that must have been intended as a dirty joke.

 

(5) HINDU

 

A mythology that proposes reality as maya or illusion, and as lila or divine play, is clearly one for laughter of the gods, divine comedy and tricksters.

 

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(6) NATIVE AMERICAN (LAKOTA)

 

More broadly, Native American mythologies have quite the divine comedy of recurring trickster figures – foremost among them the animal trickster gods Coyote and Raven. I like to draw a direct line of mythic descent from the former to Wile E Coyote as modern trickster.

 

(7) AFRO-AMERICAN (VOODOO)

 

The loa seem to enjoy humor, often of a crude nature.

 

(8) MIDDLE EASTERN (BABYLO-SUMERIAN)

 

There’s some laughter of the gods here and there. Gilgamesh has a few gags.

 

(9) MESO-AMERICAN (AZTEC)

 

A priest sacrificing you and dancing around in your flayed skin isn’t that funny.

Okay, it’s a little funny but perhaps more as horror comedy along the lines of the Evil Dead franchise – or splatterpunk.

 

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(10) BIBLICAL

 

The Bible seems to be very serious business.

Or is it?

You’d be surprised by the Bible when it comes how much divine comedy or how many trickster figures you can squeeze out of it. Some of that is seemingly intentional but even more is unintentional – typically absurdist or black comedy.

What is neither black nor unintentional is the argument that the Gospels are ultimately comedic in nature, essentially along the lines of its eucatastrophe or happy ending in triumph over tragedy.

Taking that a bit further to less serious interpretations, I’ve always been struck by the similarity in style between parables and jokes. And you can’t deny that Jesus had a gift for a snappy one-liner, particularly to hecklers – even when those hecklers include the Devil.