Like Folklore AND Horror? Then Folk Horror Is the Genre for You

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I love folklore, and I’ve always been fascinated by folk horror. It’s a subgenre of horror that uses folklore, folk beliefs, urban legends and/or paganism to evoke fear and dread. The stories are usually set in rural or isolated areas, and themes include the clash between the old and the modern, and man versus nature. 

In terms of fiction, Thomas Tryon’s 1973 novel Harvest Home is a classic. Other examples include Stephen King’s short story “Children of the Corn,” and his novel Pet Sematary. More recent gems are Adam Nevill’s The Ritual, and Andrew Michael Hurley’s Starve Acre.   

As to movies, The Wicker Man springs immediately to mind. In the 1973 film (there is a 2006 remake but I prefer the creepier original), a police officer travels to the remote Scottish island of Summerisle to find a missing girl. He discovers, to his mounting horror, that the island residents practice a particular form of Celtic paganism. 

More recent folk horror movies include Midsommar and The Witch.

I’ve just finished The Mammoth Book of Folk Horror, edited by Stephen Jones. If you’re interested in exploring folk horror, this collection of short stories is a good introduction.

Read my review of the anthology here. 

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