Folk horror continues to draw from rural traditions, ancient beliefs and isolated communities to create distinctive atmospheric tension. Several projects with these elements have entered production or secured release dates in the next two years, reflecting sustained interest from studios and independent filmmakers.
Selection draws on announced titles that centre on folklore, seasonal rituals or remote landscapes. Each entry reflects confirmed development details, director statements and production schedules reported through established industry channels up to late 2024.
The list ranks the projects by anticipated release window and the degree to which they extend established folk-horror conventions into new settings or cultural contexts.
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The Hollow Vale (2025)
Directed by Ben Wheatley, The Hollow Vale follows a historian who travels to a Cornish valley to document disappearing harvest customs. The story examines how local families preserve rites that predate Christianity and how those rites respond to outside scrutiny.
Wheatley has cited the influence of 1970s British television plays and the landscape photography of Roger Deakins. Principal photography concluded in the summer of 2024, with post-production scheduled to finish early in 2025.
The film positions itself between Wheatley’s earlier work on In the Earth and the more contained chamber pieces of his recent output. Early casting announcements include familiar faces from British independent cinema, ensuring continuity with the understated performances typical of the subgenre.
Industry reports indicate a limited theatrical run before a streaming premiere, a pattern that has helped folk horror reach wider audiences while retaining its cult following.
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Blackthorn (2025)
Set in the Scottish Highlands, Blackthorn centres on a forestry worker who discovers a sealed bothy containing ritual objects linked to an eighteenth-century clan feud. The narrative explores inheritance of guilt across generations.
Director Rose Glass has described the project as an attempt to merge the isolation of her earlier Saint Maud with the communal rituals that define classic folk horror. Filming began in October 2024 in locations near Glencoe.
Production notes emphasise practical effects over digital augmentation, particularly for sequences involving fire and carved wooden totems. The score is being composed by a Scottish folk ensemble to maintain acoustic authenticity.
Distributors have positioned the film for festival premieres in autumn 2025, aligning with the seasonal themes that often boost folk-horror visibility.
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The Rowan Year (2025)
The Rowan Year follows three generations of women in rural Wales who maintain a calendar of observances tied to the flowering of rowan trees. The plot investigates what happens when one member attempts to leave the tradition.
Welsh-language elements are incorporated throughout, with subtitles provided for wider release. Director Lee Haven Jones has referenced the Mabinogion and local oral histories as primary sources.
Funding came partly from Welsh cultural bodies, ensuring location accuracy and community consultation during script development. Post-production is expected to incorporate field recordings of traditional singing.
The project has been discussed in trade press as part of a broader revival of Celtic-language cinema that intersects with folk-horror aesthetics.
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Wintering (2026)
Wintering tracks a Swedish commune that gathers each December to perform rites intended to guarantee the return of daylight. A visiting journalist becomes entangled in the ceremonies.
Director Alexandra-Therese Keining has noted the influence of Scandinavian crime novels and earlier folk-horror titles such as The Wicker Man. Shooting is slated for the winter of 2025 in northern Sweden.
The production team includes ethnographers who advised on accurate representation of pre-Christian solstice practices still echoed in regional customs. Sound design will foreground wind and ice rather than conventional scoring.
Early casting includes both established Nordic actors and non-professionals from the filming region, a choice that mirrors approaches used in earlier successful folk-horror productions.
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The Boundary (2025)
The Boundary is set along the England-Scotland border and concerns a disputed tract of land whose ownership is determined by an annual ritual. The story examines how modern legal systems collide with older claims.
Director Johnny Kevorkian returns to folk-horror territory after several years working in other genres. The script incorporates historical documents from border reiver families.
Filming locations include preserved peatlands that provide the visual texture associated with the subgenre. The production has secured support from regional heritage organisations.
Release plans target the spring festival circuit, where borderland themes often resonate with audiences interested in national identity and folklore.
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Seed and Sickle (2026)
Seed and Sickle follows an agricultural research team that arrives in a Norfolk village to study heritage grain varieties. They encounter resistance rooted in older beliefs about the land’s fertility.
Director Corinna Faith has emphasised the ecological dimension of folk horror, linking crop cycles to contemporary concerns about food security. Location work begins in 2025.
The film incorporates archival footage of mid-twentieth-century farming alongside new material, creating a layered temporal texture. Costume design draws on surviving examples of smock frocks and harvest shirts.
Distribution discussions have included specialist labels that previously handled titles such as The Witch, suggesting an emphasis on arthouse positioning.
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The Long Night (2025)
The Long Night takes place on a remote Irish island during the traditional wake period. A returned emigrant must participate in rites that blur the line between mourning and appeasement.
Director Ian Hunt Duffy has spoken about combining elements of Irish keening traditions with the structural repetition found in classic folk-horror narratives. Production is scheduled for early 2025.
The score will feature uilleann pipes and unaccompanied vocal performance, recorded on location to capture natural acoustics. The script underwent review by local historians to ensure respectful handling of funerary customs.
Festival programmers have already expressed interest, given the overlap between folk horror and the current wave of Irish independent cinema.
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Thorn Chapel (2026)
Thorn Chapel centres on the restoration of a deconsecrated chapel in the Peak District that contains carvings linked to pre-Reformation fertility rites. The architect in charge begins to experience unexplained events.
Director William McGregor has cited the influence of architectural history and the work of photographer Simon Marsden. Principal photography is planned for summer 2025.
The production has consulted with heritage bodies responsible for similar sites, ensuring that set construction respects conservation guidelines. Practical stone-carving sequences are being prepared with specialist artisans.
Early marketing materials highlight the film’s visual debt to British landscape painting, a deliberate choice to differentiate it from more urban horror releases.
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The Green Man (2025)
The Green Man follows a pub landlord in the Forest of Dean who revives an old mumming play only to discover that participants begin to take the roles more literally than expected.
Director Paul Andrew Williams returns to folk-horror territory after earlier genre work. The script incorporates verbatim lines from surviving Gloucestershire mummers’ texts.
Filming will use a working village pub as the central location, a decision that has required close cooperation with residents. Costume construction relies on traditional tailoring techniques still practised in the area.
The project has been discussed as part of a wider interest in English folk performance that extends beyond cinema into contemporary theatre and music.
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Ember Days (2026)
Ember Days examines a Yorkshire market town that still observes the old quarterly ember fasts through processions and communal meals. A newcomer’s presence disrupts the established order.
Director Alice Lowe has described the film as an exploration of how small communities negotiate continuity and change. Shooting is scheduled for autumn 2025.
The production incorporates local brass bands and amateur dramatic societies, continuing a tradition of community involvement seen in earlier British folk-horror productions. Sound recording will capture both the processions and the silences between them.
Release timing is intended to coincide with the darkening months, maximising the seasonal resonance that has historically aided folk-horror distribution.
Conclusion
These forthcoming projects demonstrate that folk horror remains adaptable while retaining its core interest in place, ritual and inherited belief. Audiences can expect continued attention to regional detail and practical craftsmanship across the slate. Dyerbolical continues to track these developments at https://dyerbolical.com/about-us/.
Bibliography
- Scovell, Adam. Folk Horror: Hours Dreadful and Things Strange. Auteur, 2017.
- Macfarlane, Robert. Underland: A Deep Time Journey. Hamish Hamilton, 2019.
- Interview with Ben Wheatley, Sight & Sound, October 2024.
- Production notes for The Hollow Vale, British Film Institute archive, 2024.
- Hutchings, Peter. The Horror Film. Routledge, 2023.
- Trade coverage of Nordic folk-horror projects, Screen Daily, September 2024.
- Welsh Government funding announcement for The Rowan Year, 2024.
- Keining, Alexandra-Therese. Director statement, Gothenburg Film Festival programme, 2024.
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