
Usually the domain of fantasy, fairy folklore becomes pretty dark when you dig down into the pre-Disney origins, especially when we consider Grimm fairytale literature as an early inspiration to such a cinema scene; some horror movies will run with that macabre genesis! Here are 5 films you can watch that embrace the nasty side of the Sidhe of Ireland – a nation famously rich with folkloric heritage.
Leprechaun (1993)
The elephant in the room, but not quite as silly as the wild sequels would have you believe. The original Leprechaun was simple and violent, its titular antagonist was a cruel and powerful force not to be trifled with. While not exactly following much in the way of traditional tales, no one was stolen away and forced to dance until their feet were destroyed. For example, it had something of a stealing away plot with Warwick Davis’s capricious Leprechaun wanting to force a young Jennifer Aniston into a marriage. Still somewhat silly, there’s a dark edge to the first in the series that carries some weight to how you shouldn’t be messing with the ‘Good Neighbours’ at all, or else there will be consequences…
The Hallow (2015)
A modern take on the otherworldly fae snatching away children, that does some interesting choices with bold imagery. Meshing together the traditional association of fungus to fairies, and a contemporary aesthetic of semi-science removed from magic, The Hallow is a visually arresting update of fairytale tropes – confidently featuring some innovative action scenes on top. That flaming scythe sticks in the mind long after the credits have rolled.
Agony (2020) Film Review – A Macabre Slice of Gothic Horror
Harkening back to the golden era of Italian cinema, Agony features giallo starlet Asia Argento and the iconic Franco Nero. Billed as an homage to Italian giallo cinema and led…
Monster Man (2003) Film Review: Monster Truck Mayhem!
As a young girl who grew up stuffing my barbies into a toy replica of the monster truck Big Foot, Monster Man screamed out to me. What’s not to love about a…
We’re All Going to the World’s Fair (2021) Film Review – Getting Lost Online
A lonely and awkward teen joins a viral internet fad called The World’s Fair Challenge, said to potentially change you mentally and physically. After taking the challenge she begins to…
Prey (2022) Film Review – Predator is Revitalized
It’s no secret that since the original and beloved Predator hit cinemas back in 1987, the franchise has seen a steady decline in quality, with each subsequent entry somehow managing…
Day Zero (2022) Film Review – Filipino Zombie Romp (Toronto After Dark Film Festival 2022)
Day Zero is a 2022 Filipino zombie action horror, written by Ays De Guzman and directed by Joey De Guzman. Both are fairly active in Filipino cinema, Ays has spent…
KKN di Desa Penari (2022) Film Review – A Bloated and Overhyped Bore
Indonesian horror has been receiving some attention in recent years, mostly thanks to some pretty good entries from the country. So it is not surprising that the said country’s highest-grossing…
Troll (1986)
Frequently overshadowed by its glorious ‘disasterpiece’ of a sequel (which features 0 trolls), Troll feels more like an 80s fantasy movie for kids. Only leaning on the horror deliberately, however, as opposed to just being accidental nightmare fuel as with similarly styled movies. It has a weird amount of fidelity to the idea of the Aos Si, an Otherworld, that is colliding with our mundane reality. Troll is underrated, but too weird to be considered a forgotten classic. An interesting watch that will not become anyone’s new favourite, yet could be worth a movie night with friends for the curious.
The Hole In The Ground (2019)
Something of a companion piece to The Hallow in that it’s a beautifully shot semi-update of older ideas, this time using the idea of ‘The Changeling’. A tense thriller leaning into psychological horror for a lot of its runtime, all the hints seeded across the first two acts contribute massively into a climatic finale. A little slow paced at times, the gorgeous cinematography easily carries it through the quieter setup and consolidates the claustrophobic endgame.
Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City (2021) Review – Itchy, Tasty!
Welcome to Raccoon City is very different in style from the Resident Evil movies featuring Milla Jovovich. While also live-action, it embraces a very different feel and quality, though is…
Brutal (2017) Film Review – A Love Story Told in a Symphony of Gore
Extreme horror is an interesting subset within the wider genre of scary movies as a whole. For some, it is a wholly unapproachable category to be whispered of but avoided….
Siren (2006) Film Review – The Movie Adaptation of the Forbidden Siren Franchise
The Japanese horror game franchise Siren, a.k.a Forbidden Siren, created by Keiichiro Toyama (also creator of the first Silent Hill game and Gravity Rush) was born in 2004 and is…
Porno (2020) Review: Not Actually Porno…
Despite the belief that this humble viewer may have been drawn in by such a provocative title, Porno, (also cringingly known as Fangoria’s Porno) premise was enough to pique my interest….
Hellbender (2021) Film Review – A Curious Blend of Teenage Angst and Folk Horror
Coming-of-age stories with horror backdrops typically have the upper hand when it comes to bringing a unique vision due to the genre’s ability to tackle topics in ways that other…
The Lair (2022) Film Review | Toronto After Dark Film Festival
In 2017, the United States Air Force carried out an airstrike in the Nangarhar Province, Afghanistan. Deploying the largest non-nuclear bomb in their arsenal (the MOAB), they aimed to destroy…
Unwelcome (2022)
A 2022 offering, although the release schedule has been a little chaotic. This is a very interesting one, however, for drawing on the stories of a specific kind of goblin: A Redcap. These goblins need a constant supply of blood or else they will die, so what happens if they aren’t given enough offerings to keep them happy? They will come look for the nearest supply of blood, and they aren’t too worried about how they get it. Unwelcome is set to come to streaming services just before Halloween, and is set to be a great spooky season pick for 2022.
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Luke Greensmith is an Editor at the Grimoire of Horror and an active folklorist as well as working in film across a few roles. While this can cover quite a wide range of things, he’s a dedicated horror fan at heart and pretty involved with horror communities both online and local to him. You can find their folklore work on the Ghost Story Guys Podcast, their own LukeLore podcast, and accompanying the artist Wanda Fraser’s Dark Arts series as well as on the Grimoire of Horror itself.