Folk Horror Film Festival
- 24th - 31st Oct 2026
- 6pm - 9pm
- £15
- £13.50 - Heligan Members
- £13.50 - Student
Get your tickets for the Heligan Folk Horror Film Festival in partnership with Creative Kernow, Myskatonic & Sound/Image Cinema Lab.
We’re running eight nights of atmospheric folk horror deep within the estate, featuring cult horror classics, up-and-coming Cornish language films and more. Each evening begins with a lantern-lit trail through the historic gardens down to our pop-up screen. Drinks and snacks will be available to purchase before each screening.
See below for details of each evening and booking links..
October 24: Midsommar, 2019 & Pen Mari, 2025
Midsommar, 2019 (18)
Director: Ari Aster
A couple travels to Northern Europe to visit a rural hometown's fabled Swedish mid-summer festival. What begins as an idyllic retreat quickly devolves into an increasingly violent and bizarre competition at the hands of a pagan cult.
Pen Mari, 2025
Director: Siôn Marshall-Waters
In the desperate search for a horse’s skull to lead an ancient folk procession, a man is drawn into the black market for animal body parts.
Doors open from 6pm, with the event beginning at 7pm.
October 25: Blair Witch Project, 1999 & The Birdwatcher, 2024
Blair Witch Project, 1999 (15)
Director: Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez
Three film students vanish after travelling into a Maryland forest to film a documentary on the local Blair Witch legend, leaving only their footage behind.
The Birdwatcher, 2024
Director: Ryan Mackfall
Two investigators approach a birdwatching hut deep in the forest following the reported disappearance of a grieving man. As they piece together this man’s final moments, the evidence they gather becomes increasingly unnerving and hard to explain.
Doors open from 6pm, with the event beginning at 7pm.
October 26: The Witch, 2015 & Backwoods, 2019
The Witch, 2015 (15)
Director: Robert Eggers
An isolated Puritan family in 1630s New England comes unraveled by the forces of witchcraft and possession.
Backwoods, 2019
Director: Ryan Mackfall
1907, Massachusetts. A scholar drifts from his path and finds himself in a house he takes for deserted. Deserted, apart from a beguiling book containing dark secrets that exerts a powerful hold over those who come into contact with it.
Doors open from 6pm, with the event beginning at 7pm.
October 27: Corpse Bride (2005)
Coraline, 2009 (PG)
Directors: Mike Johnson and Tim Burton
When a shy groom practices his wedding vows in the inadvertent presence of a deceased young woman, she rises from the grave assuming he has married her.
Doors open from 5pm, with the event beginning at 6pm.
October 28: A Field in England, 2013 & Tresor, 2022
A Field in England, 2013 (15)
Director: Ben Wheatley
Amid the Civil War in 17th-century England, a group of deserters flee from battle through an overgrown field. Captured by an alchemist, the men are forced to help him search to find a hidden treasure that he believes is buried in the field.
Tresor, 2022
Director: Gwenno Saunders
A dance down into the unconscious, through the landscapes of Wales and Cornwall as Nel Angharad Mowes discovers another realm through a door reflected in a mirror – but where will it lead her?
Doors open from 6pm, with the event beginning at 7pm.
October 29: The Severed Sun, 2024
The Severed Sun, 2024 (15)
Director: Dean Puckett
Magpie lives in an isolated church community ruled over by her father, The Pastor. When a man is murdered, paranoia sets in and people start to whisper about a strange 'Beast' that lives in the forest.
Doors will open at 6pm with the event beginning at 7pm, including an introduction and Q&A from Dean Puckett
October 30: In The Earth, 2021 & Hard Cracked the Wind, 2019
In The Earth, 2021 (15)
Director: Ben Wheatley
A scientist and park scout conduct a routine experiment while the world looks for a cure to a lethal virus and as the night progresses, they experience unexplainable things.
Hard cracked the wind, 2019
Director: Mark Jenkin
A young Cornish poet is compelled to buy an old writing case, curiously engraved with her own initials. Opening the case and reading the faint traces of a poem inside calls the previous owner back from the shadows.
Doors open from 6pm, with the event beginning at 7pm.
October 31: The Wicker Man, 1973 & Howlsavla Gwav, 2025
The Wicker Man, 1973 (15)
Director: Robin Hardy
The Wicker Man follows a devoutly Christian police sergeant sent to a remote Scottish island to investigate a missing girl, only to encounter residents devoted to unsettling pagan traditions. Short intro film:
Howlsavla Gwav, 2025
Director: Ryan Mackfall and Joe Gray
A wanderer, lost within the landscape of West Penwith through misadventure, blunders across mythical realms and is drawn into the Winter Solstice celebration of Montol - the long-held tradition of marking the year's turning at the earth's edge. For one night, he blurs the lines of reality and folklore, joining with the Guilds, dancing with beasts, enacting the rituals and customs of distant ancestors to call back the sun.
Doors open from 6pm. The event begins at 7pm, with a short introductory film and intro from Ryan Mackfall.
Our film festival partners
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