Heligan October Event Banner 1000X500Px (1)

Folk Horror Film Festival

  • £15
  • £13.50 - Heligan Members
  • £13.50 - Student
Mushroom Halloween (1)

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.

Drinks and snacks will be available to purchase before each screening.

See below for details of each evening and booking links..

Penmari 1

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.

Book your ticket

The Birdwatcher

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.

Book your ticket

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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.

Book your ticket

Sculpture Garden Cornwall

October 27: Corpse Bride (2005)

Corpse Bride, 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.

Book your ticket

Howlsalva Grav

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.

Book your ticket

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