GATHER 'ROUND FOLKS
OCTOBER 2026 AT FILMHUIS DEN HAAG
Marta had a little lamb, its fleece was white as snow.
And everywhere that Marta went, Marta went, Marta went,
And everywhere that Marta went, the lamb was sure to go.
At the heart of folk horror is the fear of the unknown. When reason fails, we turn to stories, rituals, myths and superstition to make sense of what cannot be explained. But belief can be dangerous. Passed down through generations, it can bind communities together... or turn strangers into outsiders, neighbours into enemies, and the unfamiliar into something to fear.
This special traces folk horror from ancient legends and rural nightmares to its unsettling contemporary incarnations. Because old fears never really disappear. They evolve. They find new homes in abandoned landscapes, fractured communities, social tensions and modern forms of isolation. The woods may have changed, but something is still lurking inside them.
IN THIS PROGRAM
Candyman
Bernard Rose, 1992
An urban-legend researcher investigates a series of murders and discovers that summoning Candyman may be more than a childhood superstition.
Curses of the Witch
Teuvo Puro, 1927
A newlywed couple suffer from the effects of a curse a witch put on the place they live in centuries earlier.
Fréwaka
Aislinn Clarke, 2024
While caring for a frightened old woman in an isolated Irish house, a young nurse becomes caught up in a terrifying struggle against an unseen presence.
Gaua
Paul Urkijo Alijo, 2025
Lost in a dark forest, a young woman encounters three mysterious storytellers whose tales begin to mirror the events of her own life.
Hokum
Damian McCarthy, 2026
A novelist investigating the disappearance of a hotel bartender becomes entangled in the legend of a witch haunting its locked honeymoon suite.
Lamb
Valdimar Jóhannsson, 2022
A child born to a sheep leads an isolated Icelandic couple to build an unexpected family.
Midsommar
Ari Aster, 2019
A Swedish midsummer festival takes a sinister turn when a group of American visitors becomes entangled in the rituals of a secluded community.
November
Rainer Sarnet, 2018
As a young woman pursues an impossible love, the inhabitants of an Estonian village use magical creatures to survive a brutal winter.
The Village
M. Night Shyamalan, 2004
When her fiancé is injured, a blind young woman ventures into the forbidden forest to find medicine and discovers a secret about her isolated village.
The Virgin of the Quarry Lake
Laura Casabé, 2025
A love triangle turns supernatural as three teenage girls discover who they really are.
The VVitch
Robert Eggers, 2015
After their youngest child vanishes beside an isolated New England farm, a Puritan family begins to fear that something from the forest is hunting them.
The Wailing
Na Hong-jin, 2016
A police officer investigates a mysterious outbreak in his village when the same illness begins to threaten his young daughter.
The Wicker Man
Robin Hardy, 1973
When a police officer arrives on a remote island to investigate a missing girl, its secretive inhabitants draw him into a terrifying ritual.
Witte Wieven
Didier Konings, 2024
After fleeing with her newborn daughter to an isolated village, a young mother finds herself confronted by the mysterious white figures haunting the surrounding woods.
Curses of the Witch with live piano score on October 29th
On October 29, step into the eerie world of Curses of the Witch (1927). This haunting relic of the silent era comes to life in Filmhuis Den Haag’s Zaal 1, accompanied by a spine-chilling live piano score by Gianmarco Moneti. No dialogue. No soundtrack. Just flickering images, unsettling silence and a live piano score that follows you into the darkness.
