Ireland, the birthplace of Halloween, has had a huge influence on the horror film industry. So let’s take a moment to celebrate some of the more RECENT contributions to our favorite pastime by bingeing 7 of the best horror films Ireland has produced in the last twenty years.
Citadel (2012)
A man’s pregnant wife is attacked outside their soon to be condemned apartment by a group of unidentified adolescents. Nine months later, the man is stricken with agoraphobia, living alone with his infant daughter while his wife lies in hospice, afflicted by an unknown infection.
When his wife is taken off life support, an abrasive and mysterious priest warms him that the feral, infected children who attacked her will now be seeking out her daughter. What follows is a story of paranoia and urban decay where the man must team up with the priest in order to save his daughter from the same fate as those infected children.
Unwelcome (2023)
When a man inherits land, he and his pregnant wife escape the urban jungle and head to beautiful, rural Ireland. Upon moving in, they find they are to uphold a seemingly harmless ritual at the behest of their neighbor in order to keep creatures of myth who live in the woods behind the home sated. I’m sure you can imagine it doesn’t go quite so swimmingly.
This flick is a unique combination of hyper saturated beauty as the canvas for some of the ugliest human interaction on this list. It also has a sharp wit and a devilish sense of human. This is a GREAT film.
Sea Fever (2019)
An antisocial marine-biology student named Siobhán endeavors to spend a week on a ropey fishing trawler as part of her degree. While on the journey, the boat finds itself in the quite literal clutches of a marine creature never before documented by humankind. Shortly after, a strange infection begins to affect the crew, leaving Siobhán as their only hope to solve the predicament before they all succumb.
This is a very smart, science forward flick with wonderful acting from the likes of Hermione Corfield, Connie Nielsen and Dougray Scott. Highly recommended.
From the Dark (2014)
A man working his farm discovers a long forgotten body on his land, accidentally waking the ultimate nocturnal predator. Meanwhile, not far away, a couple whose car becomes stuck on a rural road finds themselves in a fight for survival against said creature.
It’s not a spoiler to say this is a vampire flick; unless you’re not paying attention whatsoever, you’ll know that in less than five minutes. But, this particular vampire’s lore is slightly different from what you’ll have seen before, making it worth a watch if you’re a vampire film afficionado.
Caveat (2020)
A man suffering from partial memory loss takes a job looking after his landlord’s troubled niece in a secluded island estate. The only CAVEAT (eh? See? Used the name) is that he must wear a harness which confines him to certain areas of the home. Desperate for money, the man obliges, setting off events of equal parts supernatural and psychological horror.
Being a Shudder original, Caveat is a great one to check out if you ever decide to give the streaming service a try.
Isolation (2005)
A struggling farmer accepts an offer to have DNA experiments performed on one of his cows. It turns out these experiments have some quite unexpected side effects.
A creature feature in the golden era of genre innovation which was the early to mid noughties and starring cult horror royalty such as Sean Harris of Possum and Essie Davis of The Babadook, as well as being one of Ruth Negga’s first feature films, this flick is a must watch for creature feature fans.
The Hallow (2015)
After moving his family to the Irish forest in order to conduct surveys, a man, his wife, and their new born child are confronted with warnings from the locals about how these woods are not kind to unwitting people. The family quickly realizes they would have done well to heed the warnings.
This one is difficult to talk about without giving spoilers for a VERY well crafted and tense ride, so you’ll just have to seek it out and watch it for yourself.
There you have it! 7 wonderful Irish horror flicks from the last few decades. What are your favorite Irish horror films? Let me know below and definitely let me know if this article prompted you to check out any of the above!
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