Movies Like Midsommar: 15 Disturbing Folk Horror Films

September 16, 2026 • Victoria Taylor

September 16, 2026 12 min read

Ari Aster’s Midsommar (2019) is one of the most distinctive horror films of the last decade because it takes things normally associated with safety — daylight, flowers, community, celebration and beautiful countryside — and makes them deeply unsettling. Starring Florence Pugh, Jack Reynor, William Jackson Harper and Will Poulter, the film follows Dani, a young woman struggling with devastating grief who travels with her emotionally distant boyfriend Christian and his friends to a remote Swedish community celebrating a rare midsummer festival.

At first, Hårga seems peaceful, welcoming and almost idyllic. But as the celebrations continue, it becomes increasingly clear that the community operates according to rules and rituals completely different from those of the outsiders who arrived there. What makes Midsommar so effective isn’t just its violence or occult imagery — it’s the gradual process by which something beautiful becomes threatening, built on grief, emotional dependency and the seductive power of belonging.

If you’re looking for movies like Midsommar, here are 15 folk horror, cult and psychological horror films that dig into the same territory.

1. Hereditary (2018)

Ari Aster’s first feature is the obvious starting point for anyone looking for films like Midsommar, but the similarities go deeper than shared direction. Both films are interested in vulnerable people drawn into a structure they don’t initially understand, and both place grief at the centre of the horror. The major difference is visual: Hereditary is dominated by darkness and interiors, while Midsommar creates horror beneath bright daylight and open skies.

Why watch it: If what fascinated you most about Midsommar was its combination of grief, ritual, inevitability and psychological manipulation, Hereditary is essential — darker visually, but emotionally from the same place. See our full guide to movies like Hereditary.

Director: Ari Aster · Starring: Toni Collette, Gabriel Byrne, Alex Wolff, Milly Shapiro

2. The Wicker Man (1973)

Few films are more important to understanding Midsommar than Robin Hardy’s The Wicker Man. A deeply religious police officer travels to a remote Scottish island to investigate a missing girl, and discovers the islanders follow pagan traditions completely at odds with his own beliefs. Christopher Lee’s Lord Summerisle is unforgettable precisely because he genuinely believes in the culture he represents.

Why watch it: If you loved the folk-horror mythology and ritualistic community at the centre of Midsommar, this is essential viewing — one of the foundational films of modern folk horror.

Director: Robin Hardy · Starring: Edward Woodward, Christopher Lee, Britt Ekland, Diane Cilento

3. The Witch (2015)

Robert Eggers’ colonial-America folk-horror film follows a Puritan family forced onto a remote farm beside a forest, where suspicion turns them against each other after their infant son disappears. Like Midsommar, it’s deeply interested in systems of belief and a natural landscape that feels actively threatening.

Why watch it: Another carefully constructed folk-horror film where ritual, religion, family pressure and the landscape gradually become inseparable.

Director: Robert Eggers · Starring: Anya Taylor-Joy, Ralph Ineson, Kate Dickie, Harvey Scrimshaw

4. The Ritual (2017)

A group of old university friends hiking the Scandinavian wilderness after the death of one of their own take a shortcut through a dense forest — and begin encountering disturbing symbols and evidence they’re not alone. The setting naturally connects to Midsommar, but so does the way grief becomes part of the journey.

Why watch it: If you loved the Scandinavian folk-horror setting but want something darker and more directly threatening.

Director: David Bruckner · Starring: Rafe Spall, Arsher Ali, Robert James-Collier, Sam Troughton

5. The Lodge (2019)

A woman preparing to marry a widowed father travels with his hostile children to an isolated winter lodge — carrying her own history as a cult survivor. Once isolated, strange events destabilise her grip on reality. Like Midsommar, it’s about what happens when someone already struggling emotionally is placed inside an environment built to manipulate that uncertainty.

Why watch it: Watch if the emotional cruelty and psychological manipulation of Midsommar interested you more than its pagan mythology.

Director: Veronika Franz, Severin Fiala · Starring: Riley Keough, Jaeden Martell, Lia McHugh, Richard Armitage

6. The Invitation (2015)

A man attends a dinner party at his ex-wife’s home and grows suspicious of her new partner and the strange belief system she’s embraced. Built around an uncomfortable question — is he right, or is his own grief making him paranoid — it uses social pressure just as effectively as Midsommar does.

Why watch it: One of the strongest psychological variations on Midsommar’s idea of hospitality turning sinister.

Director: Karyn Kusama · Starring: Logan Marshall-Green, Tammy Blanchard, Michiel Huisman, Emayatzy Corinealdi

7. Apostle (2018)

A man travels to a remote island controlled by a religious cult after his sister is kidnapped for ransom. Gareth Evans takes the isolated-community premise into darker, far more violent territory, but shares Midsommar‘s fascination with communities whose rituals are bound up with their understanding of survival itself.

Why watch it: Midsommar’s cult and folk-horror elements pushed towards darker fantasy and much more graphic violence.

Director: Gareth Evans · Starring: Dan Stevens, Michael Sheen, Lucy Boynton, Mark Lewis Jones

8. The Village (2004)

An isolated nineteenth-century-style community surrounded by woods supposedly inhabited by dangerous creatures holds strict traditions and boundaries — until a young woman’s love forces her to challenge them. Like Midsommar, it asks whether security and belonging justify surrendering personal freedom.

Why watch it: Another film about isolation, collective belief and the price people pay for belonging.

Director: M. Night Shyamalan · Starring: Bryce Dallas Howard, Joaquin Phoenix, William Hurt, Sigourney Weaver

9. Kill List (2011)

A struggling hitman takes on a new series of assassinations that gradually reveal themselves to be part of something much larger and more ritualistic. Ben Wheatley’s film lets the audience discover its structure at roughly the same pace as its protagonist — exactly the trick Midsommar pulls off.

Why watch it: Brutal, unpredictable, and one of the darkest British folk-horror films of the last two decades.

Director: Ben Wheatley · Starring: Neil Maskell, MyAnna Buring, Michael Smiley, Emma Fryer

10. Men (2022)

A grieving woman retreats to the English countryside to heal after her husband’s traumatic death, only for her encounters with the local men to grow increasingly strange. Alex Garland’s film moves from psychological unease into surreal folk horror, using nature the same contradictory way Midsommar does: beautiful, fertile and deeply threatening.

Why watch it: Midsommar’s combination of grief, symbolic horror, rural beauty and increasingly surreal imagery.

Director: Alex Garland · Starring: Jessie Buckley, Rory Kinnear, Paapa Essiedu, Gayle Rankin

11. The Wailing (2016)

A police officer investigates strange murders and illnesses in a rural village following the arrival of a mysterious outsider, as his own daughter begins showing disturbing symptoms. Na Hong-jin’s sprawling South Korean horror film treats ritual with the same seriousness Midsommar does — ceremonies as expressions of competing systems of belief.

Why watch it: A much darker and more complex exploration of belief, possession and the difficulty of knowing who to trust.

Director: Na Hong-jin · Starring: Kwak Do-won, Hwang Jung-min, Chun Woo-hee, Jun Kunimura

12. A Field in England (2013)

A group of English Civil War deserters cross a field and encounter an alchemist searching for hidden treasure — and after consuming hallucinogenic mushrooms, their understanding of reality collapses. Shot in black and white, Ben Wheatley’s strangest film shares Midsommar‘s interest in altered states and a landscape that stops feeling neutral.

Why watch it: Something stranger, more experimental, and deeply rooted in British folk horror.

Director: Ben Wheatley · Starring: Reece Shearsmith, Michael Smiley, Richard Glover, Ryan Pope

13. Speak No Evil (2022)

A Danish family visits a Dutch family they met on holiday, and their hosts begin behaving in increasingly inappropriate ways — but the guests keep rationalising it rather than risk seeming rude. It’s not supernatural, but it shares Midsommar‘s fascination with outsiders who stay in an uncomfortable situation because social convention won’t let them leave.

Why watch it: Turns polite social etiquette into a survival-horror mechanism.

Director: Christian Tafdrup · Starring: Morten Burian, Sidsel Siem Koch, Fedja van Huêt, Karina Smulders

14. The Sacrament (2013)

Journalists travel to a remote religious community to investigate the sister of a colleague who has joined — and find residents who genuinely believe they’ve found meaning and belonging. Ti West’s found-footage cult horror understands, like Midsommar, exactly why these communities can seem attractive before the atmosphere turns.

Why watch it: A more realistic, contemporary exploration of how closed communities can become dangerous.

Director: Ti West · Starring: A.J. Bowen, Joe Swanberg, Amy Seimetz, Gene Jones

15. Blood Star (2024)

Britni Camacho as Bobbi Torres · John Schwab as Sheriff Bilstein

Bobbi Torres confronted at night in Blood Star (2024)

Blood Star is not folk horror, but it shares an important structural quality with Midsommar: a protagonist gradually discovering she has entered a ritualised situation whose rules were established long before she understood she was part of it. Bobbi, travelling alone through the American Southwest, attracts the attention of small-town Sheriff Bilstein — what looks at first like one unpleasant encounter with an abusive officer reveals itself as a pattern he’s followed before.

Where Midsommar surrounds Dani with an entire community that knows the rules before she does, Blood Star places Bobbi against one predator who believes he already controls the beginning, middle and end of their encounter. The suspense comes from whether she can understand his game quickly enough to break it.

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Why Midsommar Is So Disturbing

Midsommar is unusual because almost everything that should make an audience feel safe is turned against them. It takes place largely in daylight, the landscapes are beautiful, and the community wears white and offers flowers, food and hospitality — yet the film becomes increasingly disturbing. Aster doesn’t hide horror in darkness; he places it directly in front of the audience and lets social context make it frightening. For more disturbing horror movies built the same way, see our wider roundup.

Best Folk Horror Movies Like Midsommar

Midsommar belongs to the tradition of folk horror — isolated communities, ancient traditions, rural landscapes and belief systems outside mainstream society. The Wicker Man is perhaps the most obvious predecessor; The Witch takes folk horror into colonial America; The Ritual uses Scandinavian mythology and an ancient forest; Kill List begins as a crime film before revealing ritualistic forces beneath; and A Field in England uses history and psychedelia to create something stranger still.

Cult Movies Like Midsommar

Hårga is effective because it doesn’t initially appear threatening — people share food, raise children collectively, and seem to care deeply about one another. The Invitation uses the same idea in a contemporary setting; The Sacrament presents a community that believes it has escaped an unhappy society; Apostle explores an isolated settlement built around religious authority. The best cult movies don’t just ask why people can’t see the danger — they ask why anyone would want to join in the first place.

Horror Movies About Pagan Rituals

Midsommar is full of ceremonies, dances, symbols and traditions the visitors only gradually understand. The Wicker Man uses pagan ritual the same way; The Ritual connects mythology to sacrifice; The Wailing presents competing rituals as part of a larger supernatural conflict; Apostle builds an entire religious system around land and community. Ritual is effective in horror because it has happened before — the people performing it know what comes next, and the outsider doesn’t.

Movies About Strange Communities

Hårga is almost a character in itself — people eat, sleep, work and grieve together, even sharing pain collectively. The Village examines a community built around shared protection; The Sacrament explores the attraction of leaving mainstream society entirely; The Wicker Man presents an island whose residents share beliefs completely alien to its visitor. All ask an uncomfortable question: how much personal freedom would you surrender for certainty and belonging?

Horror Movies About Grief Like Midsommar

Midsommar begins with grief before it introduces folk horror, and that order matters — Dani’s vulnerability is what makes Hårga’s emotional openness so powerful. Hereditary, The Lodge, The Ritual and Men all place grief at the centre of their horror the same way, letting a supernatural or psychological danger enter a life that’s already destabilised.

Movies About Toxic Relationships Like Midsommar

Midsommar is also a breakup movie — Christian’s passivity and emotional cowardice are as central to the horror as anything in Hårga. The Lodge, Men and The Invitation also explore relationships where grief, dependence or manipulation distort what a character believes is healthy.

Daylight Horror Movies Like Midsommar

Most horror relies on darkness to conceal information; Midsommar does the opposite, letting you see almost everything beneath bright Scandinavian skies. The Wicker Man uses sunlight and celebration the same way, The Village uses pastoral beauty to conceal darker foundations, and Men transforms the English countryside into something surreal and threatening — proof that horror doesn’t need darkness at all.

Psychological Horror Movies Like Midsommar

Much of Midsommar‘s power is psychological — Dani’s perception is shaped by grief, anxiety, hallucinogens and her deteriorating relationship, and the audience is repeatedly placed inside her altered state. Men, The Lodge and The Invitation create the same uncertainty, where the environment may genuinely be dangerous but the character is also struggling to trust their own reactions. Our guide to psychological horror movies covers more of the genre’s best.

Movies Where Outsiders Enter the Wrong Place

The Wicker Man sends a policeman to an isolated island; The Ritual sends hikers into the wrong part of a forest; Apostle sends a man into a remote religious settlement; Speak No Evil sends one family into a stranger’s home; Midsommar sends American students to a Swedish festival. In every case, the characters believe they can leave whenever they want — the horror begins when they realise the people around them understand the situation differently. The same broad structure connects to Blood Star: Bobbi doesn’t enter a cult, but she crosses into territory controlled by someone who understands the rules of the confrontation far better than she does.

Why Ritual Horror Is So Effective

Ritual horror creates tension because the audience understands something is happening according to a predetermined sequence the characters don’t yet know. The Wicker Man, The Ritual, Kill List and The Wailing all exploit this same fear — a ritual is frightening because it removes negotiation. The individual isn’t dealing with one person’s decision; they’re dealing with a structure.

What to Watch After Midsommar

If the folk-horror element was what you loved most, start with The Wicker Man, The Witch, The Ritual and Kill List. If it was the cult and strange-community angle, watch The Invitation, The Sacrament, Apostle and The Village. For more grief-driven psychological horror, Hereditary, The Lodge and Men are strong choices, and if the hallucinogenic imagery stayed with you, try A Field in England.

And if what fascinated you most was watching a character slowly realise the events around them form part of a ritual they don’t yet understand, Blood Star approaches that same idea from a very different direction — no cult, no community, just one predator who’s done this before.