Folklore is a ripe breeding ground for horror stories and cautionary tales. Across the globe, folklore shapes and is shaped by the culture it comes from. Rumors are started, stories are passed on, fears become urban legends.

And in the age of the Internet, when we can all share our fears worldwide, folklore can travel and mutate. Folklore goes hand-in-hand with found footage, since much of folklore is presented as happening to someone you might know. Below are six recommendations for found footage style horror movies that highlight folklore from around the world.

**The lore of an abandoned hospital: Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum (2018) - South Korea**

Content creators are under pressure to get loads of engagement! But how far should they go to increase their views? Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum follows the creators of an Internet horror show looking to boost their ratings. They set up near an abandoned asylum and livestream their exploration of the hospital and grounds. While the foundation of this story may seem familiar to horror fans, the visuals, sound, and found-footage style scares make this film feel fresh. South Korea knows how to bring the ghost horror. I won’t spoil too much, so check it out!

**The psychic pull of a place: Occult (2009) - Japan**

In the year 2005, several strangers dream that something good will happen if they go to a landmark called Myogasaki. Tourists filming the scenery capture footage of a man stabbing bystanders, seemingly at random. Two people are killed, and a third is wounded with a strange symbol carved into his back, before the attacker jumps into the water, his body never to be found. Occult tells the story of documentary filmmakers following the surviving victim of the stabbing, Shohei Eno (Shôhei Uno). He claims to have experienced frequent paranormal occurrences, including UFO sightings and disembodied voices, since the incident. The audience is along for the ride with the documentary crew as they try to determine exactly what’s happening with Eno. If you’re up for something strange and surprising, give Occult a watch.

**“It happened to a friend of a friend…” Butterfly Kisses (2018) - United States**

Butterfly Kisses is a mockumentary-style film about found footage. Filmmaker Gavin (Seth Adam Kallick) hires a documentary crew to help him investigate some mysterious tapes he found in his in-laws’ house. The tapes were made by students documenting the urban legend of Peeping Tom. Legend has it that if you stare down a tunnel for a full hour without blinking, Peeping Tom will slowly creep closer to you, until he is close enough to kill you. As Gavin and the hired documentary crew learn more about Peeping Tom and the students in the tapes, Gavin’s life starts to unravel. Is he desperate to make a film? Or is Peeping Tom after him? You have to watch to find out!

**Conspiracy theories are the new folklore: The Conspiracy (2012) - Canada**

Have you ever stayed up too late diving deep into a conspiracy rabbit hole? And when you look around, you don’t remember how you got there? What if you couldn’t get out? These questions are investigated by two documentary filmmakers who plan to create a film about a conspiracy theorist named "Terrance G" (A.C. Peterson). However, Terrance disappears during filming, and the documentarians feel a sense of responsibility to find out what happened to him. This is a modern look at how folklore can be created and spread by the Internet, and the trouble that can cause.

**“Whatever happened to that girl?” Webcast (2018) - United Kingdom**

Students Chloe (Samantha Redford) and Ed (Joseph Tremain) are making a film about Chloe’s Aunt Amelia (Nicole Griggs) who went missing when she was a young woman. Chloe wonders why no one in her small town ever talks about Amelia and what may have happened to her. But Chloe’s persistent digging is upsetting some of her neighbors, and she starts to find answers she may never have wanted. Chloe livestreams most of her videos, so Webcast shocks the audience with the mystery unfolding in real time, rather than after the footage has been found. Folk horror, body horror, and found footage make this a unique, under-watched gem.

**“The old religion says…” Land of Blue Lakes (2021) - Latvia**

A group of friends embark on a kayaking and camping trip, exploring small islands that are usually deserted. Along the way, they have some encounters that are hard to explain, and one friend keeps leaning on Paganism for interpretation. Is the “old religion” to blame? Or is a new brand of folklore emerging? While much of the movie is just watching these friends hang out, they are likable and fun to watch. The scares are sparse, but very worth it. Hardcore found footage fans, seek this out!

As old as Paganism, as new as live-streaming, there will never be a shortage of folklore tales to spin into scary stories. Fans of found footage, or those looking to become fans, will always have a treasure trove to choose from.

When people think of horror films, slashers are often the first thing that comes to mind. The sub-genres also spawned a wealth of horror icons: Freddy, Jason, Michael, Chucky - characters so recognisable we’re on first name terms with them. In many ways the slasher distills the genre down to some of its fundamental parts - fear, violence and murder.

5 Oct 2023

3 Oct 2023

[Ghouls Podcast] Maniac (2012) with Zoë Rose Smith and Iona Smith

3 Oct 2023

Throughout September we were looking at slasher films, and therefore we decided to cover a slasher film that could be considered as an underrated gem in the horror genre. And the perfect film for this was Franck Khalfoun’s 2012 remake of MANIAC.

3 Oct 2023

24 Sept 2023

[Editorial] If Looks Could Kill: Tom Savini’s Practical Effects in Maniac (1980)

24 Sept 2023

In the late seventies and early eighties, one man was considered the curator of all things gore in America. During the lovingly named splatter decade, Tom Savini worked on masterpieces of blood and viscera like Dawn of the Dead (1978), a film which gained the attention of hopeful director William Lustig, a man only known for making pornography before his step into horror.

24 Sept 2023

11 Sept 2023

[Editorial] Deeper Cuts: 13 Non-Typical Slashers

11 Sept 2023

Looking for some different slasher film recommendations? Then look no fruther as Ariel Powers-Schaub has 13 non-typical slasher horror films for you to watch.

11 Sept 2023

10 Sept 2023

[Editorial] Editor’s Note: Making a slash back into September

10 Sept 2023

Even though they are not to my personal liking, there is no denying that slasher films have been an important basis for the horror genre, and helped to build the foundations for other sub-genres throughout the years.

10 Sept 2023

31 Aug 2023

[Editorial] 8 Mind Horror Short films

31 Aug 2023

But some of the most terrifying horrors are those that take place entirely under the skin, where the mind is the location of the fear. Psychological horror has the power to unsettle by calling into question the basis of the self - one's own brain.

31 Aug 2023

20 Aug 2023

[Editorial] Eat Shit and Die: Watching The Human Centipede (2009) in Post-Roe America

20 Aug 2023

On Saturday, 17th June 2023, I sat down with two friends to watch The Human Centipede (First Sequence) (2009) and The Human Centipede 2 (Full Sequence) (2012). I was nervous to be grossed out (I can’t really handle the idea of eating shit) but excited to cross these two films off my list.

20 Aug 2023

13 Aug 2023

[Editorial] Top 15 Female-Focused Mind Horror Films

13 Aug 2023

Many of the most effective horror films involve blurring the lines between waking life and a nightmare. When women in horror are emotionally and psychologically manipulated – whether by other people or more malicious supernatural forces – viewers are pulled into their inner worlds, often left with a chilling unease and the question of where reality ends and the horror begins.

13 Aug 2023

31 Jul 2023

[Editorial] 8 Body Horror Short films

31 Jul 2023

Body horror is one of the fundamental pillars of the horror genre and crops up in some form or another in a huge variety of works. There's straightforward gore - the inherent horror of seeing the body mutilated, and also more nuanced fears.

31 Jul 2023