by A. Freedman, Staff Writer

It is time for the third St. Patrick's Day of the COVID-19 Pandemic! Every year I make a list of films set in Ireland to provide some recommendations for holiday viewing. They range from the indie horror flick to the 90's IRA drama. This year's list leans heavy on the horror. Enjoy!

Boys From County Hell (dir. Chris Baugh, 2021)

Here comes a Village vs. Vampire tale, full of dark humor and Irish witticisms. A local construction crew runs afoul of an ancient vampire when they knock over its folkloric stone grave to make room for a new highway bypass. The pints of blood start to flow as freely as the pints of Guinness. There is a theme at play of how the Irish tend to address every problem by burying it under a pile of stones- Boys From County Hell suggests that if your problem is a bloodsucking vampire, that might actually be the best way to go about it.
Watch on Shudder

The Canal (dir. Ivan Kavanaugh, 2014)

A film archivist moves into an old house on a canal with his young family in this Irish spin on The Amityville Horror. Will the same fate that befell the previous family befall them? Though quite predictable throughout, I was left taken by the film's message, a strong warning about self fulfilling prophecies. If you think that something bad is going to happen, or look for the signs everywhere- you are only making that outcome more likely. I was even more taken by the brutal ending.
Watch on Shudder, Kanopy

Herself (dir. Phyllida Lloyd, 2020)

Here is an underseen movie that played at the 2020 Philadelphia Film Festival- one that deserved better than getting dumped onto a streaming platform with little to no promo campaign. Herself is a difficult watch (CW: domestic violence), and a tearjerking one. It is also a beautiful, at times lighthearted and funny tale of a single mother in Ireland trying to make a safe life for herself (ahem) and her children after separating from her violent, abusive husband. Her plan is to build a home on a tiny lot, where they won't need to rely on him financially to be alright. A lot of good things can happen when you ask people for help, even if the world is still rife with evil and danger.
Watch on Amazon Prime

Rawhead Rex (dir. George Pavlou, 1986)

Last seen when I was in and out of sleep at a 24 hour Exhumed Horrorthon, I revisited the monstrous folk horror tale of Rawhead Rex to make this list. The titular character is a red eyed, pre-Christian, pre-Peter Jackson bipedal beast who is summoned when the big stone keeping him underground is moved (a theme here, you see). He wreaks havoc on a small countryside village by doing a lot of shaking and offscreen decapitation. Clive Barker wrote the screenplay, right before the success of Hellraiser seemed to memory-hole this enjoyable oddity out of existence.
Watch on Shudder

Wake Wood (dir. David Keating, 2009)

One requirement of this list is that one or two guys from Game Of Thrones show up in at least one of the movies. Aidan Gillen leads this folk horror take on Pet Sematary, as the husband of a grieving couple who seek the help of a mysterious cult to bring their young daughter back from the dead if only for three days. It is gruesome in its odd details, and like The Canal is complete with a black-hearted ending that makes your eyes go wide. It also asks the question I don't think I've heard in other horror movies of this kind- isn't it just rude and kind of disrespectful to bring someone back from the dead? Like, it would probably be pretty confusing and traumatic for them.
Watch on Shudder, Tubi TV