DARKNESS IN THE FIELDS FILM FESTIVAL RETURNS TO QUAD THIS MARCH WITH A DAY FULL OF FOLK HORROR

With a canon of retro and modern classics taking in The Wicker Man, Midsommar, The Witch and many more, folk horror has been enjoying a revival in the 2020s. With that being said, the Darkness in the Fields Film Festival will be back with a day celebrating the genre this March, serving up an array of new features and short films at Derby’s popular QUAD venue.

The day kicks off with British movie The Severed Sun, following an isolated church community and the ‘beast’ in the forest that seemingly stalks them. This will be followed by the Brazilian film A Mother’s Embrace, which sees a team of firefighters looking to help the residents of a nursing home – but is there something more sinister going on?

The third film of the day is the Dutch offering Witte Wieven, taking us back to a medieval village and the suspicions that grow around one of its young female residents. The penultimate film is the documentary The Last Sacrifice, which explores a real-life murder than inspired The Wicker Man and the folk horror boom that followed it. And the event will close with the Serbian movie Mudbrick, which sees a man returning to his childhood home from America to find strange beliefs in what was once his own community.

The day will also be serving up four short films as part of proceedings, taking in Body Worn Camera, The Sin Eater, Lady and the Tooth and The Girl in Kelp.

Event co-ordinator Alex Davis said: ‘We had a fantastic response to our first event last year around, and this year looks just as exciting a line-up of fresh folk horror movies! These are films and directors you are bound to hear more about in the months and years to come, so be sure to check them out early with either a full event pass or individual movie tickets available!’

Derby QUAD’s Head of Film, Adam J Marsh said: We are delighted to have Darkness In The Fields back at QUAD for a second year of the best in new folk horror. Leading into the event, the night before, we have Scarred For Life doing their take on those film and televisual terrors that traumatised 70s and 80s kids. It’ll be a bumper weekend of folk horror fun!”

Darkness in the Fields Film Festival runs on the 22^nd March from 12pm-10:15pm at QUAD, Market Place, Derby, DE1 3AS. To pick up tickets, or for more info, visit https://www.derbyquad.co.uk/events/ditf2025/