As simple a setting as it may seem, woodlands and forests are one of the most effective backdrops for horror stories, and, in the case of movies, they can sometimes have a menacing natural beauty to them. Horror movies set in the woods also tend to be lower budget features, reducing studio oversight and freeing filmmakers to be more provocative, shocking, and experimental with their ideas. Some of the most well-known horror movies set in the woods are counted as some of the best horror movies of all time, they span various distinct sub-genres of horror and can boast some of the finest casts and memorable characters within the genre.
From cult slasher favorites to critically acclaimed modern classics, the best horror movies set in the woods demonstrate how one genre can take one type of location and use it in so many different and effective ways. Whether searching for gore, ghosts, monsters, psychological horror, or even post-apocalyptic survival horror, genre fans are spoiled for choice when it comes to these films. Many of the best horror movies set in the woods are also available on free streaming services, meaning that–truly–anyone can enjoy them if they’re prepared for plenty of eerie scares.
15 Eden Lake (2008)
Available on Vudu, Pluto TV, Tubi, and Prime Video
A talented cast drives this deeply disturbing horror-thriller about a couple (Kelly Reilly and Michael Fassbender) who are harassed by a group of young kids while on a secluded woodland getaway, with the situation quickly descending into a nightmarish ordeal of torture and murder. Eden Lake is, by virtue of its premise alone, a movie that regularly flirts with exploitation cinema but the mixture of top-shelf performances with its extreme violence makes for an unforgettably impactful cocktail.
14 Sleepaway Camp (1983)
Available on Pluto TV, Tubi, Peacock, Crackle, Redbox, The Roku Channel, and Prime Video
Sleepaway Camp is a cult hit that, despite being a derivative summer camp slasher in many ways, left an impression on audiences in 1983 and has been doing so ever since. The story sees a young girl (Felissa Rose) and her cousin (Jonathan Tiersten) go to a summer camp and those that disrespect them meet a bloody end. The movie has a wicked sense of humor and some creative kill scenes but what audiences remember most about Sleepaway Camp is the movie’s final twist. The film spawned a successful straight-to-video series of sequels and its popular legacy lives on even today.
13 The Burning (1981)
Available on Tubi, Prime Video, fuboTV, and Paramount+
Another cult slasher set in the woods is The Burning, a killer-in-the-woods classic due to its cast, pacing, and Tom Savini’s marvelous makeup effects. The cast includes pre-fame Holly Hunter and Jason Alexander as two members of the typically ill-fated summer camp adolescents who run afoul of the local legendary murderer, Cropsy, who kills his victims with super-sharp gardening shears. The movie makes good use of its outdoor setting and provides genre fans with an entertaining take on the early 80s slasher formula with plenty of gore.
12 The Last House On The Left (1972)
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Available on Pluto TV, Tubi, Redbox, and Paramount+
Wes Craven’s horror classic The Last House on the Left has gone down as one of the most disturbing and effective horror movies ever made. The controversial story sees two teenage girls (Sandra Peabody and Lucy Grantham) kidnapped by a group of sadistic killers and the parents of one of the girls (Eleanor Shaw and Richard Towers) seeking bloody revenge against them.
The movie played well in drive-in and Grindhouse theaters with audiences being stunned at the overt brutality and extreme violence. The Last House on the Left was controversial upon release and even banned in the UK for decades due to a number of reasons relating to its content, particularly the murder scenes in the woods.
11 Dead End (2003)
Available on Tubi and Prime Video
Driving to a Christmas gathering through an isolated forest road, a family comes across a ghostly Woman in White cradling a baby. Before they can find help, she disappears and their night becomes an endless series of bizarrely horrific encounters. Dead End is similar to a campfire ghost story and makes the most of minimal locations, with the darkness of the woods around the characters playing brilliantly into the movie’s emphasis on leaving the worst of the horror up to the audience’s imagination.
10 The Ritual (2017)
Available on Netflix
A group of friends looking down the barrel of middle age are planning their next getaway when one of them is killed in a robbery, prompting the rest of the group to opt for their idea of hiking the King’s Trail in Sweden. On the trail, however, an injury forces the already fractious group to attempt to cut through the dense forest between the mountains, and their minds become tested as they’re then stalked by a monstrous presence.
The Ritual was the feature-length debut of director David Bruckner, who had already made a name for himself on the horror scene with standout segments in popular anthologies, and the movie shows a huge amount of ingenuity as the characters have their deepest fears made a reality.
9 Lake Of The Dead (1958)
Available on Tubi
A little known oddity outside its native Norway, Lake of the Dead is an atmospheric ghost story set deep in an idyllic–yet haunting–forest that houses a creepy cabin. The cabin comes with a dark story attached to it, but the movie uses it for more of a deconstruction of storytelling rather than using it as an opportunity for murder and monsters. Filled with a unique sense of humor and a pervading feeling of mystery, the film has a lastingly eerie atmosphere throughout thanks in no small part to its natural surroundings.
8 The Cabin In The Woods (2011)
Available on Max
A rare horror-comedy that puts as much effort into its scares as it does into its laughs, The Cabin in the Woods can be viewed as a parody or satire of the genre, but it acts just as well as a straight exploration of its most prevalent themes. The wild story that starts when a group of young friends visits a secluded cabin ends up as a parade of homages to some of the most beloved and inventive monsters and sub-genres from horror history, with the woods setting unfolding into something much more sprawling and satisfying than the typical slasher spoof setup.
7 It Comes At Night (2017)
Available on Showtime and Paramount+
A unique and highly dramatic take on a post-apocalyptic survival horror setup, It Comes at Night follows a family surviving the collapse of civilization in seclusion in the woods when another family stumbles across their home seeking refuge. The dynamics of trust and paranoia are played out to their most horrific ends as the two groups try to live together in a world filled with deadly danger that can crop up at any moment, the stillness of their surroundings making the anguish and horror of their ordeal echo out all the louder.
6 Friday The 13th (1980)
Available on Prime Video and Paramount+
One of the biggest box office surprises in history, Friday the 13th was a low-budget movie that took theaters by storm and officially ushered in the slasher craze of the 1980s. The story of Mrs. Voorhees (Betsy Palmer) taking her revenge on the counselors at Camp Crystal Lake is one of the most well-known in all of 80s horror films. The slaughter of the campers in the woods is made all the more memorable by makeup guru Tom Savini and, although it is his mother who does the killing in the original movie, Jason Voorhees was introduced and an iconic and seemingly never-ending horror series was born.
5 Antichrist (2009)
Available on Tubi
Lars Von Trier is a polarizing filmmaker and Antichrist is one of his most polarizing movies. This disquieting tale starts when a couple’s son tragically dies, and they retreat to a cabin in the woods to try and heal their marriage and their minds. Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsborough deliver devastating performances as the grieving couple and Von Trier doesn’t shy away from terror as the natural world around them becomes a twisted purgatory of the soul. The woods are alive and know the characters’ deepest secrets and fears, and they are violently unforgiving.
4 The Evil Dead (1981)
Available to rent or purchase on Prime Video
Infused with a very dark sense of humor, Sam Raimi’s horror classic The Evil Dead was never cutting edge in terms of production value but stunned audiences in the 80s and started a franchise that still pushes the envelope even today. The film sees five friends take a vacation to a cabin deep in the woods where they find an ancient Book of the Dead, and accidentally unleash demonic forces that bring about a waking hell for the group.
Though the makeup effects and camera trickery of the movie would be its defining aspects, next to Bruce Campbell’s unforgettable lead performance as lead hero Ash Williams, the sinister misty woods surrounding the cabin are the movie’s most effectively simple flourish.
3 Evil Dead II (1987)
Available to rent or purchase on Prime Video
Sam Raimi’s followup to The Evil Dead doubled down on the original movie’s comedic qualities and increased both the gore and creativity with the kills to create one of the most acclaimed sequels in genre movie history, not just within the world of horror. Serving as both a sequel to and a partial remake of The Evil Dead, Evil Dead II is set in the same cabin in the woods as the first film and once again follows the beleaguered hero, Ash Williams.
The demonic “Deadites” released by the powerful Necronomicon Ex-Mortis get even bigger, weirder, and more frightening than they were in the first installment, but it’s Bruce Campbell who shines brightest, embodying the entire production’s commitment to being wild and entertaining from start to finish.
2 The Blair Witch Project (1999)
Available on Tubi, The Roku Channel, Redbox, and Prime Video
The Blair Witch Project revolutionized horror movies by popularizing the found footage style and its accompanying low-budget ethos. The fake documentary of a trio of filmmakers who set out into the woods to film footage of sites in a local spooky legend devolves into a terrifying experience once they become lost and aware of an unseen presence that’s stalking them. As The Blair Witch Project hinges itself on never showing the malevolent force surrounding the characters, the woods themselves become the star of the show, with the relatively mundane location becoming a space for the audience to imagine their own nightmares within, based on the film’s subtle suggestions.
1 The Witch (2015)
Available on Max
Robert Eggers’s debut feature film, The Witch, is a horror movie set in the woods that impressed both audiences and critics, quickly becoming considered to be a modern horror masterpiece. A heavily religious family in 1600s New England living on a secluded farm in the woods is torn apart by the threat of witchcraft emanating from their surroundings, exposing the darkest fears and evils within themselves. The film introduced audiences to Eggers’ penchant for period-accurate dialogue and the intimate drama of The Witch makes the experiences of the main characters feel all the more authentic and the atmosphere of dread surrounding them feel all the more inescapable.
