20 Best Horror Films Set In The Woods

As simple a setting as it may seem, woodlands and forests are one of the most effective backdrops for horror stories, and the best horror movies in the woods make full use of the unique close-to-nature scares only a forest or jungle can bring. They also tend to have 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 forests span various distinct sub-genres of horror, and can boast some of the most notorious horror movies ever thanks to the likes of The Blair Witch Project, Deliverance, and many more.

From cult slasher favorites to critically acclaimed modern classics, the best horror movies set in the woods demonstrate how a single location can be used in a limitless number of ways, all within the same genre. Whether searching for gore, ghosts, monsters, psychological horror, or even post-apocalyptic survival horror, there’s a horror movie set in a forest featuring almost every kind of threat imaginable. While it’s not as obvious as a haunted house or an abandoned factory, in day or night the forests and woodlands of the world have proved perfect settings for some of the best horror movies to date.

20 Annihilation (2018)

A Scientific Anomaly Turns A Forest Into A Nightmare

Annihilation was an interesting mix of science fiction and horror. Directed by sci-fi auteur Alex Garland, Annihilation sets up its story by introducing The Shimmer, a quarantined zone where nature has started to transform and morph. In Annihilation the woods don’t just conceal a threat, they are the threat. When one team of scientists goes in investigating and never returns, a second team of all women is sent in to figure out what happened to the first team and what is going on. The cast is led by Natalie Portman, and what she finds in the woods when she ventures into The Shimmer is deeply disturbing.

19 The Ritual (2017)

Four Friends Are Stalked Through A Scandinavian Forest

Released in 2017 as a British horror movie that received a Netflix international release, The Ritual is one of the best horror movies in the woods released in the last decade. In The Ritual, four friends are on a hiking trip in Sweden in honor of a close friend who was murdered. However, the four friends end up lost and realize that something in the woods might be tracking them. This is a tense horror survival story with some very scary moments that make full use of the remoteness of the forest, which also feel somewhat unique to The Ritual thanks to the incredible Scandinavian setting.

18 Tucker & Dale Vs. Evil (2009)

Two Hillbillies Living In The Woods Watch Prejudiced Young Adults Destroy Themselves

One of the more comedic horror movies in the woods is Tucker & Dale vs. Evil, which uses the forest setting both for scares and laughs. Tucker & Dale vs. Evil takes the basic setup from movies like The Hills Have Eyes and then subverts the genre tropes. A group of stereotypical young adults found in almost any horror movie encounter Tucker and Dale, two locals who live in a cabin in the woods. The group believes Tucker and Dale are killers, but the pair are harmless. The bewildered Tucker and Dale are unable to stop the scared “victims” dying due to their own stupidity as they set up traps for their own “protection.”

17 Deliverance (1972)

John Boorman’s Genre-Defining Classic Taught Audiences To Fear The Forest

One of the earliest horror movies in the woods that turned the forest setting into the source of fear is the 1972 movie Deliverance. Directed by John Boorman, the movie stars Burt Reynolds, Jon Voight, Ronny Cox, and New Beatty as four friends who set out to canoe down a remote Georgia river. However, after making fun of the locals (with an iconic Dueling Banjos moment), someone starts hunting them down with nefarious plans for the four of them. The movie won three Oscars and remains iconic, added to the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress in 2008.

16 Wrong Turn (2003)

The Cult Early 00’s Gem Starring Eliza Dushku And Jeremy Sisto

Released in 2003, Wrong Turn featured a familiar story as a group of college students end up trapped in the woods after some cannibalistic mountain men flatten their tires and then start to hunt them. The movie featured Eliza Dushku at the height of her Buffy the Vampire fame, and Jeremy Sisto during his time on Six Feet Under. While it wasn’t groundbreaking, Wrong Turn found a home in the hearts of horror fans and ended up spawning a franchise with five sequels between 2007 and 2014 and then a Wrong Turn reboot in 2021.

15 Dog Soldiers (2002)

The Low-Budget British Werewolf Movie That Helped Revive A Subgenre

Neil Marshall’s Dog Soldiers was a movie that came out two years after Ginger Snaps, and the two movies really helped revitalize the werewolf subgenre with very different experiences. While Ginger Snaps was more about an allegory of a young woman reaching puberty, Dog Soldiers was a movie about werewolves hunting people in the woods at night. 2002’s Dog Soldiers starred Sean Pertwee as a sergeant in a group of six British soldiers dropped into the Scottish Highlands for a training exercise. However, soon the werewolves attacked, but when the heroes flee and find shelter, they quickly realize they’ve wandered right into the werewolves’ lair.

14 Eden Lake (2008)

Local Kids Turn A Couples Woodland Vacation Into A Truly Disturbing Movie

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. One of the most extreme horror movies set in the woods or anywhere else, and one without supernatural elements, the situation quickly descends into a nightmarish ordeal of torture and murder. Eden Lake features extreme violence and is an unforgettable and unflinching movie, especially since it features violence from and towards children.

13 Sleepaway Camp (1983)

The Cult 1980s Hit About Two Cousins Who Turn Summer Camp Into A Slaughter-Fest

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 any who disrespect them end up meeting a bloody end. Sleepaway Camp has a wry sense of humor and some creative kill scenes, but many 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.

12 The Burning (1981)

1980s Slasher About A Killer Wielding Gardening Shears

Another 1980s slasher horror set in the woods is The Burning, a killer-in-the-woods story now considered to be a cult 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. They and their friends 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.

11 The Last House On The Left (1972)

Wes Craven’s Grindhouse Classic That The UK Banned

Wes Craven’s The Last House on the Left is a disturbing and effective horror movie, and one that makes great use of the remoteness of woodland settings. The story sees two teenage girls kidnapped by a group of sadistic killers, with the parents of one of the girls seeking bloody revenge. A remake of the Ingmar Bergman movie The Virgin Spring​​​​​​, The Last House On The Left gained notoriety in drive-in and Grindhouse theaters thanks to 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 its content, particularly the murder scenes in the woods.

10 Dead End (2003)

A Cinematic Campfire Story That Makes Audiences Fear The Shadows Between The Trees

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 throughout 2003’s Dead End. Dead End is similar to a campfire ghost story and makes full use of the darkness of the woods around the characters, leaving the worst of the horror up to the audience’s imagination.

9 Lake Of The Dead (1958)

Norwegian Horror That Proves How Eerie The Woods Can Be Even Without Bloodshed

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, Lake of the Dead has a lastingly eerie atmosphere throughout thanks in no small part to its natural surroundings.

8 The Cabin In The Woods (2011)

A Homage To Almost Every Horror Movie Monster In Cinema History

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 woodland setting unfolding into something much more sprawling and satisfying than the typical slasher spoof setup.

7 It Comes At Night (2017)

The Movie That Proved Even Forests Aren’t Safe After The Apocalypse

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 — and the stillness of their forest surroundings making the anguish and horror of their ordeal echo out all the louder.

6 Friday The 13th (1980)

The Classic Slasher That Introduced The World To Camp Crystal Lake

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 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)

Lars Von Trier’s Polarizing Woodland Nightmare About Loss And Grief

Lars Von Trier is a polarizing filmmaker and his 2009 movie Antichrist is one of the key reasons why. 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)

The Debut Of Ash Williams Remains A Classic Horror Movie Set In The Woods

Infused with a very dark sense of humor, Sam Raimi’s horror classic The Evil Dead sees five friends take a vacation to a cabin deep in the woods. There they find an ancient Book of the Dead — the now-infamous Necronomicon — 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)

Sam Raimi’s Sequel Tops The Original

Sam Raimi’s follow-up to The Evil Dead doubled down on the original movie’s comedic qualities and increased both the gore and creativity of the kills. 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, and the sequel/remake keeps the spooky forest setting of the original though utilizes it much better.

2 The Blair Witch Project (1999)

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 for footage of sites linked to the local legend of the Blair Witch, but their trip devolves into a terrifying experience once they become lost and stalked by an unseen presence. 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)

Horror In The Woodlands Of 17th Century New England

Robert Eggers’s debut feature film, The Witch, is a horror movie in the woods that impressed both audiences and critics, quickly becoming considered to be a modern horror masterpiece. A heavily religious New England family in the 1600s living on a secluded farm in the woods is torn apart by the threat of witchcraft, an evil that emanates 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.