We’re living in the Golden Age of Irish Horror and we’re dead excited about it. Throughout October we’re celebrating Samhain with interviews, reviews and retrospectives, that show how Ireland has risen to the top of the horror hierarchy.

Genre crossovers have been attempted to varying success throughout film history. Sometimes, a screenwriter or director’s experimentation in mixing genres can result in complete overhaul of the genre as we know it, such as Ridley Scott’s Alien pioneering the ‘sci-fi horror’, or the Lord of the Rings trilogy for the adventure-fantasy.
Despite the current popularity of the ‘horror-comedy’ in modern cinema, in truth, comedy has been an integral part of horror from the outset. Directors will employ comedy in horror films to humanise characters experiencing extremely bizarre and traumatic circumstances, or as a way of dissipating the tension of a scene so that the next scare lands that much more effectively.
Examples of this can be scene throughout classic horror. F.W. Murnau’s silent adaptation of the Dracula story, Nosferatu, features a scene where the character of Hutter says, “I am plagued by mosquitoes. Two have just bitten me on the neck, quite close together, one on each side.” Now, this is undoubtedly a line of necessary description in a silent film, but even in the 1920s must have been amusing. A lot of horror from this era has gained a comedic edge from how it has aged. Boris Karloff’s monster in 1935’s Bride of Frankenstein is a character so parodied that it’s hard for it not to have a comedic edge, while the sight of Anthony Perkins’ in his old-lady-murderer regalia in Hitchcock’s Psycho is certainly funnier now than when it premiered in 1960.
While instances of comedy were a regular feature in horror from the beginning, the most important era in codifying horror-comedy as its own distinct sub-genre was the late 70s and early 80s. One of the earliest and most influential films of this era is the Japanese film House, which plays with the absurdity of the situations presented in horror films to great effect. During this time, we also see directors like Sam Raimi and Peter Jackson making a name for themselves directing horror-comedies, Raimi with his Evil Dead trilogy, and Jackson with films like Bad Taste and Braindead. Horror icon John Carpenter also leaned more into comedy in his 80s output (the belly-mouth eating off a character’s hands in The Thing comes to mind). The first example of an Irish horror-comedy also arrives at this time, in the form of Neil Jordan’s hilariously disjointed and oft-forgotten 1988 film, High Spirits, where Peter O’Toole plays a hotel owner who advertises his failing hotel as haunted to attract American tourists, only for it to turn out to be actually haunted.
Jordan’s movie aside, what united these films is that they were usually low-budget films that became cult classics on the video market due to a combination of gore, giggles and gratuity (one of my favourite horror-comedies of the 80s, The Slumber Party Massacre, is a fantastic example of all three). However, it is for this reason that these films rarely got made in Ireland, which up until the late 90s still operated strict censorship around films, with gore and nudity being particular targets. The earliest examples of Irish-made horror-comedies arrive in the mid 2000s with indie films like Boy Eats Girl, Botched and Dead Meat, when censorship had relaxed significantly.
In the last ten years we have entered a new Golden Age in Irish horror and within that, we have a new class of directors looking to bring 80s horror-comedy sensibilities to Irish productions. The list below is not exhaustive, but covers some of the highlights of this new wave, and where you can find them to watch this October.
Grabbers (2012) dir. Jon Wright

When Grabbers arrived, it felt like a bolt from the blue (-legged octopus creature) for Irish horror. Initial comparisons likened it to a comedy version of Alien due to the grabbers having similar face-hugging tendencies, but in reality, this is closer to an Irish-set version of cult horror-comedy Tremors.
On the fictional Erin Island (Rathlin Island acting as stand-in with much of the film shot in Donegal), alcoholic local Garda Ciarán O’Shea (Richard Coyle) is partnered with temporary posting Garda Lisa Nolan (Ruth Bradley of Slow Horses Season 4 fame) while their Sergeant is away. On their watch, a group of strange sea creatures appear on the island, killing several of the island’s inhabitants. They discover the only way to protect themselves and the other islanders from being attacked is to get very drunk and increase the alcohol levels in their blood, as alcohol-infused blood is poisonous to the grabbers.
In many ways the ur-text of this new wave, this film wasn’t majorly successful on release, but has become a cult following in horror circles, particularly as a Midnight Movie. While some of the drunk acting is suspect and the whole thing nearly goes off the rails at the beginning of the third act, it doesn’t take itself too seriously, and given that the majority of this list deals with the horror trifecta of ghosts, zombies and vampires, a creature feature like this was proof that Ireland could step outside of its folk-horror leanings into B-picture environs.
Grabbers is not currently streaming, but can be rented from Apple, YouTube or the Google Play Store.
Let the Wrong One In (2021) dir. Conor McMahon

Conor McMahon is the only director whose work features twice on this list, and is one of the stalwarts of Irish horror filmmaking. Let the Wrong One In is his most recent directorial effort and a concise distillation of his style.
The story follows Matt, a Dublin teenager, and his brother, Deco, who comes home after a night out having been bitten by a vampire. As Deco becomes averse to garlic and sunlight and gets a craving for blood, Matt must help to keep his brother safe from vampire hunter Henry, not to mention the wrath of their Ma, who is sick of Deco’s antics.
There are great laughs throughout; McMahon’s script is filled with zippy one-liners, vampire jokes, and Dublin humour. Eoin Duffy amiably hams it up as Deco, alternating between a bumbling eejit and a bloodthirsty headcase. In one scene, Deco and Henry engage in a close quarters battle which results in them destroying a three-bed home on Griffith Avenue. The vampire queen, Síle, is essentially a party-mad Dublin woman who has ditched a boring husband to spend eternity going on the lash with her girlfriends, all of whom she has turned into vampires. I mean, who among us?
This is a really fun one to watch with a group of friends who enjoy tongue-in-cheek horror and is more reliant on Raimi-esque practical effects than it is on jump-scares. At time of writing, the film is on RTÉ Player, but, rather confusingly, is due to be removed before the end of September. It can also be found to rent on the Apple Store or on YouTube.
If you need a final selling point, this is the only known film in history to have juxtaposing shots of a woman having her throat ripped out and a portion of chips being smeared with garlic mayo. Conor McMahon is a true visionary.
Boys from County Hell (2020) dir. Chris Baugh

In comparison to Let the Wrong One In, which very much jokes around with pop-culture vampire tropes, Chris Baugh’s Boys from County Hell delves into the mythology, going back all the way to the ancient inspiration for Bram Stoker’s Dracula novel and implementing folk horror alongside real recognisable Irish cultural issues like rural isolation, emigration, emotionally distant parents, and what to do when you get banned from your local.
Set in a village in rural Derry, it follows local failson, Eugene, his mates, Will, Clare and SP, and his father, Francie. When Francie’s building company gets the contract to build a bypass through Will’s family’s land, resulting in the disturbing of an ancient grave said to contain the ‘original’ vampire Abhartach, the group must work out some way to stop the creature before it bleeds the entire town dry.
Boys is a different animal than Let the Wrong One In or Apocalypse Clown, with the humour derived not from gags or wacky characters, but from a sharply-written script filled with note-perfect dry Irish sarcasm. Jack Rowan is impressive in the lead, mastering the Ulster accent so well that it will only make you cringe harder the next time you hear a clip of Charlie Hunnam in Zack Snyder’s Rebel Moon.
The standout performance comes not from one of our heroic ‘boys’ (including Louisa Harland as Clare) but from Nigel O’Neill as Francie. Imagine a horror movie where a gruff, unbothered, disapproving Irish Da was running around, witnessing a vampire pulling itself up the pole on which it has been impaled and saying things like, “Sure I’ve seen lads do that after a few pints.” It’s also just a thoroughly solid horror flick, and if you are watching with a group who lean more towards horror than comedy, this is definitely the one for you.
The spooky vampire mythology makes this a great one for Halloween night or the night before. It’s currently not streaming anywhere, but can be rented from Apple, Google Play Store, or IFI@Home.
Extra Ordinary (2019) dir. Mike Ahern and Enda Loughman

The early success of Extra Ordinary upon its Irish release at the 2019 Galway Film Fleadh was perhaps the first indication of a growing movement in horror-comedy in Ireland. While the pandemic has maybe blunted its chance at gaining a major cult following thus far, the logline “What if they set a comedy Exorcist knock-off in Naas?” should hopefully spark some interest.
Starring Cork comedian Maeve Higgins and That They May Face the Rising Sun lead Barry Ward, Extra Ordinary follows socially-inept driving instructor Rose Dooley, daughter of a famous ghost whisperer and an occultist herself, who is recruited by local man Martin Martin to rid his home of the ghost of his dead wife. However, after Martin’s daughter is possessed by a Satan-worshipping, tax-avoiding American rock star (played delightfully by Will Forte) who intends to sacrifice her for fame, Rose must overcome her fears of following in her father’s footsteps to save the girl, and possibly ‘get giddy’ with Martin.
If Boys from County Hell is the pick for horror lovers on this list, Extra Ordinary is definitely the standout comedy of the bunch. Higgins is wonderfully endearing as Rose, her Cork lilt making every supernatural incantation and occult exposition dump sound as if she’s describing a controversy at work to a friend over lunch. Ward, better known for his dramatic roles, is outstanding as the clueless Martin, and gamely hams it up in different accents as his character is possessed by different ghosts throughout the film. The most hilarious of these is when Rose forces Martin’s dead wife Bonnie’s ghost to appear, in some of the best Dundalk representation in Irish cinema history.
Extra Ordinary is currently available to view on YouTube.
Apocalypse Clown (2023) dir. George Kane

Last year’s Apocalypse Clown was one of the big hits of the 2023 Galway Film Fleadh, where it won the award for Best Irish Film. The film follows a group of failed clowns, Bobo, Funzo, Pepe and The Great Alphonso, during the seeming collapse of society in a village in rural Ireland. Accompanied by would-be journalist, Jenny Malone, they attempt to navigate their existential crises over the fact that clowns have become obsolete, while also trying to uncover what has happened to the world around them.
Like Let the Wrong One In, this one is light on jump-scares, and is really more of a raucous sci-fi comedy than it is a pure horror. However director George Kane gets a lot of eerie tension out of shots of desolate Irish landscape and close-up of Natalie Palamides’ Funzo and her Pennywise-like face. Funzo is undoubtedly the standout character, a five-foot hedonist nightmare (and possible child-murderer) who speaks in a hilariously creepy, high-pitched Russian accent. Palamides is far from the only great performance though, with Fionn Foley playing Pepe as a posh student of The Clown Arts who has a ridiculous obsession with miming being trapped in a box. Irish comedian, Tony Cantwell, also features in a supporting role, essentially playing the character from his illustrious ‘Soft Drink’ video if he took a gap year and then recreated Fyre Festival in rural Offaly.
Currently streaming on Netflix, this is a perfect palate cleanser between some of the gorier entries on the list.
Stitches (2012) dir. Conor McMahon

If Apocalypse Clown gets you in the mood for a double feature of clown horror, first of all, perhaps take a moment to reflect on that fact. But once you have, Stitches is a perfect chaser.
Starring Geordie comedian Ross Noble as Richard ‘Stitches’ Grindle, Conor McMahon’s second entry on this list features a classically awful and foul-mouthed children’s party clown who is unintentionally killed in the line of duty by a group of vicious ten year olds who are unimpressed by his act. Six years later, on the 16th birthday of lead character Tom, Stitches returns from beyond the grave to exact his revenge.
Like Let the Wrong One In, McMahon’s Stitches is chock-full of 80s-horror-style one-liners, hilariously inventive kills, and extremely cheeky needle drops. Noble plays Stitches not as an unhinged giggly freak, but as a vengeful, sarcastic killer, which makes the interplay with the teenage characters effective and scary. Viewers who see Let the Wrong One In before this one should be warned that this film is much gorier, with exploding heads, ripped-off genitalia, spilled intestines and decapitation, all filmed with absolute glee.
Scarier than all of that to some viewers may be the whiplash of seeing a 2010s Irish house party showcased on screen. Check shirts, balyage, suede desert boots, and side fringes abound, there is vigorous shifting in hallways, and characters accuse each other of being ‘emo’. Due to the fact that the central group are teenage boys of the 2010s, some of the humour hasn’t aged well, with numerous fat jokes, latent homophobia, and lairy looks at female bodies, but it’s hard to argue that it isn’t accurate to the time.
Stitches isn’t currently streaming anywhere but can be rented from Apple, YouTube, or for a slightly cheaper rental fee, on Irish VOD site, Volta.
Portrait of a Zombie (2012) dir. Bing Bailey

For those who have always longed for Ballymun’s answer to The Walking Dead, look no further than Bing Bailey’s zombie mockumentary.
The film follows a documentary crew studying the localised outbreak of a zombie virus in north Dublin City, with their focus subjects being the Murphy family, whose son Billy is Patient Zero of the outbreak, and who are keeping Billy in their home despite the fact that he is a monster craving human flesh (we all have that one family member).
Bailey’s film is a little gnarlier and harder edged than some of the others on the list (one kill in particular is quite gruesome for those who are in this more for the comedy than the horror), but its documentary style and cast of long-suffering film crew stooges make it an enjoyable watch. It’s also bolstered by an excellent performance by Armagh actress Geraldine McAlinden, one of the unsung greats of Irish independent cinema, as Billy’s mother, Lizzy, a performance of incredible empathy considering it’s a movie about zombies roaming around the industrial estates of Finglas.
The film is ultimately a little muddled in what it wants to focus on, trying to devote equal time to Billy, his family, his pregnant fiancée, the zombie outbreak, organised crime and a documentary shoot rife with ego and artistic pomposity. Viewers may find themselves curious at times as to why the zombies change from the awkward shuffles of George A. Romero ‘living dead’ to the terrifying sprints of 28 Days Later’s rage monsters from scene to scene, or why the film tries so hard to connect the zombie outbreak with drug problems in the north inner city. All the same, this is a fun one to share with a group who enjoy their low-budget horror, and a fun take on the zombie genre by an Irish filmmaker.
Portrait of a Zombie is available to rent from Apple, YouTube and the Google Play store.
Wickedly Evil (2023) dir. Garry Walsh

If you ever wondered “what would happen if Reservoir Dogs was set in Lucan?”, then look no further.
Garry Walsh’s straight-to-VOD release is the most recent film on this list and stars a cast of mostly unknown actors. It follows three criminals, Frankie, Gaz and Dancer, who rip off a feared criminal gang called the Lynches, kidnap the gang leader’s sister, and hide out in a house somewhere on the outskirts of Dublin. For most of its runtime, it plays exactly like Tarantino’s famous debut: a straight crime thriller set in one location where characters are plagued by paranoia and a desire to get out alive. Then, in the third act, things take a turn for the spooky.
Viewers will notice the tricks of low-budget filmmaking at play here, and it’s fairly obvious why it takes until past the hour mark for the real horror elements to come into play. However, it doesn’t blunt the fun of it all, and this film will go down particularly well for any friends who made films with their friends in their youth, a real testament to getting together to make a film inspired by your heroes. It also contains an enjoyably unhinged performance by James Farrelly as Dancer, essentially playing ‘the wildcard of our friend group is a career criminal’.
Wickedly Evil is available to watch on YouTube.