In Ari Aster’s Midsommar (2019), horror doesn’t hide in the shadows — it blossoms in the light. Join me as we travel to Hälsingland, where grief becomes ritual, flowers mask teeth, and the sun never sets.

This episode explores:

• Dani’s journey from devastating loss to May Queen.

• How cults prey on the vulnerable, offering belonging in exchange for obedience.

• The clash between individualism and community, grief and ritual, liberation and control.

• Why Midsommar has become an icon of “daylight horror,” echoing films like The Wicker Man and reshaping modern horror.

Grief burns, flowers bloom, and the fire still waits.

In the heart of Nebraska, the corn whispers. Behind those endless rows lies a god who demands blood — and the children of Gatlin are ready to obey.

This week on The Left Hand of Horror, we drive straight into Stephen King’s nightmare of faith twisted into fanaticism. From Isaac’s fire-and-brimstone sermons to Malachai’s merciless blade, Children of the Corn turns innocence into terror and the American Midwest into a killing ground.

We’ll trace the film’s haunting imagery, dissect its cultural roots in religious fundamentalism and rural fear, and ask why its warnings about blind faith, cult mentality, and youth radicalization still cut deep today.

The harvest never ends. The god still waits. And the children are still chanting in the rows.

Step into the fields — if you dare.

A missing child. A devout policeman. An island of music, maypoles, and pagan ritual. Robin Hardy’s The Wicker Man (1973) is not just a film — it is a sacrifice. Beneath its folk songs and pastoral beauty lies a story of faith colliding with fire, of repression mocked by liberation, of ritual demanding blood.

In this episode of The Left Hand of Horror, we step into the flames to uncover how The Wicker Man became a cornerstone of folk horror — exploring its clash of ideologies, its echoes in modern cults and conspiracies, and its legacy as one of the most haunting finales in cinema.