Film

A Story of Derry

Name: A Story of Derry
Genre: Drama, Horror, Mystery
Released: 2026
Cast: Kiawentiio, Isabel DeRoy-Olson, Michael Podemski, Zahn McClarnon, MorningStar Angeline

A 30-minute horror film that takes the Derry, Maine mythology back centuries before Stephen King's Pennywise emerges. Three young people descend into the Western Wood and face something older and rawer than the famous clown—a genuinely unsettling encounter with an ancient supernatural force. It's atmospheric and lean, built on dread rather than jump scares, and feels like discovering a piece of local folklore that's been hiding in plain sight.

TMDb rating

3.4

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The Blair Witch Project1999

A lean, 90-minute haunting that proves horror doesn't need gore or clear answers to terrify you. Three people in the woods confronting an unseen ancient threat. The found-footage approach mirrors Derry's brevity and intensity, letting your imagination do the real work.

But It's deliberately vague and offers no comfortable resolution. If you need clear explanations and tidy endings, this will frustrate you.

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A Korean masterpiece about a small community gripped by an unexplained supernatural crisis. Like Derry, it prioritizes atmosphere and the mystery of *what is actually happening* over easy answers. The performances are raw and the dread is suffocating.

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Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from A Story of Derry

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

The Ballad of Little Jo1993

Both uncover the true darkness of American places by excavating what came before the stories we tell about them. Derry finds Pennywise's ancestor; Little Jo finds the cruelty baked into Manifest Destiny. Same excavation, different weapons.

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Antebellum2020

A haunting meditation on historical trauma and cyclical horror. Like Derry, it uses a specific place and its past as the source of genuine dread. The twist recontextualizes everything before it, but what matters most is the atmosphere of inexplicable wrongness.

But The second half retreats from horror into something more conceptual. If you're here for scares, you'll feel let down. The pacing also stumbles.

Yellowjackets2021

A show built on the terror of isolation, both in the moment and in the aftermath. Like Derry, it uses a specific traumatized place and the mystery of what *actually happened* as its engine. Darkly funny, genuinely scary, and addictively plotted across episodes.

But Season 2 loses some momentum from Season 1, and answers move slower than you'd like. The flashback/present-day structure can feel repetitive if you're impatient.

The Haunting of Hill House2018

A ten-episode ghost story where the house itself—ancient, malevolent, patient—is the true protagonist. Each episode peels back layers of what Hill House takes from the people trapped inside it. Beautifully shot and genuinely heartbreaking, not just scary.

But It's heavy on family trauma and grief. The horror is psychological; if you need external threats and action, it will feel slow and introspective.

Hereditary2018

Ari Aster's nightmare about a family haunted by something ancient and unstoppable hiding in bloodlines and suburban emptiness. Like Derry, it treats the horror as inevitable and rooted in place. The dread is absolute and the performances are devastating.

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The Witch2016

A slow-burn New England folk horror set in 1630s Massachusetts. It prioritizes atmosphere and historical dread over action. The isolation and creeping paranoia echo Derry's sense that the woods themselves are alive and hostile.

But The dialogue is written in period-appropriate English that can feel like subtitles. It's slow, austere, and offers no catharsis—just accumulated dread and darkness.

Dark2017

A German series where a small town's dark history keeps repeating itself, century after century. Like Derry, the place itself is the antagonist. If you want mythology and mystery woven across time, this is addictive and brilliantly constructed.

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But It's 110 minutes of two people in one room performing ritual incantations. If you need plot momentum or external conflict, this will feel glacially slow and unbearably intimate.

Eraserhead1977

Both create dread through atmosphere and the sense that something is fundamentally wrong with the world without ever fully explaining what. Derry feels like an uncovered folktale; Eraserhead feels like a nightmare you can't shake. Same register, different vocabularies.

David Lynch's 90-minute black-and-white nightmare about urban alienation, fatherhood, and industrial dread. It's surreal, deeply atmospheric, and genuinely unsettling in ways that have nothing to do with jump scares. Pure mood.

But It has no conventional plot. It's dialogue-light, slow, and utterly committed to making you uncomfortable in abstract ways. If you need narrative clarity, you will hate this.