A woman has terrifying dreams after a curious stone head is unearthed in her council house garden. Studying the head, an expert in Celtic relics brings it home, only for the women in his house to be tormented with nightmares of a half-man, half-animal creature. One by one the archaeologist’s family are terrorized, leading to anguish, death and sacrifice to the ancient gods.

O’r Ddaear Hen (From the Old Earth) was one of the first horror films made in the Welsh language, produced by Bwrdd Ffilmiau Cymraeg (the Welsh Film Board). When it was released in 1981, school children were bussed to see it, thoroughly traumatising a generation.

In 2022, Matchbox Cine, in collaboration with Abertoir Film Festival, translated the film into English for the first time, leading to its inclusion in Kier-La Janisse’s All The Haunts Be Ours Vol 2 box set, for Severin Films.

Now fully restored in 2K by Severin Films, with support from Matchbox Cine, from elements provided courtesy of the Bwrdd Ffilmiau Cymraeg/Welsh Film Board collection at the National Library of Wales Screen and Sound Archive.