| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Edward Woodward | ... | ||
| Christopher Lee | ... | ||
| Diane Cilento | ... | ||
| Britt Ekland | ... | ||
| Ingrid Pitt | ... | ||
|
|
Lindsay Kemp | ... | |
|
|
Russell Waters | ... | |
| Aubrey Morris | ... | ||
|
|
Irene Sunters | ... |
May Morrison
(as Irene Sunter)
|
| Walter Carr | ... | ||
|
|
Ian Campbell | ... | |
|
|
Leslie Blackater | ... | |
|
|
Roy Boyd | ... |
Broome
|
|
|
Peter Brewis | ... |
Musician
|
|
|
Barbara Rafferty | ... |
Woman with Baby
(as Barbara Ann Brown)
|
On Sunday, April 29, 1973, Sergeant Neil Howie with the West Highland Constabulary flies solo to Summerisle off the coast of Scotland. He is there to follow up on a letter addressed specifically to him from an anonymous source on Summerisle reporting that a twelve year old girl who lives on the island, Rowan Morrison, the daughter of May Morrison, has long been missing. The correspondence includes a photograph of Rowan. Upon his arrival on Summerisle, Howie finds that the locals are a seemingly simple minded lot who provide little information beyond the fact that they know of no Rowan Morrison and do not know the girl in the photo. Mrs. Morrison admits to having a daughter, seven year old Myrtle, but no Rowan. As Howie speaks to more and more people, he begins to believe that Rowan does or did live on the island, but that the locals are hiding their knowledge of her. He also begins to see that the locals all have pagan beliefs, their "religion" which centers on procreation as the ... Written by Huggo
A quite unique and very creative mystery horror.
Superb acting from Edward Woodward as the prim Seargant Howie, and Christopher Lee as Lord Summerisle. Fascinating from start to finish and a real twister of a plot that keeps you hooked right until the final twenty minutes, what appears at first sight to be an innocent search for a missing girl turns into a fascinating exploration of pagan rituals on a remote and sex obsessed Scottish island.
One of the best elements of the film is the classic early 70's folk soundtrack which gives indication of how the era in which this was filmed influenced the subject matter.
Definitely not a 'horror' in the true sense of the word, but more mysterious and chilling than any gore-fest. A quality piece of cinema!