| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Edward Woodward | ... | Sergeant Howie | |
| Christopher Lee | ... | Lord Summerisle | |
| Diane Cilento | ... | Miss Rose | |
| Britt Ekland | ... | Willow | |
| Ingrid Pitt | ... | Librarian | |
| Lindsay Kemp | ... | Alder MacGreagor | |
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Russell Waters | ... | Harbour Master |
| Aubrey Morris | ... | Old Gardener / Gravedigger | |
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Irene Sunters | ... | May Morrison (as Irene Sunter) |
| Walter Carr | ... | School Master | |
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Ian Campbell | ... | Oak |
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Leslie Blackater | ... | Hairdresser |
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Roy Boyd | ... | Broome |
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Peter Brewis | ... | Musician |
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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
I first saw this in the late 80s on a vhs. Revisited it recently. Upped the rating but won't give it 10 cos it contains blasphemous dialogues.
The film's twist ending gave me goosebumps during those days. Suspense is maintained throughout n the performances r top notch. The film is not at all slow n in fact very engaging. The photography is another highlight along with Lee's performance. The definition of slow burn applies to Vvitch, Hereditary, It comes at Night, etc. and I kinda avoid films if they r compared to the above mentioned films. But Wicker Man is not at all slow, mayb lengthy but terrifying without any gore, kills or jump scares. This film is incomplete without Lee n this is one of the reason the remake starring Cage tanked. The thing I enjoyed in the remake was the cry of Nic Cage when he is beaten in a gunny bag. But the original has plenty to offer. Check out the blonde babe Britt Ekland's naked dance against a wall which can still give men palpitations. They have used a body double for her glutes display as it was much bigger n the moves were pretty professional.