01
The Ritual
Why this pick
A remote landscape, old folk beliefs, and an increasingly hostile community turn a search into creeping pagan-folk dread, with a similarly patient escalation of unease.
A FILM WORTH A CLOSER LOOKTHE FEATURE PRESENTATION
MOVIE1973 1h 34m GBR
IF THIS ONE STAYED WITH YOU
Movies like
The Wicker Man
HorrorThriller
CINEHUNCH / THE NEXT FRAME
Keep the feeling.
SIMILAR PICKS / A PERSONAL CONNECTION
If you loved The Wicker Man, try these.
01
02
Kill List
Why this pick
Its initially grounded investigation gradually slips into disturbing rural ritual and social paranoia, delivering the same sense that an outsider has entered a closed, unknowable world.
03
The Wailing
Why this pick
A village policeman investigates sinister events that resist rational explanation. Its slow-burn uncertainty, spiritual conflict, and ominous rural atmosphere strongly suit The Wicker Man’s investigative dread.
04
A Field in England
Why this pick
This hallucinatory English folk nightmare trades the police procedural for occult psychological warfare, but retains the period texture, ritual imagery, and disorienting encounter with a landscape outside ordinary rules.
05
The Witch
Why this pick
Its austere period detail and religious conviction make supernatural folk terror feel disturbingly plausible, echoing The Wicker Man’s tension between devout belief, sexuality, and older forces.
Finding the atmosphere, tension and little details that made this one stay with you.
Our curator needs a little longer. Please come back shortly.
No confident matches yet. Try our personal film finder.
01 / THE STORY
A little about the film.
Police Sergeant Neil Howie (Edward Woodward) journeys to the remote Hebrides island Summerisle to investigate the disappearance of a young girl, Rowan Morrison (Gerry Cowper), about whom he has received an anonymous letter. Howie, a devout Christianity, is disturbed to find the islanders paying homage to the Paganism Celts gods of their ancestors. They copulate openly in the fields, include children as part of the May Day#Traditional May Day celebrations, teach children of the phallic association of the maypole, and place toads in their mouths to cure sore throats. The Islanders, including Rowan's own mother (Irene Sunters), appear to be attempting to thwart his investigation by claiming that Rowan never existed.
Showing saved details. Some information may be out of date.
02 / FACES IN THE FRAME
The people who bring it to life.
Edward Woodward
Sergeant Neil Howie
Christopher Lee
Lord Summerisle
Diane Cilento
Miss Rose
Britt Ekland
Willow MacGreagor
Ingrid Pitt
Librarian
Lindsay Kemp
Alder MacGreagor
Russell Waters
Harbour Master
Aubrey Morris
Old Gardener / Gravedigger