20 Horror Movie Endings That Are Practically Perfect

3. The Wicker Man - A Human Sacrifice

Even after that horrendous Nic Cage remake became a meme, the true Wicker Man is still a devastating horror film. It's an upsetting and potent warning as to the dangers of cult-like groups and societal breakdown, and it hammers these themes home with the Pagan cult that now occupies Summerisle, an island in the Scottish Hebrides, carrying out perhaps the most disturbing human sacrifice in cinematic history. 

From early on in this story, it's clear that a sacrifice is planned. When Sgt. Neil Howie (Edward Woodward) starts investigating the disappearance of a little girl on the island, he soon deduces that she'll be sacrificed to the Pagan gods in order to revive the island's failing harvest. Unfortunately, he's only half-right.

As Howie realizes all too late, he is to be the sacrifice. As a figure of the law who came willingly and is virginal (he's a Christian saving himself for marriage), he fits the criteria for their sacrifice, and the little girl's disappearance was an elaborate ruse to bring him to the island. 

Now surrounded by fanatical islanders and unable to escape, Howie is captured, dressed in ceremonial robes and then placed inside a giant wicker man statue, which is then set on fire while the cultists dance and sing merrily before the flames. It's seriously nasty stuff, and will leave many audience members feeling like they've been punched in the gut with a knuckleduster.