10 Awesome Movies Where The Bad Guy Wins

6. There Never Was A Missing Girl - The Wicker Man

Unquestionably one of the most famously bleak - and downright brilliant - endings of all time is Robin Hardy's sublimely creepy British horror film. Edward Woodward is sensational aspolice sergeant Neil Howie, whoreceivesa letter begging him to venture to an isolated island in order to investigate the disappearance of a young girl there. Howie obliges, but soon finds himself very much out of his comfort zone, if not only for the fact that the locals don't think him welcome, but that they also are practitioners of theCeltic pagan religion. Howie, a staunch Christian, is unsettled from the outset.

But it gets a lot worse for old Howie, unfortunately; we discover that there is no missing girl, and Howie was simply a poor shmuck lured to the island in order that he could besacrificedby the pagans, in the hope that after a terrible harvest last year, such a sacrifice would appease the Gods and provide them with a bountiful yield next time.

Howie is placed inside the titular wicker man, which is then set on fire; the disturbing final images are of Howie helplessly sitting inside it, as the flames creep up and prepare to devour him.