10 Horror Movies Where The Last Scene Is The Best
7. The Wicker Man
Long before a 102-minute cinematic monstrosity of a remake featuring Nicolas Cage alternating between bike theft, punching women and dressing up in a bear costume - yes, you read that correctly - in 2006, 1973's version of The Wicker Man produced one of the finest closing scenes in horror history.
Arguably the greatest folk-horror film ever conceived, The Wicker Man follows the visit of Sergeant Ian Howie to a secluded Scottish island in search of a missing girl named Rowan, where he is soon confronted by the reality that the islanders have embraced paganism.
Duly concluding that the locals intend to sacrifice Rowan to prevent the crops from failing, Howie's search eventually yields results in the form of the missing girl - prompting director Robin Hardy to use the film's closing scene to gleefully kick the audience's collective chair out from beneath them.
Howie is revealed to have been duped from the very get-go. In truth, he has been the islanders' intended sacrifice all along. Despite his desperate pleas, the eerie final sequence sees Edward Woodward's policeman forced into the film's titular Wicker Man - a gigantic wooden effigy - and set ablaze as a sacrifice to ensure a bountiful harvest.
The sound of Howie's desperate praying and frantic curses set against the macabre backdrop of the islanders merrily singing "Summer Is Icumen In" while a human being burns to death in front of them, make for one of horror's most unsettling - and unforgettable - finales.