10 Horror Movies With Seriously Messed Up Endings

The Plot

This classic horror follows pious Scottish police sergeant Howie as he travels to a remote Hebridean island named Summerisle famed for its unusually abundant fruit harvests to investigate the disappearance of a young local girl, Rowan Morrison, after receiving an anonymous tip-off.

He’s met with uncooperative islanders who deny the missing girl’s existence and discovers they practice Paganism and do Pagan things like have sex in fields and make their kids dance around phallic maypoles which shocks the Christian lawman.

As he searches for Rowan, Howie soon finds evidence that the islanders partake in ritual sacrifices to appease their Pagan gods and ensure a fruitful harvest and that Rowan may be the next lamb to the slaughter.

Just for the record, we’re talking about the original 1973 version not the unintentionally hilarious American remake starring Nicolas ‘Not the Bees’ Cage.

The Ending

Howie finds Rowan and tries to escape Summerisle when they are intercepted by the islanders who Rowan happily trots off to. Howie’s been had: it was never Rowan the islanders intended to sacrifice but him.

The islanders force him into a giant wooden effigy (the wicker man of the title), set it alight and gather around to sing a little folk ditty to their Pagan gods. Howie, a devout man even as he’s being burned alive, starts praying and reciting psalms but is drowned out by the chanting of the islanders as the wicker man is engulfed by flames and a fiery sun sets in the west.