10 More Horror Movies Where Evil Wins

The Wicker Man touts one of the all-time greatest and most iconic downer endings in horror history, as Sgt. Howie (Edward Woodward) learns that the missing girl he's been searching for on the remote Scottish island of Summerisle isn't actually missing at all. Rather, the case was a ruse to lure Howie himself to the island in order to be sacrificed by the pagan cult residing there, led by the villainous Lord Summerisle (Christopher Lee).

Summerisle surmises that placing Howie inside a giant wicker effigy and burning it, along with a menagerie of animals, will appease the gods and prevent their crops from failing once more. Howie pleads with the collective as he's forced inside the wicker man, but there's no salvation - the effigy is set ablaze and Howie burns to death, evil seemingly prevailing.

Now, we do have to put an asterisk next to this entry given that we have no idea whether or not the sacrifice did indeed work. Plus, as Howie points out, if the crops fail again, the cult may very well turn on Summerisle himself, or in the very least, the island will likely descend into anarchy.

All the same, at the time we leave the cult, they've most certainly accomplished their convoluted goal of luring Howie to the island and killing him.