10 Most Eerily Disturbing Still Shots From Horror Movies

6. The Wicker Man - The Wicker Man (1973)

Of the great cult classics produced in the UK during the '70s the most lauded must now be Robin Hardy's stomach-wrenching The Wicker Man. A flop on its release, largely ignored by critics (aside from the mighty Cinefantastique who famously referred to it in 1977 as "the Citizen Kane of horror films") and programmed to run as a second feature to 'Don't Look Now' (1973), it had great swathes of footage cut from it before release that were promptly lost and only recently and partially rediscovered. Since the '90s it has received the kind of praise lavished only on the likes of The Exorcist (1973) and its ilk. The tale of a man of strong Christian values coming up against Pagan devotees on a remote Scottish Island in an attempt to find a missing child, the film is a masterclass in mood and atmosphere, disturbing and uneasy from start to finish, it's only when the titular figure is finally glimpsed that the audience really has any idea what has been going on for the entire film. It's a slight shame that the terrifying blank face of The Wicker Man is cropped here but we get all of the other elements - there's Hammer legend Christopher Lee acting all elemental, there's a strange wooden structure behind him... what could that be? Hold on... is there a robed human being, reaching out uselessly for help in there? There is. There really is. With no idea of the film's content whatever this one will give you a shiver. Within the context of the narrative it's soul-destroying.