I love the path this movie leads us on!
This film does something so genius. In a time when most horror movies end on a twist most people can see coming from miles away, this is one that actually pulls it off! I've watched The Wicker Man twice now and my horror is only heightened by the fact that you never see the end coming. Even with the viewer's assumption that the missing girl is going to be sacrificed by the villagers, the policeman Howie being the actual sacrifice is truly shocking because of the clever and subtle path the film takes the audience on.
The people, including Lord Summerisle himself, seem so open and friendly, even a little foolish and naive, that the audience members don't see the sinister end of the film coming. The events that happen and what Howie (and we the audience) witness: the Maypole dance and song, the nude dance over the fire, the parade at the end, seem so innocent and ridiculous that we have no reason or opportunity to mentally prepare ourselves for the horror that occurs. Us seeing what is absolutely going to happen at the same time as Howie makes the horror so much worse because the viewer has had no clear warning that he's to be the sacrifice. The film lays such a clever and subtle trap for him and us that we just don't see coming. Both times I've seen this film I find myself saying "Oh God, oh God!" at the revelation because the sudden and horrific truth is revealed in that one terrible, unforgettable shot.
Keeper of Rumpelstiltskin's walking stick
Lady Gold