Hello, a friend and I were talking about Halloween which led to us talking about horror movies we wanted to watch such as Midsommar. It reminded me of a movie I had seen on TV that I really enjoyed but cannot remember the name of and now we both want to watch it again. These are all the details I can remember as I watched it quite a few years ago but hopefully someone can help me!
The movie began with a group of girls scouting out a bar for men. A man who had been through some trauma (can’t remember what it was) went against his typical behavior and slept with the young girl never to be seen or heard from again. Until a few years later when he is contacted and told he is a father. He is invited to the girls island to meet the child and to celebrate in a pagan holiday (I believe it was a celebration to have a good spring harvest but I remember it being misty and there were a lot of things that remind me of a May Day celebration). He arrives and it’s all pale women in white dresses and men who do lots of hard labor while the children run around playing with sticks and such. The whole movie he is treated like a guest of privilege but rarely spends time with his kid (I feel like I remember it being a little girl but I am not sure). He is just constantly told there will be a big celebration soon and people are really excited for it. Time of the celebration comes and the man is locked inside a giant wooden statue (I feel like it was in the shape of a herd animal or a man) and set on fire but he escapes.
I know this sounds a lot like The Wicker Man but I keep watching and reading the synopses of both the older and newer version and it doesn’t ring any bells. If anything felt more like Apostle (2018) than the 1970s Wicker Man, just with the way I remember the movie having darker lighting and seeming more dull and misty also the women in the wicker man were far too 70s, these women were more like modern women but with no reliance on techonology, similar hair styles rather than overly coiffed hair like in the 70s wicker man. It was an older movie (definitely made at least 20 years ago) with the male lead looking similar to Mel Gibsoon’s and Liam Neeson’s current appearance but made in like the 90s or something in the early 2000s. The movie was made with actors that are most likely still in their prime and was made to show the island as having absolutely no contact with the outside world, very very separated from reality. It gave me a sense of Amish children’s night out in society only to return as though it never happened save for the pregnancies. I believe I remember animal masks but nothing very colorful, just dull to make the movie seem not as scary as it was.
I would really appreciate any help! Thank you! I’m sure what I remember doesn’t make a lot of sense but any help would be VERY welcome!
Sounds like the Nicolas Cage remake of the wickerman. He goes to the island after his ex contacts him to tell him his daughter has gone missing.
Darklands?
https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0127500/