Private Project

The Last Sacrifice

The Last Sacrifice delves into the real-life 1945 witchcraft killing of Charles Walton—the terrifying event that inspired The Wicker Man and birthed the folk horror genre. This unsettling true-crime interrogation probes into the eerie, enigmatic cultural undercurrents that shaped 1970's folk horror genre, leaving an indelible mark on cinema and public psyche. The Last Sacrifice uncovers an unflinching portrayal of Britain's profound identity crisis, both during the tumultuous early 1970s and the resurgence of folk horror today, ominously coinciding with yet another national descent into madness. Its conclusion: The Wicker Man is more fact than fiction.

  • Rupert Russell
    Director
    Price Wars (feature doc), Freedom For The Wolf (feature doc), How The World Went Mad (doc-series)
  • Rupert Russell
    Writer
    Price Wars (feature doc), Freedom For The Wolf (feature doc), How The World Went Mad (doc-series)
  • Sam Cryer
    Producer
    Disasters Engineered (doc series), She Will (feature film), Hurst: The First and Only (feature doc)
  • Professor Ronald Hutton
    Key Cast
  • Janet Farrar
    Key Cast
  • Simon Read
    Key Cast
  • Geraldine Beskin
    Key Cast
  • Jonathan Rigby
    Key Cast
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Feature
  • Genres:
    Documentary, Horror
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 30 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    July 13, 2024
  • Production Budget:
    360,000 GBP
  • Country of Origin:
    United Kingdom
  • Country of Filming:
    Ireland, United Kingdom
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Black & White and Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Rupert Russell

Rupert Russell is an award-winning documentary filmmaker whose work tackles the many ways human madness manifests itself. From the madness of war in Iraq, Somalia, and Ukraine in Price Wars, to the madness of the Trump phenomenon in How the World Went Mad, The Last Sacrifice delves into the madness of the British, past and present.

Add Director Biography