The original, 1973 version of The Wicker Man is one of my favourite movies. Like many fans of the original, I would dearly love to forget the abomination that was the 2006 “remake” with Nicholas Cage… (Oh, God! Not the bees!!!)

Apart from the most obvious references to the plot of the movie itself, there is also the notion that sooner or later, our basic instincts to kill one another always have to be sublimated in one form or another. Indeed, I’ve always contended that for all the talk about ‘inner peace’ and ‘the way and the light’, our true Gods of choice have always been Moloch and Mars.

Both of these deities are always hungry, and, of course, always demand human sacrifice…