When Sergeant Howie, a staunch Christian, goes to the remote Hebridean island of Summerisle to follow up on an anonymous claim that a young girl has gone missing, he thinks his investigation will be a straightforward one. He could not be more wrong. None of the islanders claim to know the missing girl, not even her own mother and sister. Yet the behaviour of the islanders, including the laird of Summerisle, suggests that they know more than they are letting on. They certainly have some very strange religious practices which are far from being Christian. When the Sergeant finally finds the grave of the missing girl, he orders it to be dug up...only to find that there is no body in it, at least not a human one. Thwarted at every turn, Sergeant Howie decides to leave the island and report the case to his superiors. But the villagers have other ideas...

Sergeant Howie is played by Edward Woodward and I found him completely believable as a dedicated policeman just trying to do his job although all around him are hindering him. Bearing in mind the madness that is going on around him, this could have been a very difficult role to pull off, but Woodward manages it with aplomb, convincing me, at least, that the islanders are all off their heads. Another good performance comes from Christopher Lee of Hammer Horror fame, who plays Lord Summerisle. Lee almost managed to convince me that the islanders' practices are quite normal - if Woodward's performance hadn't been as good as it was, I certainly would have been persuaded.

I've seen this film referred to mainly as a horror film. However, there is very little in it that persuades me it is horror and it is really a hotchpotch of several genres. A large part of the first half of the film is made up of a series of folk songs and dancing - so much that I initially thought it was going to be a musical. Then there is a good dollop of psychological thriller, whereby we are not completely sure what is going to happen. Finally, there is a bit of comedy in there too - at least, I think the viewer needs a good sense of humour in order to stomach some of the naked dancing, sex scenes and mad dressing up that go on. Talk about the age of free love!

There is quite a lot in this film to offend if you are easily offended (in which case, don't watch!). There are a number of animals seen suffering or dead, which will upset some, although none of the scenes are particularly graphic and I doubt that any animals were actually harmed. There are also a number of scenes of nude women dancing and some of simulated sex. Personally I found these scenes more funny than anything else, but you may like to ensure that young children aren't watching at the same time! I guess if you are very religious, there is a lot to upset too.

Running time: 1 hour and 24 minutes