Written and directed by Rupert Russell, delves into the real-life killing of Charles Walton in 1945, the terrifying event that inspired The Wicker Man and birthed the folk horror genre. Exploring how reality and fiction merged as witchcraft entered the British psyche.
When you think of how supernatural elements have influenced the media and inspired fear in the heart of the public, what comes to mind is probably Satanic panic in the US, rather than little British towns worried about whether their neighbours are witches. That’s part of the draw of The Last Sacrifice, particularly through the use of archive footage, to see how the public developed a fear of witchcraft. Although it is particularly satisfying to see one woman make the wise point that the fear simply stems from lack of knowledge, it’s lovely to see people acknowledge that today, let alone several decades ago.
In that sense, Rupert Russell does a good job of blending together real life footage and a whole host of clips from different cult films from British history, which make for a good watchlist if you haven’t seen them already. However, that’s not the story The Last Sacrifice was trying to tell, if this was simply an exploration of occultism in Britain, that would work but using the murder of Charles Walton sadly doesn’t work. What we end up with is a documentary that veers off on tangents while very loosely trying to tie it back to the murder and not really succeeding.
Especially because the story ultimately has nowhere to go, they’re presenting some theories and then taking a lot of time to explore the themes behind those theories, and never quite bringing them together. It’s also tricky to tell a story definitively when it’s not possible, the Charles Walton case is unsolved to this day. Resulting in a combination of interesting information, albeit presented in perhaps an overly orchestrated fashion, Russell makes a keen effort to lean into an atmospheric style, but without much to tie it together. So, while the tone is good and there’s some strong material, it can feel like it’s going in circles.
The Last Sacrifice has a good concept but sadly there just isn’t enough material to bring it all together satisfyingly. You don’t truly get a tale of how this grisly murder inspired the burgeoning folk horror scene in Britain, other than its strong connection to The Wicker Man, its all fairly loose and wandering. There are some interesting anecdotes and footage to be found on witchcraft and covens in the UK but it’s a touch repetitive and too generalised, there’s no true driving force to bring this together.
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