His Christian faith is tested by a seductive young woman who writhes naked against the wall of an adjoining bedroom. He finds the villagers mostly unwilling to give him straight answers to his questions. The broad outlines are recognizable: An uptight police officer enters a pagan community in a remote area of England to investigate a crime involving a young girl. It’s hard to explain how the book can be so similar and yet so different from the film it would eventually spark. Indeed, you only need to read the first couple of chapters to understand why Anthony Shaffer threw out all but the barest bones of the novel’s plot when constructing his screenplay. The general consensus is that Ritual is only notable for its connection to a much better work.
I’ve never seen an unequivocally good review of the book. Well, there’s a reason why it’s taken me until 2023 to read Ritual despite my obsession with all things folk horror.
#Ritual pinner movie#
It’s a highly watchable film, and it’s a musical! Britt Eklund sings a catchy song while thrashing around naked! You’d think any novel that inspired such a memorably quirky movie would make for a halfway decent read. So what of the novel that inspired the most beloved folk horror film of the so-called Unholy Trinity? I mean no disrespect to The Blood on Satan’s Claw or Witchfinder General, but it’s true that more people have seen or are familiar with The Wicker Man. Lee contacted Pinner, took him out to lunch, and Ritual was optioned. By the time The Wicker Man was made, Lee had already appeared in films about cults and Satan worship, including 1968’s The Devil Rides Out (based on a novel by Dennis Wheatley, no less). Lee, who was famous for his many starring turns in Hammer Horror movies, was naturally drawn to the novel’s occult themes.
#Ritual pinner full#
Unfortunately, the director who had originally encouraged Pinner’s film idea lost interest upon reading the full screenplay, but Pinner’s agent suggested that he turn the story into a novel instead.Ĭonsidering the pop culture landscape at the time, it should be no surprise that it was Christopher Lee who thought Ritual would make a great film.
Ritual was initially conceived as a film that would combine the conventions of detective fiction–a reliably bankable genre–with occult-based horror, which experienced a wave of popularity in the 1950s and ‘60s.īy Pinner’s own account, his story was inspired by the works of Dennis Wheatley and Robert Graves, whose writings had a massive influence on the modern folk horror genre. The author is a British stage actor who has also written a handful of plays and novels. First up is the 1967 novel by David Pinner, Ritual, which served as the inspiration for the film. In honor of this landmark year, I thought I’d take a look at a few works that are either directly or indirectly related. This year marks the 50-year anniversary of the release of The Wicker Man, the 1973 folk horror classic by director Robin Hardy and screenwriter Anthony Shaffer.
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