It's disconcerting to see Sharon Tate in a film about a bloodthirsty pagan cult as someone working for that cult. I didn't know much about this film and it probably should be better known especially as the much adored Wicker Man seems to have ripped off it's premise - an old rural area run by an aristocrat pays homage to pagan Gods and when the crops start to fail the locals want blood. Mind you, this story seems to have ripped off a few stories itself - notably Rebecca, which ripped off Jane Eyre (gothic castle, woman not sure what mysterious man of the manor is up to, a secret, someone trying to drive lady of the house mad), plus a bit of The Innocents thrown in (creepy kids).
The movie is set in France and is about French people but feels more English with the aristocrats being played by David Niven, Deborah Kerr, and Flora Robson, with locals including Tate, David Hemmings and Edward Mulhare. But you know what? I went with it.
It's a fantastic cast - Niven and Kerr play their parts with complete conviction (Vincent Price normally got these sort of roles, its interesting to mentally compare them), Pleasance is scary as always, and Hemmings and Tate are genuinely unsettling. This might be Tate's most effective performance - she isn't required to do a lot of acting, just look beautiful and mysterious and she really pulls it off; she has a haunting quality about her. Hemmings is also ideal as her creepy bow wielding brother.
I felt it could have done with a few more shock scenes - as in bad stuff to actually happen. Pleasance felt wasted and I kept expecting Mulhare to do something. Also I do feel the story would've worked better with a younger female lead - Kerr seems too sensible.
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