A comment more perceptive than you might have realised.

There was a suggestion that this film was based on a book called "Ritual" by David Pinner. He was the Detective in "The Mousetrap" and had plenty of time in between scenes! The book's story is essentially similar to "The Wicker Man" except it was based in a Cornish Village.

Christopher Lee, Anthony Shaffer and Peter Snell, (who commissioned the film orginally) put in £5,000 each to secure the rights to "Ritual". In the end Shaffer says little came from the book. Though the - well let's call it the Britt Ekland scene - clearly comes from the book.

It was set in Western Scotland because it needed a centrepiece of a group of people who were isolated from mainstream society and where the climate would be suitable for growing apples. The West of Scotland seemed an ideal location - warmed as it is by the Gulf Stream.

In the end Dumfries and Galloway was used with a variety of locations in the area. The garden's are Logan Botanical Gardens and the castle is Culzean.