Danger thrives in the dark. Picture a lone alleyway at night or an attic with a burnt-out bulb. Horror has long relied on our fear of that which we can’t see, of what might be lurking in the shadows, which is what makes the absence of light such a natural incitement for dread. However, Robin Hardy’s The Wicker Man, set almost entirely during the daytime on the cheery, sun-dappled fictional Scottish island of Summerisle, concluded with the frightening revelation that evil could no more easily be detected under the harsh glare of the sun.
