Wicker Man [2 Discs] [Widescreen & Wooden Box]

 

 

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The film is obviously "researched" for it's paganism, and not felt by someone who understands what reverence for the land really is. The writer suggests that without christianity we can have no morals and we behave like wild animals, worse actually, having no sence of wrong about murder. There are many elements of our historic religion here, the may pole, the hobby horse, reverence of animal spirits, but they are strung together in a logic that does not jive, and skewed and twisted through a heavy modern (60's) lens of misunderstanding.

The film should not be rated R, and should not be called a horror film, as it is not scarey or gorey. It is in my opinion a drama with a rating of M for mature. It does have several sexual scenes, though modern films are much more explicit.

It starts out very realistic, as the policeman flies over the islands and lands at Summerisle, meeting cagey old Scotsmen. It's true these islanders are very suspicious of outsiders and tight lipped. But from there it gets more and more unbelieveable. No way this could happen in the tightly religious Scottish western isles. There were pagan customs going on on the very remote North Rona Island as late as the 18th century but mixed in in with christian religious customs. Now that would be an interesting subject for a film. ALso on the ficticious SummerIsle, the ammount of veneration for fertility and sexual promiscuity would create far more children on the isle. In the past one in 5 women died in childbirth. I find it very unprobable that people would promote pregnancy with such religious vigour when the reality involves death, self sacrifice and a lot of hard work.

ALso, there is no real proof that the Celts and Gauls ever did human sacrifice inside a wicker effigy. This may have been propoganda spread by Ceasar and his legions to encourage hatred and disgust for those peoples. I find the use of the lovely medieval spring song "Sumer is a'Cumin In" during the burning of the wicker man to be in extremely poor taste.

The Wicker Man is a film about a pious Catholic sergeant's visit to a small island off the coast of Scotland called the Island of Summerisle. His name is Neil and he is there to investigate the disappearance of a girl. His investigation reveals that the island is enamored with a neo-pagan religion. They worship the sun instead of Jesus. They engage in pagan fertility rituals instead of Neil's proud pre-marital chastity. They believe in reincarnation where the Christian canon Neil is devoted to does not. As if the islanders are telepathically connected, Neil receives absolutely no help from anyone in his investigation. He gradually puts together more and more details about the inhabitants' practices and is suspicious of everyone.

A May Day festival approaches and Neil becomes concerned that the girl who is missing may indeed be the latest sacrifice to appease nature. But as the Island owner Lord Summerisle reveals, Neil too is a virgin and is both wise and foolish. He comes as a king representing Her Majesty's government. He also arrives to a place of sacrifice by his own free will. The final sequence of the Wicker Man is the ultimate warning toward blind faith. Anyone who misses the point here, like the makers of the 2006 remake of the Wicker Man did, will clearly find little resolution in the end but others willing to enjoy and exercise their imagination a little bit will have much to mull over.

The film's music is one of its strengths and the detail of the pagan references and how they are convenient roots to many Christian traditions (i.e. Easter icons and Beltane or May Day) help to make the overall vision of the Wicker Man even more compelling. All of the elements within the film melt together and everyone working it must've understood these ideas in perspective.

The funny thing about the Wicker Man is it is often referred to as a Horror film. There really isn't anything else to call it but it is almost too unique and exceptional to be deemed a horror film. It isn't scary like a typical horror film is. It doesn't elicit fear and disgust the way all other horror films have. There are no zombies, vampires or murdering sociopaths. There are no supernatural forces and there is little blood to be spilled. It isn't characterized by that one note creepy music or menacing Hitchcockian suspense. It doesn't rely on knives and masked killers stalking in the night. It doesn't even need a seemingly indestructible villain. The Wicker Man is a film that relies exclusively on its all encompassing atmosphere and it also relies on our own understandings of religion and faith. It is sunny, it is bright, it is cheerful, but for all of the wrong reasons to many of us. It is compelling all throughout. Somehow on this island paganism resurfaced and the worshippers are fiercely and irrationally devout. That point's layers of commentary aside, the Wicker Man is very much a horror film and it is probably more intelligent than any other movies within its genre.

"The Wicker Man" is yet another cult film that delivers much less than it promises. The problem is that the director - despite being the writer's friend! - doesn't understand how to turn a script that's almost all atmosphere and "suggestion" into an effectively scary film.

A Sturges or Mankiewicz script has almost everything spelled out in the dialog; even an incompetent director couldn't totally ruin it. But a mystery/horror film that builds to a surprise ending needs to start that build at the very beginning and not let up. "The Wicker Man"'s direction is far too flat and literal for this to occur. And when the trap is sprung (so to speak) at the end, the film slogs to its conclusion, rather than rushing to its violent shock ending.

"The Wicker Man" would have been far more effective had it had been directed by Jacques Tourneur, who repeatedly demonstrated he knew how to scare an audience without actually showing anything. Take, for example, "Curse of the Demon." Even without the "literal" beginning and ending tacked on by the producer, the film is creepily suggestive and even frightening, even though we see little of the supernatural - until the end.

Another good example is "Mimic." The basic idea is so preposterous that the film can work only on atmosphere - and del Toro delivers. The build-up is so effective that we accept the ridiculous, biologically impossible monsters when they appear.

The two-disk "Wicker Man" set contains the heavily cut theatrical release on the first disk, along with an excellent documentary about the making of the film. The transfer is crisp, with very clean, natural color. The second disk is the longer, less-heavily-cut cut, with the deleted scenes inserted from a 1" videotape transfer of that version. The insertions are plainly visible, with no attempt to sharpen the image or correct the color balance.

The deluxe set comes in a nice wooden box. Perhaps, when your pet gerbil dies, you could put him in the box and incinerate it.

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5.0 out of 5 stars A Horror Classic of the Highest Degree

The Wicker Man is one of the greatest horror films ever made. Directed brilliantly by Robin Hardy and starring Edward Woodward, this film is one of the finest examples of... Read more

Published 13 months ago by A. Wheeler

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the ten movies I would take on a desert isalnd (with electricity :-)
Not scary at all and not a horror movie at all... beautiful images, beautiful music and a wonderful reflexion about life, instinct, pulsions, spiritual practices and how... Read more

Published 14 months ago by Mellinger Dominique

5.0 out of 5 stars A Chilling Classic
Please, whatever you do -- do not see the Nicholas Cage "remake" (I use that term loosely) of The Wicker Man. Do not waste your time. Read more

Published 24 months ago by LeBrain

4.0 out of 5 stars moody ,mysterious and suspenseful and weird(in a good way)
this is a different movie,to say the least.it's very low key.you won't
get a lot of loud noise or music in this one. Read more

Published on Sep 14 2007 by falcon

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautifully crafted film gets its well-deserved re-editing!
I can't remember the first time I saw this film, but the next day I started a search for a print of it. Read more

Published on July 2 2004 by D. K. Hingle

5.0 out of 5 stars Truly a Great Film
Last week I had the chance to sit down and watch this truly excellent movie. The Wicker Man stars Edward Woodward, Christopher Lee and Britt Ekland. Read more

Published on Jun 24 2004 by Joshua Koppel

5.0 out of 5 stars one way ticket
visitng an island where people respond jovially to being brainwashed is quite a concept. the best example of a "mcguffin" ever. Read more

Published on Jun 22 2004 by Ashley Allinson

5.0 out of 5 stars Truly A Great Film
I have just seen this movie end five minutes ago and will proclaim that this is the shortest period of time before I wrote a review of a movie after watching it. Read more

Published on Jun 1 2004 by S. Koropeckyj

5.0 out of 5 stars The greatest thriller/ musical ever about human sacrifice!
This movie works on so many levels that it more than makes up for being somewhat dated. Don't be put off by the VERY low-budget production values and you'll be able to appreciate... Read more

Published on May 31 2004 by J. L. Peppers

5.0 out of 5 stars get away from the ordinary an open your mind
This is a cult film , in a good way . It has such a great sense of intelligence and atmosphere , great acting , fine script and will remain with you . Read more

Published on May 18 2004 by A C SHIELDS

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