Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(80)
4 star:		(32)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(17)

 

 

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.

There is a well known addage in movies that we all get what we have coming to us. The same can be said of this movie, whether in regards to the protagonist or the viewer his or herself. To begin with, I saw a version of the Wicker Man on video years ago and wouldn't have even given it a star for a rating. The story was chopped up so badly that I felt like the editor had gone to work on me instead. The limited edition presents the theatrical release and the 'European version' of the film. A big note of thanks should go to Anchor Bay for seeing that the story line makes better sense this time-and this goes for both versions.
To get down to it, this is a movie about sex, or the fertility rites of a certain island just west of Britain in the springtime. Edward Woodward does a fine job as a police inspector duty-tied to both his job and his religion. Everyone else, including Christopher Lee seems superflous, however. Oddly enough, this almost seems to work for the movie, which is in effect about unresolved sex and red herrings. Considering the overt sexuality and eroticism of the movie, I found the ending to be a little disturbing. The movie itself can be said to be a metaphor about the dangers of falling down the wrong rabbit hole after you have tried long and hard enough to do so.
Voyeurs be warned, there is no actual love making going on on screen. Yet, this is a very sexy and erotic movie, which I guess serves to make the ending more disturbing. Visually, this film is first class. Shot on location, the outside shots are gorgeous.
Wicker Man is not what you would call the most nailbiting of horror movies. The answer of whether our protagonist gets the ending suited to him will probably be found by asking the question of whether you deserved to sit and watch this film for its eighty some odd minutes. There are many better movies out there that deserved a limited edition release more than this one. The film that comes most to mind is "Vampire Circus", a movie that has consistently been rated highly by critics, and that has been conspicuously left unreleased by Anchor Bay. Hopefully they will come around and give THAT film the release it receives.

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. See this version, the classic Christopher Lee/Edward Woodward original.

Police Sgt. Howie (a young Woodward) receives a tip about a missing girl on Summerisle, a ficticious island in the north of Scotland. He takes a seaplane to the island where he is greeted very cooly by the locals. Strangely, none of the elders claim to know of the girl, Rowan Morrison. Howie is not disuaded and refuses to leave. He sets up in a local hotel to learn more about the island and the girl.

Nothing adds up, as he finds her desk at the school and her name in the school registers. Howie, a devout Christian, is horrified to find that there are no Christians on Summerisle -- only Pagans. Their rituals are strange and disgusting to him, and the local church is rundown and obviously unused for quite some time. The things he witnesses on Summerisle are some of the most interesting images in the film, making it a work of art and impossible for cinema fans to ignore.

Howie finds the grave of Rowan Morrison and wishes to exhume the body, but to do that he needs permission from the owner of the island, Lord Summerisle (Lee). Lee's presence in this film is magnificent. Some consider this to be the best work of his career. As Lord Summerisle, he is regal, mysterious and dignified. But is he guilty of obstructing justice, or even murder? And what is the secret history of Summerisle? And who sent Howie the tip about the missing girl, and why?

Howie's seaplane will not start and he cannot return to the mainland. As the plot twists and turns, and stranger and stranger things are witnessed by Sgt. Howie, he comes to believe that young Rowan is not dead, but soon will be. He aims to stop her sacrifice and comes face to face with the wicker man. (If you don't know what a wicker man is, look it up.) By the end of the movie, you will be haunted by the song "The Lord is My Shepherd" and the words, "Oh Jesus Christ!"

The horror in this movie is not blood, or monsters, or frights. It is the situations that Howie finds himself in. This movie is not for everybody. I know some people who watch it regularly, and others who have found it so chilling that they will never watch it again. My recommendation is, if you have not seen it yet, rent it first. Only then will you know if you have the fortitude to face The Wicker Man!

This DVD edition by Anchor Bay is excellent. Two cuts of the film are included. The extended cut features some of the once-lost footage that enhances the experience. The extended version is the version to watch. There is also documentary footage on the DVD, including speculation as to where the last, lost bits of film may be hidden!

The only thing about The Wicker Man that I find hard to swallow is some of the music. Music is critical to the film, but, let's face it...Britt Ekland can't sing.

This is a work of fiction. It is not meant to offend anybody. It is a simply a horror movie, or more accurately a thriller. The only thing offensive about The Wicker Man is that an American film studio thought it was a good idea to try to remake it!

And, keep your eyes peeled. Lord Summerisle as played by Christopher Lee will appear in the film The Wicker Tree, which is, apparently, "neither a sequel nor a remake" (whatever that means!).

5 stars. Be sure to check this one out at least once.

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 horror film making as art. The genius of this film is its ability to touch upon a theme that can historically and viscerally hit home to the viewer in its realism. A deeply religious and spiritual film, it challenges the viewer on an existential and moral level that few horror films ever dare to attempt, and if they do dare often veer into camp or nonsense.

A very unusual film, it addresses the nature of religion, faith and the testing of that faith, and the historical reality of religious martyrdom. This film in particular brings to life the ancient confrontation between paganism and Christianity, displaying the sharp contrast between their divergent world views.

This is a film that is also very well made. The story is well developed and thought out, the characters giving the viewer an emotional connection to them, particularly to the policeman played by Edward Woodward in what has to be the finest performance of his film career.

If someone was looking for a classic horror movie to view, this would be the one.

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.i won't give any of the
plot away,but i'll just say it is a mystery involving the occult and
paganism.it is a U.K movie which stars Edwaard Woodward and Christopher
Lee,and Britt Ekland.the creepiness factor is high in this movie and
the location really adds to it.if you expect to be terrified and jump
out of your skin,you should think again.this is not a horror movie in
the conventional sense.it is however very moody and mysterious and
there are some moments where your skin might crawl.one thing i really
like about this movie is it's unpredictability. you will have to have
patience while watching this movie,as it unfolds slowly,but is
definitely worth the wait.if you like movies with a slow buildup to
suspense,you will like The Wicker Man. 4/5

I can't remember the first time I saw this film, but the next day I started a search for a print of it.

Edward Woodward stars as the almost unsympathetic, pious, and determined officer who matches wits with Christopher Lee, in a marvelous role of the smiling, ever-reasonable villianous island cult leader. The entire community seems to be hiding the truth behind the disappearance of a young girl, even to the degree of at first denying her existence. The very conservative Christian representative of the law has walked into the middle of a very Pagan circle; this conflict has to be resolved. Initially, the audience may not be too sure who is playing with whom or why. The climax of the suspense is a twist where the hunter becomes the sacrificial hunted.

Incredibly, the suspense of the plot does not wear off with repeated viewings, thanks to the production values (hats off to all those involved, shooting outdoor spring scenes in November on the coast of Scotland!) and outstanding performances of the cast.

I knew, when I saw it the first time, that the version I had seen of it had been cut down; however, even at the "sliced salami" level, it was an extraordinary experience - and experience is the word. The film puts you right there in the midst of the puzzle. Over the years I found various cuts of the film, eagerly awaiting what might be reconstructed. (The only other film I can recall searching for this diligently is a "more complete" cut of Fritz Lang's "Metropolis.")

This special edition of "The Wicker Man" might well be as good as it gets. Certainly, the inclusion of the backstory of the film ("The Enigma of The Wicker Man") added to both the theatrical and extended versions makes this particular release worth having.

If you haven't seen the film, make the chance. It's not exactly horror, it's not exactly mystery - it's both. And then some. It's one of a kind. It's "The Wicker Man."

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. I was expecting a sort-of cheap gothic horror film (after all, Christopher Lee is in it) but I got something much better.

Edward Woodward plays a policeman from the Highland Police who has flown to the island of Summerisle to investigate a report of a missing girl. After discovering that just setting foot on the island is an adventure, Woodward is unable to find anyone who knows the girl who is missing. Even the girl's mother doesn't know who she is. A right puzzler. Forced to stay on the island, Woodward takes a room at the local tavern. Amidst the bawdy songs and lively music he begins to realize that the island folk are not quite what he is used to.

As his investigation takes him further along Woodward begins to suspect that the island is populated by sinners. By his definition he is right. The local population reverted back to their old religion during the early Victorian Era. They are now firmly entrenched in their old beliefs. To top it off it just happens to be May Day. Unable to drop the case, Woodward finds traces of the girl. He suspects that she is alive but captive and a soon-to-be sacrifice to restore the harvest. Woodward infiltrates the May Day celebration disguised as Punch. Then, at a crucial moment, he manages to grab the girl and flee. Then he learns the real truth.

From the opening credits showing the Scottish Isles and their sapphire waters and the accompanying Celtic music this movie is anything but a cheap horror film. Woodward plays the epitome of the Christian and the Authoritarian. Armored only with his belief in his god he must face a setting that, to him, is completely evil. Young girls being taught the significance of the maypole, naked women jumping through fire to help fertility, march hares in caskets and dozens of other examples. But it is Woodward who is the strange one. The people look at him as they would a simpleton. But Woodward, knowing that god and country are behind him, manages to keep going right to the conclusion of the film.

This classic confrontation of Christian against Pagan is so well done, framed by modern settings and Celtic music, that I can hardly say how good it is. Woodward's performance rivals his role in Breaker Morant and the young Christopher Lee's talent shows through so clearly that it is obvious why he was cast in so many roles. The story was written by the same man who brought us Hitchcock's Frenzy as well as the mystery Sleuth. If you have not seen this 1973 film, I urge you to do so.

visitng an island where people respond jovially to being brainwashed is quite a concept. the best example of a "mcguffin" ever. hedonists sacrifice an accomplished scottish police sgt. however the way his scottish colleagues spoke of him, they have still probably failed to realize he is missing. his attempt to instill any type of normalcy is quickly quelled in an orgy of obscurity.

if anyone knows the inn keeper's daughter's phone number, have her give me a ring.

a great dvd to reccommend at a party for sure, if you enjoy crookeye