What I Didn’t Like: The musical segments were a tad annoying
at first. It took me a little while to
get into the idea that music (in particular Celtic folk type music) plays a big
part in this. I’m not sure that it quite
works in the beginning because the mysterious unsettling mood that’s trying to
be set keeps getting interrupted by a folk song. But I have a feeling this will bother me less
with each viewing.
Overall Impression: Even though I had seen the 2006 remake
when it came out this is the first time I saw the original and wow, what a
totally unique and bizarre movie guys. I
get it now why this film has endured all of these years. You see, the ending is one of the worst kept
secrets in film history and so I figured the whole experience wouldn’t have
much of an impact because of that. Boy was
I wrong.
What makes The Wicker
Man (written by Anthony Shaffer (Frenzy,
Sleuth)) a cool as hell picture is how unabashedly strange it is when it
comes to the story and the characters. It’s
labeled as a horror movie but it doesn’t have very many horror film qualities
that we normally think of. This is about
a cop (Edward Woodward (The Equalizer
(TV))) that goes to a remote island to investigate the disappearance of a
little girl. When he gets there he
discovers almost immediately that the townspeople are fucking way out there. They have orgies outside in public, dace
around a bon fire naked, hang human flesh from trees, sell items like foreskin
in the local store and etc. It all stems
from their religion which involves a lot of sex and nature.
Since the cop is a devout Christian, and just not from the
island, he’s appalled by all of this.
You’re going on the journey with him into this whacked out world and for
him it’s a nightmare. Yes, we all know
about the physical pain at the end of the movie but there’s mental and
emotional pain throughout. The cop is slowly
being killed by metaphysical means for most of the picture. And even though he’s kind of an uptight
asshole we feel for him and don’t want to see him tortured like this.
This one turns horror on its ear and bypasses the typical
spooky atmosphere with dark shadows, gruesome creatures, eerie music and blood. You know how Eyes Wide Shut feels like a horror movie at times? The mood is off-putting just enough in scenes
like the orgy party and when Tom Cruise is being followed that it seems like
you’ve entered into some circle of hell for a moment. The
Wicker Man is like that except it’s pretty much the entire movie. Combine that with a strong and thought
provoking statement on religion and you’ve got a one-of-a-kind viewing
experience.
If you haven’t checked it out you probably should. As I said before, everyone knows the ending
but that’s far from all there is to it. You
could write a whole thesis on this thing really. But most of us aren’t going to do that so sit
back and take it in. If you’re looking
for something different, you got it.
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