Harefooted Halloween: The Wicker Man

What I Liked: Almost everything.

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.