"You Will Never Understand The True Nature of Sacrifice...." (The Wicker Man [1973] (DVD))

Member Name: Sarah_Louise

Product:	The Wicker Man [1973] (DVD)
Date:	22/05/04 (678 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Unusual "horror" movie , Unexpected ending, Interesting

Disadvantages: Its simply not scary enough for my liking!

Horror tends to be my favourite genre. I don?t know why. I usually end up hiding behind the nearest pillow/cussion/arm/person/delete as appropriate. But for some reason or another I feel drawn to scaring myself sh*tless.

I guess its usually because a lot of horrors tend to be gory. And as I have a gruesome fascination?.

You can fit the rest together yourselves.

It is because of this that I don?t usually bother watching older horror films. Not only have I usually seen most of the ?scary? scenes on such programmes as ?The Top 100 Scariest Movies? type programmes but also because they?re older, the graphics just don?t live up to my life-like expectations.

The Wicker Man was released 10 years before I graced this Earth (in 1973). Normally I wouldn?t be in too much of a rush to see a film of this age. However, as I?ve been interested in witchcraft all of my life and have dabbled in such arts in the past, I thought I?d watch it to see just how far-fetched and un-lifelike this film was.

It was shown on TV a couple of months back. I?ve been meaning to review it ever since but you know how it is, real life takes over and review writing gets postponed. Still, better late than never!


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~ Introduction ~
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To some, The Wicker Man represents one of the best horror films of all times. To others it is merely the best British horror film. I figured it must be at least pretty good to be viewed so highly. Whether it lived up to my (high) expectations or not is irrelevant in this part of the review.

For those who don?t know, here?s some background information.

The Wicker Man is based on a remote island, Summerisle. It is of course fictional but it was fil
med on the West Coast of Scotland.
http://www.scotlandthemovie.com/movies/fwicker man.html
This island is extremely secluded. Transport to and from the island is in the form of plane or boat so they don?t get many visitors.
The island is owned by Lord Summerville. He has a house on the island which is, shall we say, different!

At this point, the mainlanders know very little about the inhibitors of Summerisle. There are of course rumours about them but that is all they are ? rumours. As its difficult to access and not many people visit the island, no know knows much about the place.

It is only when the Police on the mainland hear of a girl (Rowan Morrison) going missing on Summerisle that they send an Officer over to investigate the disappearance. It is at this point that the police realise all is not quite as it seems on Summerisle. When the Officer goes to meet Lord Summerisle at his house (which is surrounded by phallic-shaped hedges), the Officer soon realises that the rumours may well in fact have some truth to them. Namely, the inhabitants of Summerisle were different to those on the mainland.

The locals remain uncooperative as regards to Rowan?s disappearance. Sergeant Howie finds it difficult to get any sense out of the locals, never mind any leads. He resorts to researching the island and the locals in books found in the library. It is only through reading these books that he learns about the May Day Festival. It seems the Summerisle inhabitants follow the Pagan religion. He reads about this Festival and realises that many people following this religion take part in ritual sacrifice. He puts two and two together and comes to the conclusion that the locals are planning to sacrifice Rowan.

In amongst some group sex and other ritua
ls, he plots a cunning plan to save Rowan from this fateful end.

The question is. Does he succeed in saving her?

You?ll just have to watch to find out! This film is the type that would be ruined completely if I told you how it ended so I?ll refrain.

All I?ll say is that its an unusual ending.


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~ Conclusion ~
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On the whole, this film was more interesting than scary. In fact it didn?t scare me at all. It isn?t particularly gory and it doesn?t make you jump. It doesn?t have you hiding behind the nearest pillow/cushion/arm/person (delete as appropriate). So, for a horror, I must admit to being disappointed. It just didn?t ?do it? for me. Having said that, for a film, it was interesting. (And like I say, its unusual too).

Like I said earlier, I have dabbled in Paganism/Wicca/Witchcraft in the past. I must say, this film is largely based on fiction. Widespread and regular ritual sacrifice of children (and indeed anyone/thing) is not common.

I wouldn?t bother watching this film again I don?t think. As I now know the ending it will ruin the whole film (hence me not saying how it ends in this op).

The film, on the whole, was eerie and when you consider that there is truth in the film (i.e. ritual sacrifice has and does still occur, just not all that often thankfully). It?s more unsettling than scary though.

The acting is of a high standard in this film in my opinion, the Sergeant (Edward Woodward) plays a brilliant part. He appears genuinely uncomfortable with the activities of the islands? inhabitants.

The music was very much centred around the music you?d expect to find on such an island ? i.e. folk songs. I couldn?t tell you what the songs were called or wh
o they were by other than the traditional May Pole song that is often sung on May Day.

This film could easily offend some people as it is deemed as being the first of its kind in many ways. It advertises sexual promiscuity, ritual sacrifice and deceipt. Having said that, the final scene does involve scenes of animals being part of the sacrifice with the fateful Wicker Man. As I am a HUGE animal lover and absolutely abide any kind of animal cruelty, this film, although unsettling, did not offend me. However, I just thought I?d warn those of you who may be likely to be offended by such a film.


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Where can I get a copy?
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As this film is 21 years old now you may not be able to pick it up all that easily. However, Amazon.co.uk stock it currently. You can get the DVD for £7.97. I?ve never seen this though so I couldn?t tell you what extra features you get (if any).


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~ The after effect ~
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As previously mentioned, this film is now deemed as a cult. The film has its own fan club and its own followers.

There is also a real-life Wicker Man Festival held in Scotland which is deemed as being ?Scotland's Alternative Music, Dance and Arts Festival?and ?Fun, Fire and Freedom?
(Tickets are available for £30 (day ticket) or £40 (advanced weekend ticket including camping!) ? NB. I?ve never been. I simply found this on http://www.thewickermanfestival.co.uk


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~ Further info ~
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A comprehensive guide to the film (from start to finish) can be found here:
http://www.tylwythteg.com/WI
CKERMAN/Wicker 7;an.html


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~ Boring Bits ~
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Directed by: Robin Hardy
Running time: 102 mins
Released: 1973
Music composed by: Paul Giovanni

Cast:
Edward Woodward: Sergeant Neil Howie
Christopher Lee: Lord Summerisle
Britt Ekland: Willow

Summary: