566. The Wicker Man (1973)

Running Time: 88 minutes
Directed By: Robin Hardy

Written By: Anthony Shaffer
Main Cast: Edward Woodward, Christopher Lee, Diane Cilento, Britt Ekland, Ingrid Pitt
Click here to view the trailer

FRIGHTFEST 2012: PART 1

Originally I was going to do this year's "Frightfest" as a one day movie marathon, but, at the last minute, decided to spread the five horror movies that I have scheduled out, over the course of the next week. I kicked things off with a movie that was remade in 2006, to much less acclaim - "The Wicker Man".

The film begins with a small plane flying over a body of water and approaching an island, that we'll later be able to identify as Summerisle. We learn that the plane is carrying Sergeant Howie (Woodward), who is coming to the island on official business after receiving a letter requesting his presence, to help solve the disappearance of Rowan Morrison. Sergeant Howie is welcomed to the island, but coldly and without open arms. When he passes a picture of Rowan around to the elder men, waiting for him at the docks, they all deny ever seeing Rowan Morrison and guarantee that she "isn't one of theirs". However, they do acknowledge that the woman claiming to be her mother, in the letter, runs the local post office. When Howie goes to see her, she denies having a daughter named Rowan and introduces the Sergeant to her actual daughter. At every turn, Sergeant Howie is met with resistance from the locals, with everyone denying even the existence of Rowan Morrison. Meanwhile, Sergeant Howie finds much in the way of strange behavior on the island of Summerisle, an island that seems to be obsessed with worshiping sex, nature and pagan Gods. Howie struggles with this because he is a Christian man and is set in his beliefs.

This was a rather mild way to kickoff this year's "Frightfest", but it's better to start small and work our way up. I say "small" not because of the stature or quality of the film, but because I wouldn't necessarily group it with traditional horror films.  For me, the most appealing part of "The Wicker Man" was that it was both a horror movie and a murder mystery and took both of those elements very seriously, never selling out the murder mystery element for a cheap thrill. The film is also quite unlike a traditional horror film because the acting is actually top notch. Christopher Lee, who would go on years later to find fame in the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, has cited Lord Summerisle as his most favorite character and "The Wicker Man" as his best movie. Edward Woodward was also very good as Sergeant Howie and despite not knowing him beforehand, I can't imagine anyone else doing a more convincing job.

It surprised me to see how odd this film was and realize that Hollywood actually attempted to remake this one, starring Nicolas Cage. I'd actually like to see that version, just to witness the inevitable car crash that it must be. This will not be an easy film to forget. Certain scenes were more shocking than scary - naked women crying and having orgies in the cemetary, Britt Ekland dancing naked in her bedroom, festival goers wearing animal heads as symbolism. If I had to complain about anything (which I do), I've got to say that I hated all the musical numbers. After a while it just got really annoying and had they cut down on that, I'd have received it a lot better. Also, if I wanted to (which I don't), I could choose to rip apart the ending. If I wanted to, I could say that it was too unbelievable that they'd summon Sergeant Howie to Summerisle just to sacrifice him to their Gods. If that were the case and Rowan was never missing, then why didn't they all just jump on him, as soon as he got off his plane, tie him up and hold him until the May Day Celebrations? Why did they allow him to investigate a fake disappearance and be forced to deal with his questioning and peeking into their rituals and habits? I mean, it was an entire island of them against one of them! But, I'm not going to do that, because what's a good movie without the suspension of disbelief. It wasn't THAT unbelievable and because you have to, I just went with it. Everything else is pretty spot on though, the ending totally worked for me, the acting was superb (which is rare for a horror film) and it will be a very hard film to try and forget...not that I'd want to.

RATING: 7/10  We'll play it safe for now, but I could see that rating rising with the upcoming monthly RECAP.

MOVIES WATCHED: 558
MOVIES LEFT TO WATCH: 443

October 24, 2012  10:24am