1973 Directed by Robin Hardy
Police sergeant Neil Howie is called to an island village in search of a missing girl whom the locals claim never existed. Stranger still, however, are the rituals that take place there.
Edward Woodward Christopher Lee Britt Ekland Ingrid Pitt Diane Cilento Lindsay Kemp Aubrey Morris Russell Waters Irene Sunters Roy Boyd Ian Campbell Walter Carr John Hallam Barbara Rafferty Tony Roper John Sharp Donald Eccles Robin Hardy Gerry Cowper Jennifer Martin Richard Wren Fiona Kennedy Lesley Mackie Myra Forsyth Penny Cluer Peter Brewis Leslie Blackater Juliet Cadzow Helen Norman Show All…
O Homem de Palha, Anthony Shaffer's The Wicker Man, The Wicker Man: The Final Cut, The Wickerman, De Gevlochten God
The Wicker Man is perhaps one of the best atmospheric horror films ever made. It is never scary, but it sure is frightening and filled with dread.
Director Hardy seems intent to achieve one thing and that is to immerse his audience in an unsettling and bizarre atmosphere and from that atmosphere create all the dramatic tension this story needs. He achieves this by strongly juxtaposing protagonist and antagonist and by using music a lot, always brilliantly.
It is paced slowly and deliberately, accompanying the methodical research of Woodward's protagonist beautifully. It takes a long time to get where it needs to go, which is excellent as it is consistently intriguing. When it finally reaches its conclusion, I was (again,…
The Wicker Man always makes me feel uneasy and the overall oddness/whacky pacing that many see as a negative only enhance the experience for me—especially since it takes place on my birthday.
Folk horror royalty.
Terrifying.
I mean, as if there wasn't already enough pressure to lose your virginity.
Ghoul Britannia - The British Horror Month
In his fantastic mini-series of documentaries, A History Of Horror, back in 2010 Mark Gatiss coined the term 'folk horror' to describe films like The Wicker Man - he also cited Blood On Satan's Claw and The Witchfinder General as two other examples.
As much as I think it's the perfect term for a film like this (I think also something like The Last Great Wilderness could also qualify), The Wicker Man was something different to me. To me it was more about the absurdities of faith both past and present.
Of course, being a major league latecomer to this film, I'm quite sure that multiple essays, articles and reviews have been written…
Edward Woodward is SO FUCKING GOOD as an uptight pig who is offended by everything, loved watching him yell at children, knock stuffed animals in lewd positions to the ground in a huff, and scoff at anything/everything he deems pagan. The slapping sounds on the walls during Willow's song, with her nude body double, made me cackle because it's so ridiculous, but it's not nearly as outlandish as Christopher Lee's hair.
Classic old school horror with its own unique style. Slow at timed, vut with enough mystery and weirdness to be utterly memorable. Wish it was more recognized today. (Please see this one before the Nick Cage version. While that film is one of the best comedies of all time, it will seriosly impact your enjoyment of this.)
Ok, great, naked dancing ladies. I can acknowledge that the premise of this film might be "dark" and I admire that it solely relies on atmospheric horror, but when your film takes around over an hour to build up to something, all the while being extremely slow and meandering, it's just not good. I literally fell asleep watching the first half of the movie, incredibly boring. Atmosphere and depth do not mean jack shit if you can't make me stay awake to see it. The ending was strong, well done, the rest of the film was absolutely boring. Not invested in any of the characters at all. Take a moment to distance yourself from the "intellects" who praise this movie so much and step in the shoes of an average viewer for once, are naked dancing ladies really THAT eery and disturbing? Did you truly feel entertained by this movie?
An incredible commentary on religion; the extremes of it, the dangers of unwavering faith over logic, and the hypocrisy of Christianity.
You don't notice while watching, but the juxtaposition between the police officer and the pagans becomes clear in almost every scene upon reflection. Both of their strong beliefs in what the director sees as fantastical God's, who's powers are only true in stories, leads to their own demise. Even if the officers was coming from a good place, he wasn't thinking logically. And for the pagans, their failure to realize the plants on the island aren't meant to be there, will lead to their own potential hunger...
Despite the calculated picking apart of religion, I do enjoy how the…
Woodward is perfectly uptight as the pompous, presumptuous representative of Christianity butting against old religion; weird and wonderful, despite the lag of the overly folksy opening and protracted climax slightly diminishing the impact.
I’m well aware this is considered a bona fide classic and I’m committing cinematic heresy by saying otherwise .....
But I found this hard work, not particularly interesting and at no point scary.
It’s an old film but that doesn’t mean it has to be so dated for example The Exorcist is still unsettling and disturbing.
Another ‘classic’ from the 70s I’ve seen that has nowhere near lived up to the hype
Oscar Lau 1,000 films
The 15th and the latest edition of TSPDT's 1,000 Greatest Films www.theyshootpictures.com/gf1000.htm The complete list of "1,001-2000" is available HERE.
Jack 380 films
Films that leave you visibly shaken; masterclasses in building tension that make you truly feel anxious for whatever is happening…
Peter Stanley 1,222 films
All the films from all the editions, including those subsequently removed, presently totalling 1222. An easy way of seeing how…
