Film Review: The Wicker Man (1973)

When people are discussing the greatest horror films, they often mention the 1970s as the golden age of that particular genre. Big studios were eager to spend their money on them and brand new talents earned the respect of mainstream critics. As a result, many films from that period, like Spielberg's Jaws , Friedkin's The Exorcist and Carpenter's Halloween , became big commercial hits, critics' darlings and their reputations remained untarnished, even after a multitude of bad sequels or even worse rip-offs. In the shadow of these big horror films lies The Wicker Man , a 1973 low-budget British film by Robin Hardy, which remained almost unknown outside a small circle of horror genre aficionados.

The plot of the film begins when police sergeant Neil Howie played by Edward Woodward comes to Summerisle, a remote island off the western shores of Scotland. His task is to investigate the mysterious disappearance of a local girl. However, he finds out that the islanders are very uncooperative—they claim that the girl doesn't actually exist. Howie, who happens to be devout Christian, is even more shocked to find out that all the islanders not only tolerate open sexuality and similar un-Christian forms of behaviour, but also practise ancient pagan religion. Despite that, his zeal leads him to continue the investigation and the islanders reluctantly admit that the girl has died a few months ago. Howie doesn't take their word for granted; the empty grave found during the exhumation only validates his suspicions. Howie is even more disturbed with the prospect of the girl being alive, presu…

One of the reasons why The Wicker Man remained in relative obscurity until this day is its unconventionality. Hardy's film looks strange and unusual, not just by Hollywood standards, but also compared with the horror genre as a whole. Those who expect a straight horror film would be surprised with the way Hardy treats the story that would otherwise belong to cheap exploitation territory. Instead of shocking us with fear or gradually building suspense and terror, Hardy builds genuine drama by the strong contrast between two opposing worldviews. On one side we have Howie, who is supposed to be a conventional hero and embodiment of all that is decent and righteous in Western civilisation, and we sympathise with his struggle to establish law and order; on the other side, the pagan islanders are portrayed as a bunch of depraved savages that show almost sadistic pleasure in insulting our hero…

The Wicker Man , thus, must be praised as one of the rare horror films that allow viewers to think about important issues and make their own conclusions. Unfortunately, interesting ideas and thought-provoking script are somewhat downgraded by unpolished execution. Instead of using conventional musical soundtracks, Hardy employed the talents of Paul Giovanni and folk band Magnet or Lodestone . The songs, which might have been fashionable in the 1970s, look extremely outdated now and often cause unintentional laughter, turning this film into black comedy. The same effect is caused by the faux documentary style of showing the islanders' everyday life, including their religious practices at the end—which corresponds with the Blair Witch style producers' note in the film's opening title. On the other hand, thanks to sloppy editing, scenes that feature all-female nudity are not erotic at all.…

Sloppy editing and corny music are, on the other hand, compensated by the great acting talent of Edward Woodward, who would later gain charisma by playing the lead character in The Equalizer . The ordeal his character has to endure provided him with an opportunity to express a broad range of emotions—from initial revulsion towards paganism, inner struggle with his own sexual desires and final test of his beliefs at the end. His screen personality has dwarfed everyone else, including Christopher Lee who, when playing the island's unofficial leader, Lord Summerisle, uses more of his already established charisma of a Dracula-like elegant villain than any genuine acting effort. Britt Ekland and Ingrid Pitt, on the other hand, are here just to provide an adequate amount of T&A effort that failed, as noted above . Luckily, they don't slow down the plot, which proceeds very neatly and leaves t…

The Wicker Man is perhaps slightly flawed, but in its essence very intelligent and engaging film that definitely deserves more recognition. On the other hand, it might look somewhat insulting to Christians and pagans alike; other viewers might be disturbed by its content although incredibly tame for the cynical 1990s . For me, the most disturbing thing about The Wicker Man is the distinct possibility of this film being considered by some modern-day Hollywood hack producer as material for a 1990s-style remake—the fate that gives new meaning to the word 'horror'.

RATING: 8/10 +++

Note: The text in its original form was posted in Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.movies.reviews on December 28th 1999

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