THE WICKER MAN
(directed by Robin Hardy, 1975)
***** (out of 5)
.
> Dubbed “the CITIZEN KANE of horror films”, this creepy sensation made a real impression on the teenage me.
. I remember leaving the theater in a disturbed state. On revisiting the film more than 45 years later, I can see why! It was that ending. THE WICKER MAN goes in a direction commercial films rarely go- and it’s a kick in the teeth alright! A welcome one.
. Police sergeant Howie (an unyielding Edward Woodward), is a devout Christian. He receives an anonymous letter from a remote Scottish isle, saying that one of the local children has mysteriously vanished, so he takes a seaplane out to investigate. But the islanders are anything but happy to see him. They obstruct his investigation at every step, denying that the girl ever existed. It isn’t long before he suspects a massive cover-up, in a conspiracy involving every man, woman and child on Summerisle. It’s not his imagination.
. Sgt. Howie has landed in a completely different world. He has stumbled upon a pagan enclave that wholly rejects Christianity in favor of “the old gods”. Lord Summerisle is their spiritual leader, played with aplomb by a young and intense Christopher Lee. He oversees an insular society that worships the phallus as a fertility symbol of plenty, and lives by its own rules and standards.
. The sergeant has arrived at an auspicious time for the islanders. It is May Day, marked by symbolic rituals and frightening rites that absolutely horrify the conservative Christian cop. Denizens fornicate en mass on the beach by moonlight, and Lord Summerisle’s droolingly sexy daughter (Britt Ekland), provides constant come-hither temptation. Appropriately, the film is not in the least prudish, providing fulsome Ekland with some smoking-hot moments, as she writhes nude in her room, pounding on the wall between them to lure Sgt. Howie to her boudoir. (This perfect Nordic beauty had perfect breasts in 1974- but she called on a similarly perfect body double to do the below the waist stuff.) But the sergeant never finds this out. His uptight moral code prevents him from tasting the pleasures of Ekland’s delicious flesh. Score another repressive transgression for western religion.
. Frustrated in his investigation, the rigid lawman decides to return to the mainland for reinforcements, but when his plane is sabotaged, he is forced to stay for the holiday rituals- only to discover that he is the guest of honor, in a truly terrible way.
. The final image of THE WICKER MAN has an impact that is unforgettable. It is iconically horrific stuff- and interesting to see Christopher Lee in a dress! Skip the dreadful Nicolas Cage remake and search out this original classic.
– That final scene will leave you shivering in your seat!
*
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