Film Review With Sam Larner

The Wicker Man

This cult classic is a must for any film fan who has grown tired with the horror dross that the Saw franchise grinds out every couple of years. This review is of the original Robin Hardy directed film and not the woeful remake staring Nick Cage.

It stars Edward Woodward as an uptight Christian policeman who is sent to Summerisle to search for a girl who has apparently been abducted. Once there he discovers that the entire island is engaged in neo-pagan rituals. The film becomes increasingly tenser and odder as it unfolds culminating in one of the most horrific and stunning dénouement in film history.

When I saw this film I already knew the ending as I assume many of you will, however that didn’t detract from the horror and discomfort that I felt as the film progressed. Christopher Lee gives the performance which will define his career as Lord Summerisle who governors the island and appears as a kind of God for the islanders to follow.

The brilliant thing about this film is that almost none of the horror is shown on screen instead Hardy leaves you to envisage what the characters feel. This really is the film that James Wan (Saw) and Eli Roth (Hostel) should watch before they make anymore stomach turning tripe. As Alfred Hitchcock said “Once you’ve seen everything what’s left to fear?”

If you are ever in the mood for a Saturday night fright fest then get some mates round and rent The Wicker Man, I swear it is far scarier than anything produced today. A film that will stay with you for a long time and a final scene that when you are alone in the dark will lodge itself right in the front of your brain and refuse to move.

Carrying on from last week I will now furnish you with some film trivia with which to ‘entertain’ your mates.

Christopher Lee was so keen to make the film that he worked without pay during shooting and once the film was released he offered to pay for critics seats just so they would watch it.

Filming took place in Dumfries and Galloway in South West Scotland, in an interview Britt Ekland referred to it as the bleakest place in the world. Locals were so enraged that the crew had to apologise before filming was allowed to continue.