SCARY MOVIE NIGHT: The Wicker Man [DVD/BLURAY REVIEW]

VIDEO REVIEW:

WRITTEN REVIEW:

Director: Robin HardyThe Wicker Man Cover
Production Companies:
British Lion Films
Distribution Company: British Lion Films
Genre: British Horror, Cult Classic
Music: Paul Giovanni and traditional folk songs
Series: Standalone
MPAA: R
Release Date: December 6, 1973
Running Time: 88 minutes
MSRP: DIGITAL:   RENT: $3.99 HD    DIGITAL PURCHASE: $12.99 HD Click Here
TANGIBLE COPY: DVD: $9.98 BLU-RAY $12.19 MULTI-FORMAT: $15.08 Click Here
Trailer: Click Here
Reviewer: Karen “Neckromance” St. Claire
Final Score:
5 (out 5 moons)

Police sergeant, Neil Howie is on a detective quest looking for a missing girl. He has landed his small plane on a quaint Scottish Isle in search of missing person, Rowan Morrison. When he arrives at this small encapsulated island called “Summer-Isle”, he finds himself in a strange world ruled by Pagan worship and ritual. Howie is a devout Christian and is disturbed by the elements. They are teaching the schoolchildren about the Maypole ritual and describe it as a phallic worship to represent fruitful regeneration of the species.

CONTENT

Couples unite in erotic rendezvous in the nocturnal grasslands, sharing the sacred space amongst several other coupled lovers in the community love nest. To cure a kid’s sore throat, a frog is placed inside a child’s mouth and then removed so that the frog now carries the sickness as it is magically transferred from the youngster into the amphibian. The school chalkboard lesson of the day reads “a loadstone preserves the newborn from weird women and that the hag stone preserves people from nightmares.”  A local bakery is filled with cupcakes in the form of goat’s heads, Day of the Dead skulls, and Good Charlotte doll cakes. At the local pharmacy an apothecary jar filled with dried foreskins is readily on display, while a fish-tank full of skinned animal carcasses float in formaldehyde. Behind the countertop a goat’s head plaque is hung.

Brilliant Moon Award

PRESENTATION

This British cult classic horror flick is filled with Traditional Pagan ritual. Hosted around the May Day festival, the small isle township is a tight knit clan of tavern folk musicians at jam parties, weathered fisherman, along with a slew of seductive statuesque Nordic type female sorceresses. The worship of the sun goddess and the goddess of the harvest is a festive holiday for all to attend. The crops must bear fruit for the reaping. Whether dancing around the maypole for mating rites or jumping the bonfire sky clad in fertility ritual, the townspeople are a jovial group of pagan worshippers. During the May Day festival they dress in masked Renaissance attire and masquerade round the town to partake in the seasonal events. The musicians are donned in Scottish kilts and play their instruments at the Spring processional march. Based on a Scottish Isle, this small secluded area is packed with Pagan ritual in every aspect of daily life. Due to the quirky yet disturbing elements of the film, it has gained major cult status.

AUDIENCE FIT
Fit for the Goth community, watching this movie is like exploring Paganism on psilocybin mushrooms. It is laced with weirdness. It is probably the strangest movie I’ve ever seen. Since then, many creators have taken elements from this movie and tried to outdo it. As an unsurpassed inspiration for filmmakers, it is highly acclaimed among critics. It also now has a remake which I recently discovered while researching this movie that  I had seen years ago. I remember the residual impact that it left on me and decided to stick with the tried and true for this review. As for any of you Emily Strange types, you’ve found your match. The Wicker Man is a surrealistic whack job with a real dark underlying current. Comparable to a Timothy Leary experiment, this movie may linger inside your psyche for years to come. It lends inspiration for the highly acclaimed Green Man and Burning Man Festivals of today’s society.
CLOSING THOUGHTS
 Some notes about the insanity of this movie is that the music is a blend of traditional Celtic folk songs and 70’s folk pop which gives it an element of Gaelic childlike innocence. In the art of prose and stanza, the poetic songs take on the form of traditional nursery rhyme status during ceremonial rituals. Sounding like something you could imagine Jethro Tull would have listened to as a kid before The Beatles made their debut, the townsfolk are found frequently dancing and singing the traditional music in the streets. Weirdly enough the brass section of the marching band seems to have a Sergeant Pepper influence magically working its way into the spectrum to fill in the time gap of Celtic tradition while syncopating with the fiddles, jaw harp, and bagpipes. But then again, it was filmed in the 1970’s . A chirpy clan of evasive drunken small time villagers live peacefully amongst the blue skies and serene waters lending a light and airy, “feeling groovy” vibe. The happy-go-lucky people in this classic European countryside village is, at times, comparable to watching The Hallmark Channel starring Doris Day, yet is twisted with an unexpected dark horror of unspeakable magnitude.

       Story: 5.0 Moons (Out of 5.0)
       Presentation: 5.0 Moons (Out of 5.0)
       Audience Fit:  5.0 Moons (Out of 5.0)
       Final Score (not an average): 5.0 Moons (Out of 5.0)

5moons_Trans 

Author: Karen "Neckromance" St. Claire

As dusk approaches the painted misted sky, the ancient mystical keepers of hidden knowledge transcend the veil. Contrary to legendary belief, while shape-shifting into materialization, a mirror of reflection appears yet remains mysteriously cloaked. In outward appearance of tangible flesh and blood, these ethereal beings appear to be directed by the standard natural laws of the universe, yet they are shed of earthbound shackles. With infinite freedom to move swiftly between inter-dimensional worlds, they remain invisible, only to be recognized by a fellow master crafter. Together in alliance they arrive to rock your world!

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