The Wicker Man

[Bartwald]

[glow=red,2,300]The Wicker Man[/glow] (DVD) ****


It's a strange horror movie - devoid of real scares but yet definitely a horror. It uses more of surrealism than suspense to create the right atmosphere, and it succeeds wonderfully. Christopher Lee fits his role perfectly, but it's Edward Woodward as the main character (a policeman sent to a Scottish island in order to find a lost girl) who should be applauded the most - he's equally convincing as a self-confident officer in the beginning, a man fighting with desire in the middle, and a 'changed' person in the ending. The Scottish surroundings and strange sounds add to the wicked atmosphere of it all. Truly original and confusing, this is one of the best horrors ever - even if there are no actual 'jumps' in it.

This special edition contains one more disc with the restored version of the movie. Which is of course nice, but doesn't add too much important content to the 'original theatrical cut'; and just because the lost-and-found footage is of inferior quality (and is easy to be recognized in between the original pieces of the movie), I do prefer the shorter version of it. But there are also some other bonuses - the director and Lee's interview (some nice anecdotes there!), the commentary, trailers. A cool edition of a cool movie.

[RIP]

I have the Wicker Man 2 dvd set in the wooden box that it came in. I have only watched it once and was disappointed in the film. It just wasn't my thing, I guess.

[42ndstreetfreak]

Is it THE best?....Hard to say. But certainly one of the best. I have to say the longer cut adds much more to the film, especially with the wonderful "Gently Johnny" sequence with Lee bringing the boy to Willow. Great song as well.

Wonderful film.

[RIP]

Alot of people love this film but I didn't see it that way. It was pretty corny to me. All they were doing in the whole film was have sex and that's all. There's nothing wrong with sex which I do love ;D but this movie could have been alot better if it were scary and had some actual good gore and killings in it.

[Quorthon]

Continuing with my ancient thread revivals:

I voted "Uh, not sure." I consider Dog Soldiers to be a superior horror film.

But as a mystery/horror/thriller, the Wicker Man is pretty good.

Incidentially, the reason I sought this movie out was because of Iron Maiden's song "Two Minutes to Midnight." No wait, "The Wicker Man." Yeah, that's the one. Good song.

[Bartwald]

Good song.

And I also hope the film will manage to retain some of its old dignity in the new, just filmed version with Nic Cage.

[slayrrr666]

What the hell? They remade this one now? Geez, when will the remake madness end?

As for this one, one of my favorites. Huge Chris Lee fan, so anything with him automatically gets a few points. A fully nude song and dance sequence adds a few, and my new-found suspense likings pump it up even more. Lack of gore isn't a concern as there was no need to kill anyone, great photography, and one of the most original and shocking endings in the history of cinema. An all-time classic, and a great DVD too.

[Quorthon]

That chick was so fuckin' hot.

There's no reason to remake this movie.

At all.

[slayrrr666]

quorthon said:

That chick was so fuckin' hot.

There's no reason to remake this movie.

At all.

My sentiments exactly.

[DrLenera]

Classic movie. I seem to remember dislikign it when I first saw it as a kid,maybe I was just bored! On second viewing I realised what a great film it is. The atmosphere is extroadinary.

Best British horror movie? I don't know,is it better than Witchfinder General,for instance. They'll both superb but are very different and 'get to you' in different ways.

[slayrrr666]

Plus now we've got Dog Soldiers and The Descent as possible contenders for the title as well.

[LivingDeadGirl]

I need to check this one out...never seen it before.

[slayrrr666]

livingdeadgirl said:

I need to check this one out...never seen it before.

YES!! Bruce finally gets to see you about something. I'll go tell him.

[LivingDeadGirl]

It's been added to my rental list so tell Bruce to cut me some slack.

Ok, I remember now that this one had one of it's scenes on the Top 100 Scariest Movie Scenes list...dont' remember which one it was though.

[slayrrr666]

Meeting with Bruce isn't a bad thing, LDG. He's pretty cool and will spend time talking with you about the movie. I like him better than the other guy that showed up, can't remember his name.

The scene you're referring to is the ending. When you see it, you'll know what we're talking about.