B+Directed by Robin Hardy Starring Edward Woodard and Christopher Lee Review by Jon Kissel |  |
Robin Hardy's British horror classic The Wicker Man is well-known for its iconic imagery, particularly involving an ending that's got way too much cultural penetration to be able to be spoiled. While the ending doesn't surprise, what does is how much the grandiosity of the titular structure comes as less of a sharp left turn and more as a culmination of all the weird, out-of-place customs that Hardy has spent the previous 75 minutes exhibiting. From the minute the protagonist's seaplane has touched down in the village of Summerisle, the eye painted on the dinghy that will bring him the rest of the way to land indicates how off these people are. Nude dances of an evening only put the dot on the exclamation point. The Wicker Man immediately creates a sense of dread and keeps it thrumming through the film before erupting in its timeless conflagration.
Police sergeant Howie (Edward Woodard) has been sent to Summerisle to investigate a missing girl, and is quickly given the cold shoulder by the locals. Though the village is known for the delicious fruits and vegetables that it exports to the rest of England and beyond, the rest of the world doesn't really come here, and the insular culture puts Howie on edge. His discomfort with the libertine, openly pagan ways of the Summerislanders is exacerbated by his strident Christianity and demand for decorum. Whenever a villager calmly tries to explain to Howie how they do things here, he can only react with spittle-flecked rage. This includes Lord Summerisle (a regal Christopher Lee), who is the latest in a line of lords that attribute their agricultural success to druidic religions. An enraged Howie, wanting to now bring the whole village down, focuses his powers of deduction and intimidation til he's able to find out the truth, or at least the truth the villagers want him to hear.
As Howie stomps around Summerisle with only a vague, distant, magisterial power keeping him safe, it's always clear that he's operating with tacit permission from the villagers. They put up with him until it's time for them to act, and Howie is so insufferable and puritanical that when the tables are turned, it's almost a relief. Knowing how the film was going to end, but ignorant of what a dreary scold the protagonist was, the bar for The Wicker Man turned from being an intriguing, interesting story into can Woodard and Hardy make me feel anything for this guy? Horror films, especially modern ones, aren't usually interested in redemption or finding a common sympathy in their characters, but surprisingly, The Wicker Man very much is, as Howie is able to assert his baseline humanity in the film's final moments. It clears the bar by reminding the viewer that even the most repulsive martinet can be afraid, can be vulnerable, can be deserving of mercy.
As the potential distributor of that mercy, Lee's Lord Summerisle undergoes just as much of a transformation for the viewer, as do the other villagers. Where initially they are a close-knit community unwilling to collaborate with an avatar of a state that does not share their beliefs, they become unswerving zealots resistant to skepticism or inquiry. As their leader, Lee is a fine choice, and without his noble birth, they likely still would choose him for the big chair. His stature and comportment fly in the face of Howie's sweaty discombobulation, with one man clearly no match for the other. Lee also gets to serve as the centerpiece in one of horror's greatest cuts, and he is more than up to the task.
The Wicker Man might have been slandered by one of Nicolas Cage's cash grabs, but the original easily holds up 40 years later. It's a shame Hardy only made two more, much less renowned movies, none likely holding a candle to his auspicious debut. I don't know that anyone would classify the Wicker Man as scary, but that's not really the mode I like my horror in anyway. Atmospheric, definitely. Foreboding, certainly. Unsettling, 100%. The Wicker Man emphatically checks those boxes. B+
As Howie stomps around Summerisle with only a vague, distant, magisterial power keeping him safe, it's always clear that he's operating with tacit permission from the villagers. They put up with him until it's time for them to act, and Howie is so insufferable and puritanical that when the tables are turned, it's almost a relief. Knowing how the film was going to end, but ignorant of what a dreary scold the protagonist was, the bar for The Wicker Man turned from being an intriguing, interesting story into can Woodard and Hardy make me feel anything for this guy? Horror films, especially modern ones, aren't usually interested in redemption or finding a common sympathy in their characters, but surprisingly, The Wicker Man very much is, as Howie is able to assert his baseline humanity in the film's final moments. It clears the bar by reminding the viewer that even the most repulsive martinet can be afraid, can be vulnerable, can be deserving of mercy.
As the potential distributor of that mercy, Lee's Lord Summerisle undergoes just as much of a transformation for the viewer, as do the other villagers. Where initially they are a close-knit community unwilling to collaborate with an avatar of a state that does not share their beliefs, they become unswerving zealots resistant to skepticism or inquiry. As their leader, Lee is a fine choice, and without his noble birth, they likely still would choose him for the big chair. His stature and comportment fly in the face of Howie's sweaty discombobulation, with one man clearly no match for the other. Lee also gets to serve as the centerpiece in one of horror's greatest cuts, and he is more than up to the task.
The Wicker Man might have been slandered by one of Nicolas Cage's cash grabs, but the original easily holds up 40 years later. It's a shame Hardy only made two more, much less renowned movies, none likely holding a candle to his auspicious debut. I don't know that anyone would classify the Wicker Man as scary, but that's not really the mode I like my horror in anyway. Atmospheric, definitely. Foreboding, certainly. Unsettling, 100%. The Wicker Man emphatically checks those boxes. B+
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