The Wicker Man (1973)

In the remote Scottish Island of Summerisle, we follow the story of police Sergeant Howie (Edward Woodward) who is investigating the disappearance of a young girl from the island. Incredulously no one on the island has heard of the girl and deny her very existence which leads Howie in his venture to discover the horrifying truth.

The film pits the debate of Catholicism against Paganism as a result of Lord Summerisle (Christopher Lee) ancestor who re-introduced pagan beliefs and rituals to the area in addition to exotic cultivars of fruits against the strict Christian of Howie. Consequently, paganism became seeded within the roots of the island as the fruits that grew there unnaturally prospered. One of the film’s successes is that it manages to make the viewer invested in the story through the remoteness of the fictitious island of Summerisle.

Edward Woodward as the pious Seargent Howie serves as the audience character for the viewers to see the story unfold through his eyes and gives us a first-person view of the eeriness of the film’s events. Due to Anthony Shaffer’s writing of an intricate plot succeeds in the subtlety of clues that are well hidden but are a treat to investigate and forebode the ending of the film.

Edward Woodward manages to convincingly portray a character grounded in reality, predominantly in the realisation of the truth which solidifies the realism of the film and that the audience can sympathise. Christopher Lee’s presence as Lord Summerisle is enthralling and the audience forgets the minor screen time that he has in the film. Britt Ekland’s Willow, the landlord’s daughter, manages to solidify the realism of the film by adding tension to the scenes between Willow and Howie.

The Wicker Man is an amalgamation of several different genres such as a thriller, horror and musical at times which merge seamlessly. This is the credit to the captivating score by Paul Giovanni that entices the viewer to a false sense of security and includes the precise amount of bawdiness to the film’s events. This is evident in the opening sequence of the film that makes it difficult for the viewer to envisage the terrifying circumstances that follow. The director Robin Hardy manages to construct a realistic pagan world within the 20th century that entices the interest of viewers while equally horrifying them. The film is the antithesis of conventional horror films and manages to make a thought-provoking experience for the viewer.

The haunting bitterness of the end that leaves the audience with a sense of emptiness and despair is what make undoubtedly will forever be engrained in their minds and starts us questioning the humanity of those who inhabit this island and the grim realism of the film’s events.