OK, so I saw this for the first time last night (don’t ask, pickings at the video store were extraordinarily slim) and I have to say - huh? I thought it was supposed to be some sort of very scary movie but instead I just found it very odd.
Possible spoiler, (but I don’t think it counts as a spoiler if the movie is 20+ years old) but how did the villagers know that the police officer was the “special kind of adult” that they were looking for? Did I miss something? Did they have some spy on the mainland looking for some virginal man with the power of God? (OK I can’t quite remember the exact phrasing but it was something along those lines)
And all of the singing that the village kept breaking into? I think that the film could have done without THAT.
I dunno, maybe I just had a bad night of film watching. If anyone has any appreciation for this movie that I may have missed, please feel free to fill me in.
(OK, I found the scene of the actual Wicker Man quite creepy, but only after 2 hours of being bewildered.)
Well, I wish I could help you, but I can’t. I also found it “creepy but confusing”.
And to make things worse, the first time I saw it was a heavily edited broadcast version (on USA, I think), which made very little sense, other than as a fairly straightforward creep show. The reason it was being broadcast was because Edward Woodward was at the time in that “private investigator” TV series, (I had to go look this up on Google), “The Equalizer”. So USA (or whoever) dredged up The Wicker Man.
The second time around, with the full version from the library, made a little more sense, but just a little. I guess I assumed that they “selected” him with some kind of magical summoning powers. Or something.
I love that film - Have the special edition on DVD 
. The “creepy, but confusing” thing is part of the attraction for me. There is a very nice sense of slow-building foreboding throughout the film that I find very compelling.
Anyway I don’t think there is any great mystery about how he was chosen.
Spoilers
The early scenes in the uncut film where he’s shown in church and also where a couple of his deputies are gossiping about him make it pretty clear that both his piousness and virginity are well known. Doubtless to everybody in the community, assuming he grew up there. Small matter for a wealthy fellow like Lord Summersisle to find out that sort of thing - Especially about a high profile law officer. And as a pious law officer, he was easy enough to lure and lead with a the threat of foul play perpetrated by godless pagans on an innocent girl.
He was just a serendipitous gift of the gods it seems 
( though you’ll note that the film sort of ambiguously mocks both faiths at the end ).
spoilers
- Tamerlane
*You watch the world exploding every night
Dancing in the sun a new born in the light
Brothers and their fathers joining hands and make a chain
The shadow of the Wicker Man is rising up again
Your time will come !*
Oops, Sorry ! I though we were talking abou the first single from Iron Maiden - Brave New World. Oh well, thanks for reminding me that I should rent this flick if not but to see the inspiration for one of my favorite new Maiden songs.
I think this is a terrible, confused, and quite possibly EVIL movie!
…with poor production values…
…and annoying music…
…and is terribly dated…
…and is therefore one everyone should rush out and buy.
I too was a bit disappointed when I originally saw this film (in 1979), but that’s only because Cinefantastique magazine had called it “the CITIZEN KANE of horror movies,” which is most emphatically was not.
THE WICKER MAN is not a slick, Hollywood-crafted horror film filed with edge-of-your seat suspense. But it does qualify for entry in the horror genre because it deals with familiar themes found in that genre, which often deals with clashes of belief and religion, in this case Christianity and Paganism.
The point of the movie is that both Lord Summerisle and Srgt Howie are acting out of deeply held beliefs that seem to justify their actions. Not only that, each of them seems to win, if you look at the actions through their eyes: Summerilse gets his “perfect sacrifice” that he thinks should ensure a good harvest next year; Howie dies a martyr’s death, convinced that his death will not help the harvest and that Summerisle’s own people will therefore turn against him next season.
Many other horror films deal with this kind of conflict of belief (CURSE OF THE DEMON, I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE), but THE WICKER MAN is an especially sophisticated take on the subject. Still, if you’re just looking for shocks and scares, then it is not going to be very satisfying.
Steve Biodrowski
http://www.thescriptanalyst.com
I love all but the last 10 minutes of the movie. Then we just capitulate to the stereotype of pagans as murderers who burn people in huge wicker statues. Do you have ANY idea of just how impossible that is, just from an architectural point of view??? grumble
The sudden breaking out into music? Come on… worth it JUST for the scene of Britt Ekland nekkid, spanking herself. mmmmmmmmmm… And my group uses the Maypole song every year for Beltane.
But yes, it’s an odd movie. Good for laughs, and for obscure pagan trivia. And Christopher Lee.
-BK
I love the last 10 minutes!! Very disturbing. My belief is that the whole thing was a test, that if he followed his true nature he would be sacrficed, if he wasn’t pure etc etc. He would have walked away with an unsolved case, or that Lord Summerisle would produce the girl and claim no foul no penalty and send him on his way… no that would make too much sense for this film.
Still love the whole Wickerman thing.
Hate to dump on your fantasies there, but that wasn’t Britt’s ass 
. The front, topless scenes are obviously Britt, but the scenes where her rear is showing while she pounds the wall is a body double. Look carefully and you’ll notice they never show her face and the hair is longer ( in fact it might be a wig ).
Not entirely sure why the double ( if I’ve heard the explanation I’ve forgotten it ), but I assume either:
A.) Britt didn’t mind going topless, but drew the line at bottomless, or
B.) She dances as bad as she acts ( ) and they decided they wanted someone who could sway more sensually, or
C.) It so happens she was pregnant at the time ( a fact ) and she may have been starting to show just a tiny bit. Not enough to get in the way of the role, but enough to look slightly off for that scene.
As to the ending - Personally I loved it . It kind of disses both Paganism and Christianity, I grant. But I thought it was chilling and well-done. And Wicker-Men better be architecturally possible ( I ssume it was since they actually built the thing ), because we keep talking about building one for the upper-management at my job 
.
- Tamerlane
I heard a story that my stepfather scared everyone at the movie theater by holding his tartan scarf over his head and chanting in Gaelic at the end.