http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070917/
The Wicker Man (1973)
Directed by
Robin Hardy
Writing credits
Anthony Shaffer (screenplay) and
Anthony Shaffer (novel)
Genre: Drama / Horror / Mystery / Thriller
Tagline: From the writer of 'Frenzy & Sleuth' Anthony Shaffer's incredible occult thriller
Plot Outline: A police sergeant is called to an island village in search of a missing girl whom the locals claim never existed. Stranger still, however, are the rituals that take place there. (more)
User Comments: Chilling insight into ancient paganistic rituals, slightly chipped (more)
User Rating: 7.7/10 (8,672 votes)
Cast overview, first billed only:
Edward Woodward .... Sergeant Howie
Christopher Lee .... Lord Summerisle
Diane Cilento .... Miss Rose
Britt Ekland .... Willow
Ingrid Pitt .... Librarian
Lindsay Kemp .... Alder MacGregor
Russell Waters .... Harbour Master
Aubrey Morris .... Old Gardener/Gravedigger
Irene Sunters .... May Morrison (also as Irene Sunter)
Walter Carr .... School Master
Ian Campbell .... Oak
Leslie Blackater .... Hairdresser
Roy Boyd .... Broome
Peter Brewis .... Musician
Barbara Rafferty .... Woman with Baby (as Barbara Ann Brown)
"One of best horror films ever made."
One of best horror films ever made. It continues to receive favor as arguably the best cult film to emerge from England (up there with A Clockwork Orange, Performance, and Don't Look Now). It has everything going for it: great location shots in a remote Scottish isle, stirring traditional Celtic music, riveting performances by the ensemble cast, a superb script by Anthony Shaffer based on his novel, real fright accomplished imaginatively and bloodlessly and without the usual horror scare ploys, a creepy religious edge (much like those in the Hammer productions), and a sinister theme revolving around misplaced religious practices that's intelligently presented with accurate depictions of the Druid folklore traditions. First-time director Robin Hardy does a decent enough job; his modest directing keeps things tense and scary, as it builds to its unforgettable shocking third act.
A priggish, dutiful and righteous Christian Scottish police sergeant, Neil Howie (Edward Woodward), flies to a remote west coast Scottish island called Summerisle to investigate a report of a missing schoolgirl named Rowan Morrison (Geraldine Cowper). The pastoral community known for its apples, is led by the eccentric charming Lord Summerisle (Christopher Lee), whose grandfather founded the community on pagan worship. The seemingly civilized Lord Summerisle tells the Sergeant at their initial meeting "God had his chance - and, in modern parlance - he blew it."
The devout Christian policeman, unmarried and a sexually repressed virgin, is appalled at what he sees from the heathens and looks down upon them as crazies and inferiors. He takes umbrage at their nature worship, godless beliefs, practice of witchcraft, indifference to Jesus and tolerance of nudity. The voluptuous tavern owner's daughter, Willow MacGregor (Britt Ekland, Swedish actress), sings a ribald song and dances in the nude at night from a room next door in the inn and asks him to invite her into his bed. But the virtuous policeman refuses because he's engaged and his religion forbids sex before marriage. The school teacher, Miss Rose (Diane Cilento), upsets him that she teaches her class of girls about phallic symbols. He's further disgusted that naked young virgin girls leap through flames in a pagan dance. The investigation is stonewalled as the locals deny there ever was a Rowan, even her mother (Irene Sunters) denies her existence. The lone Christian on the island, where all the residents have abandoned Christianity for pagan fertility rites that involve the human sacrifice of virgins after a bad crop, finds himself stranded on the island during the May Day celebration. He will be shocked to learn during this fertility celebration, that comes with gay folk music and the participants in colorful symbolic costumes, where Lord Summerisle is in drag, that he's become the prey and is encaged in a hugh wicker-effigy that the villagers burn as an offering to the Celtic sun god for their crops to be fruitful for the next harvest. The film's madcap merriness gives way to a perverse sense of doom. The culture war between the libertines advocating free love and the uptight Christian establishment advocating censorship, comes to a cruel ending that is as painful to watch as is the painful expression on the Sergeant's face when he learns of his fate. The ending is brilliantly realized, keeping things provocative, unsettling and bizarre. ... Of note, there's an uncut version that is 102 minutes.
656x352 ( AR: 1.86 )
Codec: XviD
Subtitles: none
Format: AVI
Size: 700Mb
Audio: VBR MP3
Run time: 88 min.
ripped by gkline
Please show appreciation and seed......
