As the sun hovered above the horizon, a giant wicker effigy began to burn. Mask-wearing pagan worshippers chanted and a goat, fearing that it was about to be flame grilled...
The terrifying scene, minus Woodward, will be repeated next weekend as fans of the cult film, The Wicker Man, gather in Kirkcudbrightshire in south-west Scotland for a 48-hour homage to sex, druids and rock 'n' roll.
Source: The Observer
Very few movies stick with me like this one did. Somehow, I just knew what would happen to Woodward's character, but I just couldn't imagine something that horrible. Then, when it finally happened, I was horrified! The ending of that movie has stuck with me since then. I thought it was done very well and I agree, nothing beats the original. I'd see a remake out of curiosity, but the original was truly scary in an odd sort of way.
:dozey:
I've just got back from the wickerman festival. It was great fun , there must have been at least 1000 people there.
The rock bands were good although I've no idea who they were( they made a good noise )
Much merryment was had by all and even more whiskey partaken by yours truly .The fact that I can type this short thread is a miracle , believe me. I'm off to bed now ,I'll post again when suitably recovered .
Well now that my head's clear I can report that the Wickerman Festival was a great success.
There was a HUGE turnout and I was surprised by the amount of families in attendance.It was fun meeting all the fans of the film and having a good blether ( Scottish for chat)
I did'nt take my camera to the actual festival for fear of accidents ( much mead was to be drunk you see) and considering most of the fun was after dark my little camera would have struggled.
The remains of the wickerman are very visible and can be found at the end of a short trail which leads to the rocky cliff edge.
Most people had the good sense to stay away from it at night as there are no barriers and it's a long drop into the Atlantic
I'd promised Jacob and Charles a small momento of the day so I returned the next morning with my kids in tow .A deal struck with my wife who went into Glasgow for a days shopping aaaaaggghhhhh!
Anyway I got the little presents for the guys and took some
photos ( ok lots of photos) I do'nt have a scanner but will make arrangments to get the photos on site sometime soon.
Oh by the way ,the new wickermen that were built for the event burnt up a treat ,
It is amazing to me the number of people who actually dispise the film THE WICKER MAN.... finding it boring, laughable and/or pretentious ....
I try to reasonably explain to them my impressions of it, but they merely pooh pooh the notion that it is,in fact, a superior work..
Anyone else encounter this ??
I leant my video to my friend, who, when I asked him about his opinion of the film, after he'd watched it, hesitated and called it 'bizarre'. I admit, I preferred the film for the second time round, once everything began to sink in, but I can tell that my friend sure didn't think that it was anything marvellous... 
but if everyone had the same opinion, the world would be a boring place.
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It is amazing to me the number of people who actually dispise the film THE WICKER MAN.... finding it boring, laughable and/or pretentious ....
Anyone else encounter this ??
In an attempt to bring culture to an alarmingly culture-free life, I showed THE WICKER MAN to my dear mother. She didn't follow a moment of it (deep sigh). Then again, she thought CASABLANCA was "kinda' boring." She does, however, think Chuck Norris is one of the best actors ever.
Get me the BIG KNIFE. I'm gonna' cut my throat!
Doug
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It is amazing to me the number of people who actually dispise the film THE WICKER MAN.... finding it boring, laughable and/or pretentious ....
I try to reasonably explain to them my impressions of it, but they merely pooh pooh the notion that it is,in fact, a superior work..
Anyone else encounter this ??
Unfortunately, yes. There are even some members of this website that don't much care for the film -- poor misguided souls!:1devil:
On the other hand, veryone I've shown The Wicker Man to has fallen in love with it. One friend in particular has become a Wicker FAN-atic. So much so, that she's pestering me to get her an autographed copy of the DVD. As if I knew where one could get such a thing, or had any contacts with anyone!:rolleyes:
Anyway. . . I have only one thing to say to the anti-Wicker people: "Awake, ye Heathens. . . And howl!!!"
I tend to keep an open mind to all aspects of religion...
Although I favor christianity I do not shut out the rest.
I study all and test my limits. Weather or not I do the right thing makes no difference to me
Its all about making a choice, and I have yet to make mine however I prefer to keep my options open to all life has to offer
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I tend to keep an open mind to all aspects of religion...
Although I favor christianity I do not shut out the rest.
I study all and test my limits. Weather or not I do the right thing makes no difference to me
Its all about making a choice, and I have yet to make mine however I prefer to keep my options open to all life has to offer
Speaking as a scientific materialist myself, I think Edward Gibbon had the best line on religion:
"The various deities of the ancient world were, to the people equally true, to the philosopher equally false, and to the magistrate equally useful."
To my lights things haven't changed.
very true...to me they all walk hand in hand...one cannot excist without the other...its like the saying in the movie Legend
"there is no light without darkness, no darkness without light"
However love, faith and hope are still the most important aspects to me. They are what gets me through it day in and day out...The Wicker man shows one mans true faith, I admire him for it very much. A truly beautyful film in my opinion
What intrigues me about The Wickerman is that, in my opinion, it operates on a number of levels, and is rather atypical, not only for a movie of its era, but also for a movie of just about all filmmaking eras..
Of course, there is the ostensible religious conflict of the story, alluded to above. Interestingly, at least to me, I rather liked the fact that, rather than romanticising the non-Christian pagans, the way some do today, or romanticising the Christians, as their opponents do, this movie chose to romanticise neither, and showed both religious groups as having their odious undersides that their adherents would rather the rest of the world did not see. It is this aspect of the movie I like the best. These are not the happy-go-lucky innocent, book buying, cafeteria pagans of the neo-goddess worship movement you find in Southern California; these people are not afraid to offer up various live animals - and seek out an adult male virgin for their nefarious usage! And dear Howie is quite convinced that ALL of them are condemned to perdition without any further look into their beliefs or motives whatsoever.
Of course, NO ONE'S motives are pure in this film. And what makes for truly frightening prospect, is the fact that none of the characters questions his/her own motives. Each of these folks is completely convinced s/he is right. [b]The Wickerman[/b[ portrays a countercultural soiciety that, as instituted by the Summerisles as something of a locally-run theocracy overseen by Lord Summerisle himself,, never does provide what utopias promise: the promise of some values acheived without the sacrifice of others.
Lord Summerisle is, in my view, something of an enigma. I still have never quite figured out if he truly believes in the quasi-paganistic religion instituted by his grandsire, or if he merely tolerates, nay, encourages the villagers to continue its practice, in exchange for their continued labors in his orchards. (I would imagine he pays them, but , then, it is not made clear just exactly how closed the island is to the rest of Britain). One is never sure of him, just as one is never sure of a number of other of Christopher Lee's characters. It is this capability of transforming the two-dimensional lines in a movie script to the complex personalities we see onscreen that, in my mind, makes Mr. Lee a great actor.
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What intrigues me about The Wickerman is that, in my opinion, it operates on a number of levels, and is rather atypical, not only for a movie of its era, but also for a movie of just about all filmmaking eras..
Of course, there is the ostensible religious conflict of the story, alluded to above. Interestingly, at least to me, I rather liked the fact that, rather than romanticising the non-Christian pagans, the way some do today, or romanticising the Christians, as their opponents do, this movie chose to romanticise neither, and showed both religious groups as having their odious undersides that their adherents would rather the rest of the world did not see. It is this aspect of the movie I like the best. These are not the happy-go-lucky innocent, book buying, cafeteria pagans of the neo-goddess worship movement you find in Southern California; these people are not afraid to offer up various live animals - and seek out an adult male virgin for their nefarious usage! And dear Howie is quite convinced that ALL of them are condemned to perdition without any further look into their beliefs or motives whatsoever.
Of course, NO ONE'S motives are pure in this film. And what makes for truly frightening prospect, is the fact that none of the characters questions his/her own motives. Each of these folks is completely convinced s/he is right. [b]The Wickerman[/b[ portrays a countercultural soiciety that, as instituted by the Summerisles as something of a locally-run theocracy overseen by Lord Summerisle himself,, never does provide what utopias promise: the promise of some values acheived without the sacrifice of others.
Lord Summerisle is, in my view, something of an enigma. I still have never quite figured out if he truly believes in the quasi-paganistic religion instituted by his grandsire, or if he merely tolerates, nay, encourages the villagers to continue its practice, in exchange for their continued labors in his orchards. (I would imagine he pays them, but , then, it is not made clear just exactly how closed the island is to the rest of Britain). One is never sure of him, just as one is never sure of a number of other of Christopher Lee's characters. It is this capability of transforming the two-dimensional lines in a movie script to the complex personalities we see onscreen that, in my mind, makes Mr. Lee a great actor.
Good post, thoughtfully argued, Arlyss. I think you have the basis of a pretty good review/article in there if you want to expand.
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I'm going to watch it for the first time tonight! Whoopee!
The DVD is in my bag, and NOBODY is going near it! :mad:
I'm praying for 5.30 so I can go home!!!
Hurry up clock! Get a move on!
Ah! You're in for a treat, Michelle. Share your thoughts with us afterwards.
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Oh, I can think of a few. It's kinda the nature of the genre and one of the reasons I like it so much.
True enough. But after two decades of Freddies, Jasons, Anne Rice clones, and "I Scream When I Hear the Urban Legend About What You Did Last Summer," The Wicker Man stands out as a testimonial to what the genre can aspire to.
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It has always intrigued me how often religious groups decry horror films, and yet they are vestiges of the old passion play--
Good Vs Evil (or as Cushing said- take an "o" from Good & you have GOD ,and add a D to evil to create THE DEVIL...
Very, very true. It's been said that there is no better advertisement for Catholicism than The Exorcist. Mr. Lee himself has pointed out that, once they've seen the film, clergy have bee the strongest supporters of The Devil Rides Out. Even the weakest of the Hammer Draculas highlight the triumph of good over evil.
But, then again, there are always religious fanatics who are impervious to anything but their own narrow worl-view. Who can understand the workings of the mind of a religious fanatic? I certainly can't.
Recently, the nadir, in my opinion was struck when a group of religious zealots attempted to purge a local high school library of what they considered "satanic" literature. The funny thing was that, among the usual Stephen King titles targeted for removal, was Montague Summers' The History of Witchcraft. Apparently, these modern day inquisitors had never bothered to actually look at the book in question or they would have seen that Summers was a catholic priest who strongly wrote against the practice of witchcraft.
I am quite happy that folks think I captured something of the "sense of life" (to utilize a term I tend to associate with Ayn Rand's writing, since that is where I first saw it!) of The Wckerman. I think that what is woefully lacking in our cinemas are films that are as thought-provoking as The Wckerman; the proliferation of Freddies, Jasons, and other grotesqueries slicing and dicing young Britney Spears clones is a testimony to this. I think religious fanaticism in general is a woeful testimony to the lack of an understanding of how to teach our young people about the nature of the human spirit and how we as human beings develop spiritually.
All too often, it is assumed one has to have a particular religion or another in order to have a spiritual life. I do not agree with this viewpoint at all. I think one of the more obscure themes of The Wckerman is that of the shallowness of man's spiritual life. Again, the film operates on so many levels, it is easy to dismiss it as an eccentricity. That is precisely what viewers should not do; they miss the heart of the movie, in my opinion.
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I am quite happy that folks think I captured something of the "sense of life" (to utilize a term I tend to associate with Ayn Rand's writing, since that is where I first saw it!) of The Wckerman. I think that what is woefully lacking in our cinemas are films that are as thought-provoking as The Wckerman; the proliferation of Freddies, Jasons, and other grotesqueries slicing and dicing young Britney Spears clones is a testimony to this. I think religious fanaticism in general is a woeful testimony to the lack of an understanding of how to teach our young people about the nature of the human spirit and how we as human beings develop spiritually.
All too often, it is assumed one has to have a particular religion or another in order to have a spiritual life. I do not agree with this viewpoint at all. I think one of the more obscure themes of The Wckerman is that of the shallowness of man's spiritual life. Again, the film operates on so many levels, it is easy to dismiss it as an eccentricity. That is precisely what viewers should not do; they miss the heart of the movie, in my opinion.
Score another one for Arlyss. Listen, take my advice, stop replying to these posts for a bit, sit yourself down and write a full-length review or article. You've got some good, thoughtful stuff here.
"Sex, druids, and rock and roll?" Ian Drury would be proud!