Release year: 1973
The players: Director: Robin Hardy, Writer: Anthony Shaffer, Cast: Edward Woodward, Christopher Lee, Diane Cilento, Britt Ekland
The plot: After receiving report of a missing girl, Sergeant Howie travels to mysterious Summerisle to search for her with little help from the locals.
Modern thoughts on a classic movie: How this film ever became a cult horror classic will remain a mystery. "The Wicker Man" starts off with an intriguing plot, but it quickly dissolves into nothing more than a folksy music video.
Upon Sergeant Howie’s arrival to the island of Summerisle, things automatically take a strange turn when all of the island’s inhabitants claim to never have seen the girl in the photo sent to Howie. As Howie follows strange clues that are few and far between, he delves deeper into a world of neo-pagan lifestyle where the islanders have orgies in the middle of the fields at night and teach little girls the importance of phallic symbols in school. So Howie, a devout Christian, sees it as his obligation to preach his beliefs to the people of Summerisle while searching for the lost girl.
The film automatically starts off on the wrong foot with the folksy soundtrack the characters in the film sing along to like a low-budget Broadway musical, complete with haphazard dance routines. It’s very difficult to get caught up in the suspense and mystery of the story when Britt Eckland’s ridiculous naked dancing never ends. Unfortunately, the awful sing-alongs are present until the very end.
The rest of “The Wicker Man” falls victim to a silly, see-through plot and wooden acting. It's quite obvious from the start in what direction the film is headed, leaving no mystery to entice the audience. And once the mystery is gone, all sense of fear and suspense are out the window as well. By the time the anti-climatic ending rolls around, the story gets so ridiculous, eye-rolling ensues. And a few plot holes keep the credibility to a minimum.
For the so-called “hero” of the film, Edward Woodward’s portrayal of Howie is the epitome of dull. Woodward seems to equate loads of shouting with passionate acting, which is simply not true. It’s always difficult to care about a film when you don’t care about the leading man. Christopher Lee starts out as the menacing leader of Summerisle, but by the time the islanders’ sacred ritual rolled around, Lee shows up in a long dress and woman’s wig, which is far from terrifying but downright hysterical, just like every other element in the film.
The final word: Even though this is considered a classic horror film, the modern viewer should be aware that there is little to fear in the film except bad music and Christopher Lee cross-dressing.