It’s a superb screenplay- Sergeant Howie as the no-BS cop and audience surrogate through this mesmerizing pagan village and murder mystery
One of Christopher Lee’s best roles/films and that’s saying something with this robust and varied resume
Strong build-up and chilling climax
Well-constructed- starts with Howie at the church- communion
Really bad music—and lots of it doesn’t help
Imagery- the orgy on the lawn
Much of the screenplay doesn’t really take sides- Lee’s character is intelligent and thought out (largely)
The late decision to go to inner-monologue and letter reading from Hardy is a mistake and bad form—the addition of the funky rock score for the first time when there’s a chase doesn’t work either
Love that he plays the fool—and does indeed
An accomplished feat of writing, haunting ending and a mindf*ck but not great filmmaking
The rock score during the chase scene was truly horrible. It took me out of the movie for a moment. The arbitrary voice over was also a bad decision. Despite both of these things it’s still a locked and loaded HR to me. It’s sneaky good compositionally, there were probably 6-7 compositions that turned my head (the nude women at the fire ritual, orgy on the lawn, the ribbons being spun around the “phallic” pole, etc. Careful blocking/placement of actors in each of those shots) even outside of the finale. And of course half a dozen more incredible shots using that incredible set piece (the wicker man) near the end. Aside from this it’s still a superb screenplay and is really one of the crowning examples of genre subversion. It breaks nearly every horror convention. So it’s a HR for me, but I understand the R/HR ranking as the two things mentioned above were downright awful decisions and so out of place
Obviously the main comparison is Midsommar for this, but one that I thought of, that I’m not sure I’ve seen anyone bring up, is Shutter Island. Similar setups: “cop” is brought to investigate the disappearance of a female. It’s clear to the protagonist that the entire island is in on covering up the disappearance of said girl, and of course both have the big twist endings that reveal the true nature of what’s at play by the islanders
[…] The Wicker Man – Hardy […]
The rock score during the chase scene was truly horrible. It took me out of the movie for a moment. The arbitrary voice over was also a bad decision. Despite both of these things it’s still a locked and loaded HR to me. It’s sneaky good compositionally, there were probably 6-7 compositions that turned my head (the nude women at the fire ritual, orgy on the lawn, the ribbons being spun around the “phallic” pole, etc. Careful blocking/placement of actors in each of those shots) even outside of the finale. And of course half a dozen more incredible shots using that incredible set piece (the wicker man) near the end. Aside from this it’s still a superb screenplay and is really one of the crowning examples of genre subversion. It breaks nearly every horror convention. So it’s a HR for me, but I understand the R/HR ranking as the two things mentioned above were downright awful decisions and so out of place
Obviously the main comparison is Midsommar for this, but one that I thought of, that I’m not sure I’ve seen anyone bring up, is Shutter Island. Similar setups: “cop” is brought to investigate the disappearance of a female. It’s clear to the protagonist that the entire island is in on covering up the disappearance of said girl, and of course both have the big twist endings that reveal the true nature of what’s at play by the islanders