The Wicker Man is one of the all-time classic horror movies, thanks to Cineworld recently we got the chance to revisit The Wicker Man for its 50th Anniversary, not only did we get a new cut of the movie we were also treated to a special Q&A screening to celebrate the iconic movie.
Released back in 1973 and starring Britt Ekland, Christopher Lee, Edward Woodward, Lindsay Kemp, Diane Cliento and Ingrid Pitt, The Wicker Man tells the chilling story of a police sergeant (Woodward) who is sent to a Scottish island village in search of a missing girl whom the townsfolk claim never existed.
But there is so much more to the story behind Sergeant Howie’s visit and stranger still are the rites that take place there.
Before the movie started we were treated to a Q&A with celebrity fans of The Wicker Man and the director Robin Hardy’s sons, plus the wonder Britt Ekland chatting about a scene that was deleted from the original release and that had been restored into this “Final Cut” of the movie.
Talking of cuts, The Wicker Man has had its fair share of versions over the years including “The Long Version” which had a running time of 99 minutes, this was the release that was also called “The Director’s Cut” on DVD.
Then there is “The Short Version”, the version that we were shown at the 50th Anniversary screening was the “Final Cut” which has been wonderfully restored and is being released in a rather nice looking Anniversary Collector’s Edition in September, that’s certainly a release to add to the collection as it loads of features and the three cuts of the movie.
I remember seeing The Wicker Man for the first time in the early 1980s and it was a movie that has always stuck in my mind, it was like nothing else I had ever seen. It certainly was, and still is, a movie that pulls you in and makes you think about what you are watching, its charm is its strangeness and building up the tension of what Howie (Woodward) is getting himself into while trying to find a missing girl on an island in pagan rituals and hidden secrets that takes the viewer into a strange and foreboding world.
The music of The Wicker Man is also something very different and it has become a bit of a passion for big fans of the movie, during the Q&A we were even treated to the music from a band that has been inspired by the music and the movie.
With the movie being 50 years old it does show its age with the fashion and much more, but this is a movie that is held close to the hearts of many fans and you could see this from the screening that I attended at Cineworld, I was very surprised by the number of people that weren’t even born when The Wicker Man was first released, but listening to many of them on the way out, they did sound like film students as they chatted about the techniques of filmmaking for the movie.
It’s great to see a mixture of ages seeing a classic movie on the big screen, although I don’t think some people were expecting the long Q&A before the movie. One woman shouted out after the Q&A when the film was about to start, “About Time”, slightly disrespectful in my point of view as the Q&A was mentioned in the booking for the movie and of its length. Personally, for me, I loved the Q&A and it became part of the experience of such a classic.
The Wicker Man is certainly a film that in this day and age, the easy offendable will get upset, but remember this movie was made in 1973 and things have changed, heck if we can get a warning before a screening of Flash Gordon then it’s a world that we live in, shame really with all the new centring of books and films, but that’s a whole different kettle of fish!
There are some great moments with the cast in The Wicker Man and Christopher Lee was always a scene stealer for me when watching the movie it was amazing to see him in the role on the big screen, Lee said that he considered this one of his greatest roles. Britt Ekland is the surprise of the movie and for those that have never seen the movie be prepared for some scenes of nudity from Ekland, the other surprise is that most of the dialogue and singing that is on the screen from Ekland is dubbed over by the Scottish singer and actress Annie Ross. That’s something I didn’t pick up on until rewatching the movie after x amount of years.
If you have only been introduced to the story of The Wicker Man by the Nic Cage remake then I highly recommend you check out the 1973 original, it is a powerful piece of cinema history that takes you on a bizarre journey and really gives you the shock factor when it comes to the final moments of the movie.
Thanks to Cineworld for showing this classic and we can’t wait for more classic movies to head back to the big screen soon.
A Welcome Return to the Big Screen
Movie title: The Wicker Man (1973) The Final Cut
Movie description: A puritan Police Sergeant arrives in a Scottish island village in search of a missing girl, who the Pagan locals claim never existed.
Date published: June 24, 2023
Country: UK
Duration: 1h 42m
Director(s): Robin Hardy
Actor(s): Edward Woodward, Christopher Lee, Diane Cilento, Britt Ekland
Genre: Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Summary
The return to the big screen of The Wicker Man for its 50th Anniversary was a great experience and a chance to see the Final Cut how it should be seen on a cinema screen.
Karen Woodham is the founder and owner of the Blazing Minds. She is also a Cinema reviewer and works with RealD 3D reviewing the latest 3D releases and IMAX, she has also had several articles published in various publications including the first edition of SFW Magazine. In 2015 she became an Award Winning Blogger and also has her website listed as one of the UK’s Top 10 Film Blogs.
