The Wicker Man (1973)

A deeply religious Police Sergeant, Neil Howie (Edward Woodward) has information that a young girl has gone missing. This is told in an anonymous letter from Summerisle, a remote island off the coast of Scotland. The Sergeant flies to Summerisle to investigate.

He shows a photo of the missing girl to the locals, but they deny her existence. Howie starts noticing the islander's bizarre behavior and lifestyle with increasing anguish. Eventually, he meets Lord Summerisle (Christopher Lee), who explains that they are all practicing Pagans. Howie is deeply offended, and accuses them of murdering the girl as part of some sort of bizarre ritual. He then attempts to leave the island in order to report his suspicions to the chief constable, but finds that his plane has been tampered with.

Cleverly attempting to catch the islanders at whatever strange game they are playing with the girl who is to be sacrificed, Howie is instead fooled by the islanders. They imprison him in a giant "Wicker Man" and light it afire. It is their belief that his virginal, Christian life will appease their Pagan gods, and bring bounty to the next harvest.

I thought the film was very strange, i am not religious so i didn't really understand the beliefs behind some of the activity, i wouldn't say that i enjoyed the film, in parts it was fairly captivating but most i found tedious and its not the sort of film that i would sit down at home and watch.

I think that some parts of the film would fit into the genre of horror, mainly the bit at the end where he is imprisoned in the huge man, although this was the main part and plot, the suspense that the directors created while making the movie is enough for it to fit into the genre of horror. It is a very cultural movie and to people heavily involved with that sort of thing it would seem appealing and not generally scary, but to people unaware to these sorts of happenings it is not so much easy viewing, you may spend your time wandering what is going on and find some parts of the film disturbing.

The attempt to remake the film was not so good in my opinion, mainly because i didn't like the original. People who liked the first film and then watch the remake may have developed a following for this sort of film, making them see it again, it strikes m as a kind of hippy cultural following film.