The Wicker Man (1973)
Reports of the mysterious disappearance of a girl on an island outlying Scotland leads Sergeant Howie (Edward Woodward) to visit Summerisle.. The locals profess to have no knowledge of the girl, but for Howie things don't quite ring true and he begins his own investigation into the the community, and, in particular Lord Summerisle (Christopher Lee), seeing what he can uncover. Howie unwittingly becomes the mouse in a game of "cat and mouse" with the islands inhabitants and their never forgotten Pagan past.
A May Day watch of one of the classic British chillers and my first time in glorious Blu-ray high definition.
It could be argued that it's familiarity makes it even more sinister. For we know as the intrepid yet awkwardly naive and religiously strict Sergeant Howie, a never better Edward Woodward, comes into contact with the inhabitants of Summerisle, that each and every one of them knows exactly what fate will fall on the good Sergeant, and every smiling face is a facade of doomed inevitability.
The first time i watched this classic British horror film it scared me in a way no other film had previously, or indeed since. There is no killer stalking the sergeant, no houses are haunted, there is no actual threat to Howie the investigating policeman, he is offered several ways out of the scenario yet fails to take them. (You only realise this after the film ends though). The horror stems from beliefs and old customs the modern world has largely forgotten.
Yet despite the atmosphere of pagan mysticism the film has a sort of comforting quality. Is it because we too know what will befall Howie so we are confident everything leading up to the burning man conclusion should place him in no danger, or is it a sign of the quality of the script that puts us at ease? Having pondered this whilst watching the film for the umpteenth time it still comes as a shock as it dawns on Howie as well as the viewer that there simply won't be a happy ending. We know he's a lamb to the slaughter but even now the film has a potent ability to chill the blood in a way that very few films can. It's when you look around and see the happiness on the faces of the Summerisle inhabitants as the wicker edifice and Sergeant Howie burn, and the Spring sun comes into view that despite the murder of a policeman all is well with the world, and that to me is what makes The Wicker Man a true classic of British film making
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