The Wicker Man (1973)

Having never seen The Wicker Man before, it initially struck me as an amalgamation of Ari Aster's 'Midsommer' and Edgar Wright's 'Hot Fuzz' as these, similar to The Wicker Man are constructed around the concept of an isolated society, where the inhabitants participate in extremely brutal rituals that appear extremely outlandish and horrific to the individual(s) that are unknowingly placed in the enviroment. The initial parallells I was able to make between The Wicker Man and other films I had previously watched stressed the impact that 'The Wicker Man' had on cinema, as it had hugely influenced the success of other films by providing an easily adaptable blueprint.

The quality of The Wicker Man had vastly exceeded my expectations for a film released in 1973, in all scopes of cinema from dialogue to cinematography. However, this is likely due to my previous refusal to watch any film made before 2000, naievely thinking it would make strict use of Shakespearean language and be filmed in black and white. This was obviously not the case, so hopefully there will be more recgonition for films made before 2000 later on in this blog.

The length of the film is 1hr 27mins, allowing the narrative to be carried exceptionally, leaving no scene feeling superfluous or dragged out unnecessarily. The film felt as though all scenes were adequately supplemented whilst still developing the storyline rather quickly, a quality I enjoyed as the film didn't appear oversaturated and was able to maintain my full engagement throughout.



Movie Rating: 7/10



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