The Wicker Man - 40th Anniversary

Such an electrifying movie in the last act, made so by the baffling, unsettling buildup throughout the film. This staunch, upright policeman represents us, the viewer, as he first strides, then falters, through this strange island culture where everything seems sexualised and wanton and weird. He is as confused as us, the viewers. The villagers veer between odd and friendly, and almost everything said and done seems distinctly off-kilter. We see this staunch Christian feel himself diminished and isolated as he realises he is in an environment like he's never encountered, where the friendly words, and seemingly joyful music has an underpinning of debauchery, cruelty and barbarity he finds hard to cope with - from the beetle deliberately tied to the pin to go round and round until it's tied up, to the little girl made to put a frog in her mouth to get rid of a sore throat, to the odd tricks the children play on the policeman. The film itself is indeed a horror movie, but defies genre. It's a dark, dark comedy of sorts - reminiscent of the old TV series The Prisoner in its disconcerting changing of familiar buildings and clothes into something alien - a musical (the music infuses the film almost wholly, with the only odd music being an out-of-place funky electric guitar score very near the end when Woodward is trying to escape pursuit), and a detective story. The vacant smiles and constant digressions the villagers and Lord make when talking to the policeman just keep building and building the tension, until the nature of the old religion makes itself clear. Finally, you feel that both Christian and heathen are equally wrong and equally impotent as the villagers sing and dance on the windy grassland. This sacrifice feels both dreadful (Woodward is amazing in the last act) and pointless, as the villagers cavort in the windy sunset, you feel the gesture they are making to nature is pointless, and nature will do what it will do, and the actions of men won't change a thing. A great film, horror or not.

What is it about this unique film that draws me back. Seen in the cinema, on DVD and now this rather splendid "Final Cut" BLURAY. It's not cheap, but you certainly get your VFM. 3 discs all detailed here on the product site. My wife and I watched disc ONE which has the reinserted bits and is a bit longer than the other versions. In truth, not perhaps that you would notice except for the opening and the slight change in quality. This BLU Ray is excellent with (mostly) excellent picture, sound and subtitles. So....Is it the fact that 3 of our sexiest ladies are in it? EKLAND/CILENTO and PITT all have their moments (Britt is dubbed as is her bottom (not dubbed but ...oh you know!) as is I think Pitt, but all 3 contribute greatly to ones enjoyment. Then there is also the matter of Lee's HAIR. Never have I seen such a scary syrup! He obviously thouroughly enjoys himself as do all the support cast. I can never decide about Woodward, but I can't think of anyone else doing better. The build up of tension is admirable, and the ending outstanding. It must be a combination of all the above. You have to accept the crazy plot. If you don't/can't it is your loss. A classice very English (I know) film in it's quirkiness/oddness, and one I will almost definitely return to in 2 or 3 years. P.S. Definitley not for those offended by seuality!!! though it is NOT Pornographic.

Studio Canal Blu ray: A lovely restoration (which dips in just a few places - presumably where any 'lost' footage was found), so no gripes with that. Film: Wonderful, better than I had remembered it, so this presentation certainly delivered for me. A powerful film with a good solid plot and thoughtful direction. Nice to see Christopher relishing his role as Lord of the island as it were, and his brief but interesting singing which, he adds in one of the extras, he managed to slip in to the film. The extras were good, especially the CD of the incidental music which I found fascinating. The only gripe was of the TV interview with Christopher Lee and the film's director. The picture quality was truly abysmal - literally worse than a fourth generation copy 'men's film' on VHS (for those who remember the format). Surely the distributor could have found a better source copy for this uniquely interesting interview with Christopher himself - ? However, this is unreservedly recommended. This is clearly a lovingly restored film, and it deserves it. This was Christopher Lee's favourite film he appeared in.

This has always been one of my favourite british horror movies and its really unique as it cant really be classified in any particular genre though folk horror is one attempt at defining it. Excellent performances particularly from sir christopher lee as lord summerisle and edward woodward as sgt neil howie give the film nicely contrasting lead characters the pagan head of the island community and the devout christian copper. It all builds to the horrific finale which must rank as one of the most iconic in cinema history. This blu ray final cut gives greatly enhanced picture quality though as expected the directors cut cant be improved due to the fact that the original film materials for the longer cut were unfortunately lost and only a poor quality video print exists a shame really. Nevertheless i would commend this blu ray for the step up in quality and all the extras and full soundtrack cd.

I'll admit to being a major Edward Woodward fan, so of course any collection of Wicker Man DVDs is going to merit five-stars from me! This is the ultimate collection, with all of the major releases (the history of the film is fascinating, and there are lost/found/lost again scenes making multiple releases a necessity). In addition, this anniversary collection has Burnt Offering, the making of featurette that relays the film's odd history, the final cut which is billed as the definitive release (although I prefer the director's cut myself), bunches of audio commentary, the soundtrack, and a few interviews with the director. DVD transfer quality is as good as it can be, considering the film's history, and it's all nicely packaged in one complete set. I have this and the wooden box set that came out prior to this, and I prefer this set. The box set is nice (contains only the director's cut and original release) but this is definitive in my opinion. If you love film history, this film is definitely one to study!

I read everything about Wicker Man for years and soooo wanted to see it and when I finally did I admit to thinking " ok? was that it? good but" my expectations was sort of met but not the dizzy hights I had made for it. Then some years later I saw it again and I "got it" and after that I have lost count how many times I seen it but I have bought it on cheap dvd - proper DVD Quality - Director`s cut and yeah used some money getting it in better Quality more complete so the Wicker Man did get me. The movie for me is eery creepy atmospheric and VERY well acted by ALL and that makes me come back to it over and over. This set is now the most complete and best Quality version(s) I need. From the first time I read about this movie called Wicker Man til now I can finally rest ... til the next time I see it and the creepy journey it takes me on.

The extra scenes in the final edition help make the story make sense, almost to the degree you wonder why the main policeman character hung around, and didn't make a run for it. However, although studio canal have done the best they can with the orginal elements, it has to be said that some of these scenes are in poor condition. Remember seeing this film on tv, not long after first come out. The film quality seemed normal for the time. It's hard to work out why some film's end up in such poor condition.

I could pore over every nuance of the film (I must have seen it 2, maybe 3 hundred times: from late night TV in the very early '80's, through scratchy VHS copies (and a copy of the Roger Corman 'cut', long before it commercially appeared on DVD), then DVD and now, on Blu-ray. I was actually reticent to buy it, due in no small part to the disingenuous claims made by both Studio Canal and Robin Hardy in the pre-launch propaganda that this was the 'never seen before version'. For Wicker Man fans anticipating the Holy Grail: lengthy footage of Chris Lee discussing apple strains with Sergeant Howie or the deleted Holly Grimmond scenes, they are likely to be underpinning the M3 motorway as landfill (Michael Deeley and Eric Boyd-Perkins are quite possibly responsible for that!) and are equally unlikely to be ever seen. Instead, this version contains some of the Corman scenes (found on the DVD "Director's Cut 'full' version) including Ash Buchanan's introduction to Aphrodite, Gently Johnny, Willow scrubbing the tables the following morning, etc. No Alder rattling the spoons across the optics or blowing smoke across the wall towards the missing photo frame. You get the cut version of Landlord's Daughter missing a verse and no police station scene at the beginning with John Hallam, though I did note in the end credits: Postman - Tony Roper scrolled-up. The opening credits attributes music to Magnet (was it not Lodestone on the Corman version?) Sound is not been vastly improved upon. Some reviews on Amazon suggest a 5.1 soundtrack, but printed on the box and apparent to my ears, it's 2.0 mono. However, the picture quality is a revelation: jumping out of the screen in comparison to any previous version I've seen. I didn't realise it was raining when Howie first lands on the jetty at Plockton, but the rain droplets on his West Highland Constabulary tunic are apparent to see. Mark Kermode's documentary is good: Boyd-Perkins, Deeley, Ekland, etc. are interviewed alongside the pro-film 'usual suspects' (Hardy/Lee/Woodward/Shaffer/Snell/etc.). Ekland postures that her voice was completely re-dubbed by Annie Ross throughout the film and that she was unaware of the Miss P and Jane Jackson body doubles until the film's release, despite Jane saying Ekland eyed her up and down in pre-approval just prior to the shooting before swanning off set (likely to go and enrage more of the locals with her prima donna attitude). I may have been a bit stubborn in my reticence to buy the Blu-ray, but as said above, the manner of marketing it as something entirely new irritated me no end, but it seemed silly to not have my favourite film in my Blu-ray collection. I'm glad that I did buy it now.

国内版はDVDのみで、同一内容のものは現在廃盤となっており、定価の数倍の価格がついています。これは、字幕は英語ですが、わずか１０００円たらずの価格で購入できました。おまけにブルーレイですよ。ただし、リージョンがBでした。そのままでは再生できないので、たまたま持っていた外付け用のポータブルプレーヤーで再生する羽目に。ところがパソコン本体にインストールしていたソフトがリージョンコードの変更を外付けだけでなく、内蔵の分まで変更してしまうことが判明。結局別メーカーのソフトを購入することで解決しました。 DVDでは機器の設定だけで済み、再生ソフトは共有できたのに。ちょっと腹立たしい思いをしました。結果的に７０００円弱につきました。 クリストファー・リーウィキペディアで調べていたら、この映画の存在を知りました。演技の幅を広げるためだったんだそうですね。何とノーギャラで。彼自身、この映画への思いは熱いものがあったそうです。それで興味を持ち、購入、視聴することに。見た感想ですが、オカルトやホラーの範疇でくくるのには無理がある印象を受けました。一度見ただけですが、どちらかというと、ファンタジー。ファンタジーが不適当であれば、幻想的という感じです。それは映画全体の映像のつながりがもたらす雰囲気、色調、音楽、景色等々からそう感じるのです。 本ディスクではファイナルカット、UK版カット、ディレクターズカット、３種類をざっと見ましたが、最短のものと最長のものでの時間の差は１７分です。大きな違いは島に上陸する前の少女の行方を依頼する手紙が届くまでの部分、敬虔なクリスチャンである主人公が教会のミサに出ている部分、この２つの有無です。この部分が欠落すると、主人公が敬虔なクリスチャンであることが明白ではなくなるので、プロットが崩れると監督やリーが嘆いたというのはうなずけます。

Ich muss gestehen, dass ich den Film gar nicht kannte, nicht einmal den Titel - bis ich von einem Familienmitglied die Empfehlung bekam. Dann habe ich ihn angesehen und war stark beeindruckt. Dann habe ich eine Nacht drüber geschlafen und am darauffolgenden Tag wurde mir erst richtig klar, dass das ein echtes Filmkunst - Juwel ist und nicht nur irgend ein weiterer guter Film. Auch der Soundtrack dieses Films ist absolut betörend. Also, ich empfehle diesen Film dringend! Es ist für jeden Cineasten ein Muss!

Ottima edizione per un film culto, purtroppo mai uscito in Italia. Di conseguenza mancano sia l'audio italiano che i sottotitoli, però l'inglese è comprensibile (aiutandosi con i sottotitoli). Qualità audio video più che soddisfacenti. Ricco apparato extra, tra i quali spicca il cd audio con la colonna sonora. Lo consiglio sicuramente.

Il ne se passe pourtant pas grand chose mais le film laisse une impression abominable. Un classique.

Hasta incluye el soundtrack. Genial, la edición definitiva.