Premise: A police sergeant investigates the disappearance of a young girl in a secluded Scottish town full of strange customs.
I had an odd introduction to this movie. My junior year high school English class focused on British Literature. I can't remember what we were reading at the time, but we must've gotten to a unit of Scottish literature. For some reason, my teacher decided that showing us the ending of The Wicker Man was the best way to assimilate us into the culture. So yeah, he played us the last few minutes of the movie while jokingly praising the dancing and singing.
It turns out, that wasn't out of line.
Ever since, I thought of The Wicker Man as a campy, not very good horror movie from the 70s. A couple years later, the Nic Cage remake came out and really soiled its legacy. So, I went into this proper viewing of the movie with pretty low expectations. I ended up loving it. The movie is silly and a little campy. It's practically a musical at times. That's what's effective about it. Horror with the lights on is often scarier than when it's in the dark. Midsommar used that idea effectively a couple years ago. No doubt Ari Aster was incredibly familiar with The Wicker Man. I love how all the oddness is used for both tension and levity.
"Willow's Song" rules. That whole sequence is transfixing. After finishing the movie, I watched that scene again. And I'm pretty sure I would've done that even if it didn't have a naked Britt Ekland dancing around. It a psychedelic song shot hypnotically. This is a big movie for nakedness. It's gratuitous but consistent with the era.
Verdict: Strongly Recommend
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