Directed by Robin Hardy. With Christopher Lee, Edward Woodward, and Britt Ekland.
You’ll simply never understand the true nature of sacrifice.
This is the case of a film that I have seen before but it might as well be the first time for all that I remember of it. I mean the culminating vision of the horrific sacrifice is pretty much seared in my memory but everything leading up to it is gone - sorry Britt. Last Halloween, I watched Ari Aster’s folk horror film Midsommar and I can certainly see the influence that The Wicker Man had there. But, The Wicker Man is so much more sinister in the end. I even think the promise of seeing Britt Ekland naked was a genius plot to lure men (or anyone really for aren’t those delightful tater-tots) to the movie, much like the hapless detective was lured to the island in search of the missing girl - maybe, maybe not. I’m not out to provide deep analysis (though I do read that stuff), but I agree with the theory that this film has a lot to say about where we find ourselves in America today — two parties with deeply held and contradictory beliefs that are willing to use their righteousness to justify whatever actions they deem as necessary no matter the consequences. Sounds familiar.