7.8 | / 10 |
Users | 2.5 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 3.9 |
A Police sergeant travels to a remote Scottish island in search of a missing girl whom the townsfolk claim never existed. Stranger still are the rites that take place there.
Starring: Edward Woodward, Christopher Lee, Diane Cilento, Britt Ekland, Ingrid PittHorror | 100% |
Mystery | 20% |
Thriller | Insignificant |
Drama | Insignificant |
Musical | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio Mono (48kHz, 24-bit)
English, English SDH, Spanish
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (locked)
Movie | 4.5 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 3.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
The Golden Bough: A Study in Comparative Religion was one of the most seminal pieces of cultural anthropology ever published, a tome that in its longest version reached a massive twelve volumes, as Sir James George Frazer, a Scottish anthropologist with an abiding interest in myths, folklore and ancient religious practices, sought to bring a rigorously scholastic approach to a subject which had up to that time frequently been mired in either fanciful storytelling (as in the Thomas Bulfinch mythology books) or more dogmatic proselytization (as in the approach of rabid believers of any given tenet). Frazer and his most notable work have become rather sadly underappreciated through the years, though there are still various redactions of The Golden Bough that are widely available. But anyone who has followed the work of more modern icons like Joseph Campbell will certainly realize the debt owed to Frazer and his research, if they deign to look into Frazer’s offerings. One kind of unlikely byproduct of Frazer’s book is the 1973 British horror film The Wicker Man. Chances are even if you’ve never actually seen The Wicker Man (in any of its many iterations—more about that in a moment), you’ve at least heard about it. Such has been the slow but steady accretion of public awareness about this relatively small scale but incredibly disturbing film, which sees an uptight, ultra-right Christian police investigator named Sergeant Neil Howie traveling to the (fictional) remote Scottish island of Summerisle to try to find a missing girl about whom Howie has been alerted. Summerisle is a place out of time, completely cut off from the mainland (Howie has to get there by float plane, and even then needs a dinghy to actually bring him ashore), and with a rather shall we say peculiar history. What seems on its surface to be a fairly straightforward missing persons case assumes a much more sinister aspect as Howie becomes convinced there’s something considerably evil afoot on Summerisle. Though the ultimate denouement will not be spoiled in this review (for it is certainly one of the most devastating climaxes in the entire history of horror films), anyone who has read Frazer’s The Golden Bough will certainly be able to see how the long ago anthropologist’s theories on certain aspects of fertility rites and dying and risen gods like Osiris and even Jesus Christ play into the film’s (literal) final conflagration.
To fully understand the somewhat variable appearance of The Wicker Man on Blu-ray, it's important to understand
at least a little bit about the film's rather tortured history. Presented here on Blu-ray by Lionsgate Films (in conjunction
with StudioCanal) with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1, The Wicker Man looks mostly fantastic
for the bulk of its 94 minute running time. Observant readers will note that this version has been dubbed The Final
Cut, which alludes to several previous versions of the film. The U.S. theatrical cut ran 87 minutes and for a
long time was considered to be the only version extant. Other, longer, prints were ultimately discovered, many of which
reintegrated a chronological presentation of the story (per director Robin Hardy's wishes) while also adding a bit of
additional pre-island footage concerning Howie (as well as a bit of post-island footage featuring nudity). The longest of
these was a so-called Director's Cut, which ran 99 minutes and was included on the deluxe (wooden box) set on DVD
several years ago, along with the Theatrical version. This current version is the perhaps aptly named "middle" version,
pretty much splitting the difference between the 87 and 99 minute versions. What this all means for viewers is that
various sections of this film were sourced from different elements in radically different conditions. As stated above, by far
the vast majority of the film was sourced from a fantastic looking element (or one that has been lovingly restored), with
virtually no damage to speak of, and boasting nicely saturated and accurate looking color. Several shorter sequences
were sourced from a noticeably more ragged looking element, one that has been color corrected (perhaps unwisely, as I'll
discuss in a moment), but which is obviously much softer and grainier, which I assume means this was a dupe. (Take a
look at screenshot 6 of Woodward in the church for a good example of what these dupe elements look like in comparison
to the bulk of the film).
In terms of the (assumed) dupe elements and the color correction (which is clearly shown in the restoration supplement
included on the Blu-ray), while it's obvious there's too much cyan in the source element, to my eyes the telecine colorist
went a bit overboard toward the brown side of things in "fixing" this problem. As a result, flesh tones are fairly drab
looking, and some of the inherent brightness of the source element has been dampened.
All of this said, this is a very nice, organic presentation of an important film. There may have been some moderate "grain
averaging" to help ameliorate any changes between the elements, but there's no sign of aggressive denoising here.
Similarly, I saw no signs of overt digital sharpening.
The Wicker Man retains the film's original mono sound design with a nicely redolent DTS-HD Master Audio Mono mix. Some may have wished for a surround repurposing for this film, if only to better experience the very evocative score, but what's here boasts excellent fidelity. Both dialogue and the ubiquitous music are presented cleanly and clearly. There's not a wealth of dynamic range here, other than the aforementioned musical elements, but the track has excellent fidelity and has no major problems to report.
I have loved The Wicker Man since a friend first screened a 16mm print of the really long version of the film for me when I was a kid. I later saw the 99 minute version at an Art House when I was a teenager, and then and only then finally saw the shorter theatrical version when I was a young adult. Completists are probably going to be disappointed that this important film wasn't given a truly deluxe release with all available versions and some of the supplements that appended the special edition DVD set of several years ago. Those complaints should be at least partially offset by the fact that this transfer looks great (aside from inherent issues discussed above). The new supplements on this release are also quite good. The Wicker Man is a one of a kind experience (as proven admirably by the dunderheaded remake), and this release comes Highly recommended.
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