StudioCanal 4K Ultra HD Film Review

The Wicker Man (1973) • 50th Anniversary 4K Ultra HD [StudioCanal, Vintage Classics]

A puritan policeman arrives in a Scottish island village in search of a missing girl, who the Pagan locals claim never existed.

The great works of horror cinema are often identifiable by single images. Whether this is fair to the films, or a reductive way of viewing a piece of art, it’s a practice hard to avoid. The Shining (1980) could be referred to as the film with the blood elevators, while The Exorcist (1973) is the one with the girl whose head twists backwards. To audiences at large, these moments are defining and emblematic of what the films are. In the case of British horror, it could be said that one image defines its entire history: the burning of a Wicker Man.

To call this image iconic or important is true, but reductive. It fails to capture all the nuance and genius contained in The Wicker Man, a film celebrating its 50th anniversary. To revisit the film is to be reminded there’s nothing else like it in horror cinema. To be seduced…