By: Claudio “Totally not a vampire, I just hate the daylight, silver, and don’t appear in most mirrors, for real trust me, i’m not a vampire, you are the vampire, I mean really what is a vampire anyway, right? ” Cortés  

First off, how cool was Christopher Lee? From WW2 intelligence officer, to Dracula, to Saruman, and Metal Band front man, the man had a very very full life. Somewhere in between all of the this, he managed to be the driving force behind the production of today’s film, 1973’s The Wicker Man.

The inspiration for today’s film is a story based on a wood cut print from British Antiquity likely used by the Romans to demonstrate the savage nature of odd druidic residents of Britain called The Wicker Image. The Wicker Man is an exploration of its viewer’s tolerances and inherit prejudices, it forces them to question their base level religious tendencies. Those who err on the more religious end of things will relate more to the very devout christian main character, those a bit less static with their religious tendencies will relate and root for the islanders, and finally those who see the absurdity of religion altogether will see this movie as an exploration of the absurdity of religious absolutism.

A far cry from the 2006 Nicolas Cage vehicle, 1973’s The Wicker Man is well made, albeit slower paced, film that will remind the viewers of a particularly good BBC police procedural or an Agatha Christie novel. This is no Jump Scare extravaganza or even a Hammer Horror classic, this is simply a well made film that will leave you with more questions and plenty of conversational  fodder for your next digital hang out. 

“A heathen conceivably, but not, I hope, an unenlightened one” – Lord Summerisle 

You can watch The Wicker Man as an Amazon Prime as a Rental or Youtube film rental, either way you look at it, 3.99 well spent. 

The on the nose pick for today’s musical accompaniment would be Iron Maiden’s The Wicker Man, but I will not disrespect you like that today. Today’s musical pick is Pagan Poetry by the one and only Björk

Keep up with the playlist as it builds Here

What did you think of The Wicker Man? How would you compare it to Midsommar? Let us know on Twitter or Facebook.