Pagan Bookworm

A history of the 1973 film for those like me who love it and can sing the words of the entire soundtrack. If anyone wants to reprint the article for any purpose or use excerpts from it please contact me via email or comment. Spoiler Warning!

“Come, It is time to keep your appointment with the Wicker Man…”

A large figure looms in the skyline of a remote island in Scotland, it is consumed by crackling flames while the screams of livestock and a man trapped inside are carried by the wind over the sea as unconcerned people circle the figure dancing and singing an ancient tune. This large figure is a wicker man; a human form made out of sticks and branches from trees which was filled with animal and human sacrifices all burned together as offerings to pagan gods. Although there is evidence that the Celts practiced human sacrifice, the only account of this particular use of a wicker man we have comes from Julius Caesar. This Roman Emperor conquered the independent Celts of Gaul and reported their practices of human sacrifice. Julius Caesar described the colossal wooden figures created with wicker-work which were filled with live men, usually criminals, cattle and other livestock. These figures were then set on fire as sacrifices. It was thought that the more sacrifices offered, the more fertile the land would be in the coming agricultural season.

The Wicker Man is a film based on these practices and pagan beliefs which was released in 1973. A virgin and god-fearing Scottish police officer, Sergeant Neil Howie, receives an anonymous letter asking him to help find a missing young girl on the remote island of Summerisle in the Hebrides famous for its export of apples. Sergeant Howie flies to the island and finds himself alone amongst an independent society of villagers who have reverted to practicing ancient pagan beliefs. As coincidence would have it, he arrives on the day before the island’s May Day celebrations — an ancient fire festival and time of sacrifice for pagans. Disgusted by their practices, the Christian Howie focuses on finding the missing girl, but the villagers only seem to talk in riddles and lead him to dead ends. As the mystery unravels Howie finds out it has all been a ruse by the villagers to bring him to the island as a ‘perfect’ sacrifice to the gods of the orchard in order to assure fertility of the apple trees because Summerisle’s apple crop failed the previous year.

The Wicker Man is a bizarre combination of the horror, mystery and musical movie genres. The Wicker Man is generally viewed as a horror movie and relates easily to the horror genre because of the classic horror elements present in the movie. Some of these elements include bizzare and traumatizing events, disturbing situations and horrific imagery to make the viewer uncomfortable, as well as direct attacks on the audeniences’ sense of safety and self-control. Horror is an important and much-loved movie genre that has been around since the start of filmmaking and unlike other genres, Westerns or musicals for example, the horror film has kept a constant level of popularity into present day.

“[...]only horror goes straight to the deepest unease at the core of human existence. And because it does so, the genre corresponds more profoundly with our contemporary sense of the world than the others.”

Birth of a Legend

The film was originally planned to be based on British author David Pinner’s novel Ritual, but the screenwriter Anthony Schaffer deem it unworthy of being a screenplay and rewrote the film from scratch still keeping the theme of a police officer investigating the murder of a young girl. This film was the creation of Schaffer with his friend and business partner Robin Hardy for the film studio British Lion which was headed by Peter Snell at the time. The Wicker Man was filmed in various locations of Scotland with the main scenes being in Dumfries and Galloway. The movie is set in early Spring, but due to time constraints it had to be filmed during winter. Fake greenery and heaters were a common sight on set. The Wicker Man went through many troubles during filming including the short time allowance, the freezing weather, a very small budget due to the studio’s financial troubles, disruptions and complaints from actors, as well as the changing hands of British Lion’s studio executives. Despite all of these issues, the movie was completed within its limited budget and filming period.

The Wicker Man was directed by Robin Hardy (Australian TV series E Street), with the screenplay by Anthony Schaffer (Murder on the Orient Express, Sleuth, and Hitchcock’s Frenzy), and original music composed by the late brilliant American musician Paul Giovanni. Both Robin Hardy and Paul Giovanni played small roles in the film with Hardy as a Catholic minister in one of the original cut scenes and Giovanni performing “Gently Johnny” also in a scene that was originally edited out. Some of the more well-known actors who participated in the film include: Christoper Lee as Lord Summerisle who claims this was his favourite role of all time; British actor Edward Woodward who accepted the main role after David Hemmings and Michael York turned it down; Diane Cilento as Miss Rose, who is more famous for her previous marriage to Scottish actor Sean Connery and is now wed to The Wicker Man’s screenwriter; Ingrid Pitt as Summerisle’s archivist and librarian; and Swedish actress Britt Ekland who was hired to attract international appeal and whose voice was dubbed due to her inability to master a Scottish accent.

First Release and the Problems Therein

Yet another setback for the Wicker Man came just as the film was preparing for release. It appeared after British Lion’s financial troubles reached a peak and there was a takeover ousting Peter Snell for Michael Deeley and Barry Spikings. Despite well-known actors being cast in The Wicker Man, the movie was given dismal reviews at test screenings and at which Deeley was said to exclaim it was one of the “ten worst films” he had ever watched. The new studio executives, not being as enthusiastic about The Wicker Man as Peter Snell, decided to edit the movie in order for it to be more acceptable to a general audience by their standards. To many fans and those involved in the production of the film, the editing was seen as an unjustified massacre to the story and the movie itself by two outsiders who came in after the movie’s creation. It is thought that the sloppy editing of the film into a short 84 minutes is what led to it’s initial rejection by distributors.

The unfair treatment of this film went even further as The Wicker Man was almost never released to the public. It was shown for one brief week in London’s West End in 1973 tacked onto another British Lion film, after which it disappeared into obscurity. Luckily the story of The Wicker Man doesn’t end here. It wasn’t until 1975, two years after its initial release, that The Wicker Man had its official theatre release as a feature film — this time in the United States.

Critics & Cults

Originally The Wicker Man was not well-received by critics in the UK. It was considered to be bizarre, disturbing, and uncomfortable with the hasty editing making the story confusing and out of order. Its short one-week release in London also did not allow for much critiquing to be done. The film’s distribution in North America was much more successful where the movie gained a horror B-movie status. Today this movie is considered a cult classic and has been called the “Citizen Kane of horror films” by some reviewers. How did this film become a cult classic? The first thing to define is how movies become cult classics in the first place. A cult film is a movie that usually has a small, but devoted, group of fans who bond over their love for and subject of the film and who also share their interest by word of mouth, gatherings, the internet and other methods. Some of the reasons The Wicker Man gained cult status are due to its unusual combination of the horror and musical genres, the “it is so bad it’s good” factor, the unusual story and incorporation of genuine pagan practices and British Isles folklore, as well as the mystery, rumours and controversy that have always surrounded this film. Another factor in its cult status was its embrace by the modern Pagan religious communities of North America and the UK. The use of pagan practices and folklore in this film has enabled many modern Neo-pagans to identify themselves with The Wicker Man — even to the point that many of them have myths about whom the director and screenwriter collaborated with to glean their knowledge of paganism from. Despite its obscurity, thanks to The Wicker Man’s cult status and devoted fans, the film will continue to survive today defeating its original mistreatment and obscurity.

The Hunt for Missing Footage

After the film had reached cult status, pressure started to come from fans to restore the movie to its original length, which is just what Peter Snell and Robin Hardy set out to do. This was not an easy task as after numerous phone calls, contacts, and leads Snell was told that the original negatives of the edited scenes were in fact part of the rubbish buried under the M3 motorway construction in Britain. Thankfully, it was recalled that earlier edited versions of the original film had been sent to distributors for viewing and a copy of the original 102 minute film was found in the personal library of Roger Corman, dubbed the “King of Bs”. This copy was restored and eventually released on video as a director’s cut. There have been many editions of The Wicker Man released all of varying lengths. Two notable ones include a dual DVD special edition set in a pyrographed wooden box which had a limited release in 2001 by Anchor Bay Entertainment, as well as another dual DVD release with even more added footage which was made available right after the debut of 2006 summer release The Wicker Man remake featuring Nicholas Cage.

Outgrowth of The Wicker Man

Like any cult classic The Wicker Man has spawned its own collection of memorabilia and products from t-shirts, posters, documentaries, and photos to books, magazines, and documentaries. There was a famous 1977 issue of the horror/fantasy film magazine Cinefantastique which was dedicated entirely to the film. Then in 1978, due to its success in North America, Robin Hardy and Anthony Schaffer turned The Wicker Man screenplay into a book of the same name. More recently Allan Browne wrote a biography of the film in 2000 titled Inside The Wicker Man: The Morbid Ingenuities. There was also a fan publication called Nuada: The Wicker Man Journal which had a short run of three issues also in the year 2000. There have been three documentaries on The Wicker Man: Ex-S: The Wicker Man by BBC Scotland in 1998, The Wicker Man Enigma by Blue Underground Inc in 2001, and Burnt Offering – The Cult of The Wicker Man by Nobles Gate for Channel 4 also in 2001. Despite all of these spin-offs and memorabilia one of the most anticipated releases from The Wicker Man film was the first release of the film’s full soundtrack by Silva Screen Records in 2002. The soundtrack was created from the original full-length master tracks of the songs used throughout the movie. It was originally Giovanni, Snell, Schaffer, and Hardy’s goal to release a soundtrack along with the original film, but the movie’s mistreatment led to the abandonment of the soundtrack after British Lion changed management. The sixteen track release in 2002 was a treat to both fans and those involved in the film’s production. Although Paul Giovanni sadly died in the 1990s from AIDS, the music from his last film lives on for many fans and future generations to enjoy.

Reincarnation

In the summer of 2006 a remake of The Wicker Man was released, directed by Neil LaBute and starring Nicholas Cage as Sergeant Howie. Keeping only the bare foundation of the story and some of the original dialogue, the movie was met by dismal reviews from both fans and critics alike. Despite this disappointment, fans can look forward to a film sequel of The Wicker Man called Cowboys for Christ by director Robin Hardy which is set to be released in 2008 and is based on his book of the same name which was published in May of 2006.

The Wicker Man franchise continues to thrive despite its original odds as it is exposed to more and more viewers and one generation after another. Like the pagan beliefs presented in the film, the movie is continually reincarnating itself. The Wicker Man will live on through the decades unlike Sergeant Howie reverently sacrificed to the ancient pagan gods.

References:

1. Frazer, James George. The Golden Bough (Chapter 6, Section 2), Simon and Schuster, 1996.
2. Prince, Stephen. The Horror Film, Rutgers University Press, 2004.
3. Philips, S. “The Various Versions of The Wicker Man” Retrieved September 18, 2007, from http://www.steve-p.org/wm/.
4. Nuada: The Wicker Man Journal Retrieved September 18, 2007 from http://www.nuada98.fsnet.co.uk/nuada%203/
5. Kermode, Mark. “Something wicker this way comes” Retrieved September 18, 2007 from http://www.channel4.com/film/reviews/feature.jsp?id=111049&page=1
6. McCafferty,Declan. The Wicker Man Accessed September 18, 2007 at http://www.wicker-man.com/
7. Disraeli, Benjamin (2002). About the Film. In The Wicker Man: The Original Soundtrack Album (pp.5-11) [CD liner notes]. New York: Silva Screen Records.
8. The Wicker Man. Dir. Robin Hardy, Anthony Schaffer, Paul Giovanni. Film. Anchor Bay Entertainment, 2001.

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Folklore in The Wicker Man

A brief overview of some of the folklore present in the film The Wicker Man:

John Barleycorn

John Barleycorn is the personification of the spirit of the harvest – grains were thought of as deities by Pagans to be sacrificed every year so that others may live. This personification of the sacrifice is also labelled Cailleach and/or Bride in Scotland, or the Hag and/or Maiden. John Barleycorn is also a popular English folksong about barley being made into whiskey which is thought by many to have connections to paganism.

Eyes on the Dingy

More common on Viking ships, eyes painted on vessels were supposed to guide the sailors through fog and danger and also to protect the sailors from harm and evil spirits.

Greenman

The name of the pub and inn of Summerisle is The Greenman. The greenman is a foliate face found in ancient and renaissance architecture worldwide. Thought to be the embodiment of spring and fertility as well as a symbol of rebirth the greenman has also been linked to such mythical figures as Jack in the Green, Cernunnos, Sylvanus, Robin Goodfellow, Puck, John Barleycorn, and the Green Knight.

Couples copulating outdoors on May Eve

This is an old European pagan practice documented in folklore, which even crossed with immigrants to the United States (has been documented in the Ozarks). It was believed that copulation in the fields would ensure their fertility and therefore a good harvest.

Maypole

A tall erected wooden pole decorated with flowers, foliage and long ribbons. Dancers circle the maypole weaving a pattern with the ribbons as they dance. The maypole is a traditional part of May Day (Beltane) and sometimes Midsummer festivals. Thought to stem from pagan practices, the maypole dance was an ordinary part of culture in Europe and North America up until the early 20^th century.

Woman with baby holding an egg

The egg is an ancient symbol of fertility once worn by many cultures as an amulet of fertility. Many culture’s creation myths are based on a story of the world or cosmic egg, with either the world or a primordial deity being ‘hatched’ from the egg to explain the earth’s creation.

Pregnant women in the apple Orchard

This is a folkloric practice from England along with many other traditions surrounding apple orchards. It was thought that if pregnant women spent time in an orchard and touched the trees, that they would be fertile and bear a high yield of fruit. Likewise, libations of ale or cider were given to the orchard trees at Christmas also to encourage their fruitfulness. Many believe that both of these traditions stem from pagan practices.

Coins on the eyes of a corpse

Coins were placed on the eyes of a dead person to keep their eyes closed and also to pay the ferry man in order to cross over. This belief probably stems from ancient Greek’s beliefs in the afterlife. It was necessary to pay Hermes in order to enter Hades’ realm, the Underworld.

Hand of Glory

The hand of glory is an old folk-magic charm that was used by thieves. It was believed that the cut off hand of a hanged corpse with the fingers lit with tallow and oil set in a house would cause everyone in the home to be rendered motionless as long as it was lit. It was thought that a lit hand of glory could only be put out with milk.

May Day Procession/Ritual

The May Day ritual presented in the film along with the book Sergeant Howie gains his knowledge of the rite from at the Summerisle library is based on genuine practices from the UK. The ritual includes theses characters: a man in drag, a hobby horse, and a jester/fool.

Ale sacrifice to the sea-god Shoni

Shoni is a Scottish sea god who was sacrificed to as recently as the late 1800s. He was given libations to ensure a good catch of fish, a good seaweed harvest, and to keep the sailors from harm. Shoni is the Scottish equivalent of the Welsh Bucca.

Escape through the cave

Many comparisons can be drawn to symbol journey through the underworld to be reborn and purified. This myth is found across cultures. For example Inanna’s descent into the underworld and the Eleusinian mysteries of Greece.

Ritual bathing and anointment

Carried out by both Pagan and Christian cultures alike. It is believed that a sacrifice must be purified and clean in order to approach the Gods making him or her an acceptable sacrifice.

Reverencing the Sacrifice

Also a practice of pagan cultures. The sacrifice was revered for giving of themselves for the good of others. This draws back to the idea of the Sacred or Divine king, and also the pagan practice of reverencing slain enemies who died honourably in battle.

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