Imprint's new, deluxe Blu-Ray box of THE WICKER MAN (88/93/102 mins., 1973, R) offers the most ambitious release yet from the label.
Robin Hardy's filming of Tony-winning “Sleuth” author Anthony Shaffer's original screenplay has long been a cult favorite for obvious reasons. Edward Woodward gives one of his most distinguished performances as a cop summoned to a remote Scottish island in order to find a missing girl – what he uncovers instead is a living Pagan world of ancient customs, presided over by Christopher Lee's Lord Summerisle, who initially doesn't come off as overly menacing. Neither do some of the locals who pose quirks but seldom outright menace to Woodward's devoutly Catholic police officer – yet the placidity of their demeanor masks true horror within, leading to Shaffer's legendary shock finale that regrettably has been spoiled in countless artworks utilized for the picture's releases over the years.
“The Wicker Man” has been hailed as one of the great horror movies of all-time by some. For others, myself included – who may have been overhyped on the picture's virtues before seeing it for the first time – the picture may seem somewhat overpraised. Yet there's no denying the curious pull this picture has, even for those who've seen it before. Hardy and cinematographer Harry Waxman create a fully credible foreign environment for Woodward to visit, from its opening shots of his sea plane to the small village environments which only casually reveal their true intentions – albeit too late for its doomed protagonist to save himself. The scoring by Paul Giovanni is fascinating in of and itself, sporting a number of performed on-screen folk songs which add a further surreal element to the picture – during these moments the film threatens to turn into one of the strangest musicals ever committed to the screen! The presence of the nubile Britt Ekland and Lee's sly performance add further appeal to an offbeat movie that – with its overt contrast of ancient and contemporary religions – unquestionably offers a unique cinematic experience on a number of levels, and one that functions just as successfully on repeat viewing.
Imprint's Limited Edition of “The Wicker Man” should have enormous appeal for the movie's fans, not just worldwide but especially in the U.S., where Lionsgate released a Blu-Ray of Hardy's “Final Cut” (93 mins.) nearly a decade ago; Studio Canal, meanwhile, debuted a multi-disc Blu-Ray overseas around that time that offered far more features. Imprint's new region-free box-set collects the contents of that more substantial edition while adding, as is the case with the label's releases, exclusive supplements and features that make it the definitive presentation of the movie yet on home video.
Fans of the movie are well aware that a variety of cuts exist for the movie, each championed by respective quarters of the fanbase. There's the original Theatrical Cut (88 mins.) which marked the first experience most audiences had with the material. A later Director's Cut (102 mins.) premiered on home video which included a long prologue, completely cut out of the other versions, with Woodward's cop on the mainland. Finally there was Hardy's “The Final Cut” (93 mins.), sort of a mixture of both versions, but again minus the prologue. While Lionsgate's previous U.S. Blu-Ray only contained the latter, Studio Canal's UK Blu-Ray offered all three edits – albeit with the Director's Cut in standard-definition.
Imprint's release includes all three “Wicker Man” versions – but with the added benefit of the Director's Cut having been reconstructed in HD for the first time, utilizing standard-def inserts for the materials unique to that cut, with the movie's gorgeous HD remaster (1.85, 2.0 PCM mono) for its other sequences. Despite the obvious shift in detail from one source to the other, this is an otherwise seamless viewing option that – for the fans who prefer the longest version of the movie with its prologue intact – offers an essential new way of viewing and appreciating “The Wicker Man.”
Beyond the trio of viewing options (actually there's a fourth – the ability to watch the Director's Cut wholly in its previous standard-definition master), Imprint has included an embarrassment of riches in terms of extras.
Disc 1 in the set houses the “Final Cut” plus a brand new commentary by BFI historians Vic Pratt and Will Fowler. Also on-hand here are extras from Studio Canal's previous special editions: Mark Kermode's 2001 documentary “Burnt Offering: The Cult of the Wicker Man” (in full HD), plus “Worshipping the Wicker Man” and “The Music of the Wicker Man” featurettes. There's also a later interview with Robin Hardy, a restoration comparison, trailers, and a 25-minute 1979 New Orleans TV interview with Lee and Hardy.
Disc 2 offers the reconstructed Director's Cut plus the Theatrical Version, the latter debuting a superb new commentary from critics Kim Newman and Sean Hogan, who detail the changes in this long-maligned “producer's cut” that some fans now feel is the best cut of the movie, gaining in pacing and shock value what it loses in continuity and some narrative exposition over its other versions.
Disc 3 includes a bevy of extras, many of them newly produced for Imprint's release. These include “Willow's Song & The Liberation of Eve,” a video essay by critic/writer Kat Ellinger; Adam Scovell's video essay “Forged Folklore”; “The Music of the Wicker Man,” a conversation with author David Huckvale, plus another segment with Huckvale on the movie's symbolism; and Robert Reed's comments on the picture, along with “The Willow Song,” a promo video Reed produced. Imprint also gives us two archival documentaries (1998's “Ex-S: The Wicker Man” and 2001's “The Wicker Man Enigma”), a 2013 movie Q&A, a segment with folk musicians discussing the soundtrack, plus TV and radio spots. And then, to cap it off, the standard-definition presentation of The Director's Cut along with its vintage audio commentary (and corresponding “Making Of” featurette) featuring Robin Hardy, Christopher Lee, and Edward Woodward.
The deluxe-packaged set – featuring a hardbound case and three individual Blu-Ray containers – is capped by a copy of Paul Giovanni's soundtrack CD. Limited to 2000 units, the set comes as a must for “Wicker Man” fans regardless of your geographic location – and a strong candidate already for “Disc of the Year.”
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