Tag: The Wicker Man

  • Kermode on… Nicolas Roeg: ‘Nothing is what it seems’

    Kermode on… Nicolas Roeg: ‘Nothing is what it seems’

    In the first of a new monthly Observer column on his favourite film-makers, Mark Kermode salutes the elliptical vision of the director of Don’t Look Now, Walkabout, Performance and so much moreThis month marks 50 years since the release of Nicolas Roeg’s Don’t Look Now, a personal touchstone movie (adapted from a story by Daphne…

  • The Most Satanic Film of All Time Preys on Our Deepest Fears

    The Most Satanic Film of All Time Preys on Our Deepest Fears

    While it’s hard to pin down a singular “golden period” in the history of Hollywood cinema, the 1970s were certainly responsible for many of the classic horror films often cited as being influential today. The rise of the “New Hollywood” era allowed a younger generation of filmmakers, international auteurs, and maverick independent directors reach a…

  • ‘The Omen’ Is Everything That Makes ’70s Horror Great

    ‘The Omen’ Is Everything That Makes ’70s Horror Great

    The 1970s unleashed a wave of classics upon the movie-going world. Indisputably a momentous era in the history of cinema across the world at large, the decade’s abundance of creative horror outings is similarly undeniable. Some of the movies hailing from the timeframe became overnight, epoch-defining sensations — instant classics lapped up by casual audiences…

  • After All These Years, This Remains Horror’s Grimmest Ending

    After All These Years, This Remains Horror’s Grimmest Ending

    Usually, horror movies have at least a somewhat predictable ending. If you’re watching a franchise slasher, chances are that the killer might look dead at the end, but he’s probably coming back. But at least the hero or the final girl gets a moment where they’re standing tall, victorious, even if only briefly. Increasingly, however,…

  • The Wicker Man review – brilliant conspiracy chiller is a one-movie genre in itself

    The Wicker Man review – brilliant conspiracy chiller is a one-movie genre in itself

    The satirical masterpiece goes well beyond what one expects from folk horror, with Edward Woodward as the priggish cop sent to investigate a pagan islandAfter 50 years, here is a re-release for that gamey satirical masterpiece of folk horror – although “prog horror” is perhaps a better description. Folk horror, like film noir, is a…

  • ‘The Omen’ Is Everything That Makes ’70s Horror Great

    ‘The Omen’ Is Everything That Makes ’70s Horror Great

    The 1970s unleashed a wave of classics upon the movie-going world. Indisputably a momentous era in the history of cinema across the world at large, the decade’s abundance of creative horror outings is similarly undeniable. Some of the movies hailing from the timeframe became overnight, epoch-defining sensations — instant classics lapped up by casual audiences…

  • ‘Children of the Corn’ Review: In the Latest Sequel Slash Reboot, There Isn’t a Kernel of Fear Left

    ‘Children of the Corn’ Review: In the Latest Sequel Slash Reboot, There Isn’t a Kernel of Fear Left

    Like a virus that keeps coming back but growing weaker each time, “Children of the Corn” is now a horror movie that lacks the strength to infect you with even a speck of fear. The original strain of the virus was Stephen King’s short story — published in 1977, at the heart of his shivery…

  • The Omen Is Peak 70s Horror

    The Omen Is Peak 70s Horror

    The 1970s unleashed a wave of classics upon the movie-going world. Indisputably a momentous era in the history of cinema across the world at large, the decade’s abundance of creative horror outings is similarly undeniable. Some of the movies hailing from the timeframe became overnight, epoch-defining sensations — instant classics lapped up by casual audiences…

  • Streaming: Men and the best British folk horror films

    Streaming: Men and the best British folk horror films

    Alex Garland’s rural chiller joins classics of the genre from The Wicker Man to Cry of the BansheeThe Gloucestershire village at which our heroine (Jessie Buckley) arrives near the beginning of Men is far too pretty to be harmless: you just know something rotten has to lie at the heart of it, inches below all…

  • Christopher Lee Had To Take Promoting The Wicker Man Into His Own Hands

    Christopher Lee Had To Take Promoting The Wicker Man Into His Own Hands

    During his life, Sir Christopher Lee appeared in more than 200 films. His favorite of these was the 1973 folk horror film “The Wicker Man,” directed by Robin Hardy. Lee plays the enigmatic Lord Summerisle, leader of a Pagan cult on a remote Scottish island.In a 2005 interview with Total Film, Lee referred to “The Wicker Man”…