Review of The Wicker Man (1973) by Cole E — 14 Sep 2014

The Wicker Man is a film that had so much potential. It is regarded by many as an all-time horror classic; I would agree if it didn't have such major flaws that nearly ruined the experience for me.

The film starts off fine, I was interested and for the most part enjoying myself during the beginning of the film. But as the film continued, it's flaws began to appear and spread larger. *spoilers ahead* The movie is about a police officer investigating the case of a missing child on an island consisting only of pagans who practice odd rituals.

As I watched, I learned more about this pagan society and their beliefs and began to think of how wrong and amoral it all is. Then, the police officer investigating the island started to notice the same thing but he then went on to tell everyone on the island how they are all insane and telling them that Christianity should be taught there, that it is the only right religion.

That in itself is more wrong than what the pagan society was practicing. Sure, what they were practicing was wrong, inappropriate, and almost evil, but one could say the same thing about any other religion.

At the end of the film I felt that I had just watched some sort of movie made for Catholic schools to teach them the evils of other religions and how Christianity is the one true religion. It was just wrong.

All the filmmakers had to do was not express any particular religious beliefs and the movie would have worked. I think that most of the people who have watched this film, failed to acknowledge this aspect.

My other complaints about the movie fall far in comparison, so I would say that here is a good place to stop.