THE WICKER MAN: THE FINAL CUT

When a 12-year-old girl goes missing on a remote Scottish island, puritanical mainland’s policeman Howie (Edward Woodward) is ferried over to investigate.

Appalled by the liberated sexuality of the singing, dancing locals, tempted by the rhythmic sensuality of comely Willow (Britt Ekland) and beguiled by the island's patriarch, Lord Summerisle (Christopher Lee), Howie responds to the townsfolk's unhelpful ways and their openly weird rites by becoming even more determined to resolve the mystery of the girl's disappearance.

I doubt any more is necessary: director Robin Hardy's THE WICKER MAN is a film I'd suspect every visitor of this site has seen. If you haven't, then I'm doing you a favour by failing to elaborate any further in my synopsis.

Written for the screen by Anthony Shaffer (SLEUTH; FRENZY), it's a wonderful example of downbeat 70s horror which successfully interweaves themes of counter-culture that were so in vogue at the time, as well as paranoia towards unknown surroundings/outsiders, and an at-the-time trendily heavy dose of the occult.

Other key ingredients that factored into the film's success upon its 1973 release included its emphasis on sexual liberation, best personified by Willow's naked pounding against the wall in the room next to Howie's hotel bedroom (yes, we know a body double was employed!), and the cast of grotesquely offbeat characters who populate the island's village: there's is a peculiarly British quirkiness, as chipper as they are sinister and odd. Their descendants can be seen in everything from DARKLANDS, PATROL MEN, TV's "The League of Gentlemen" and beyond...

Of course, there were two other very special reasons for THE WICKER MAN's initial success. Lee's portrayal of Summerisle, which he's previously declared as being his favourite from his very illustrious career, is indeed a powerhouse performance imbued with tremendous physical presence and a keen sense of evil which is expertly conveyed without ever resorting to Hammeresque theatrics. Then there's the iconic twist finale which, even when you know what's coming and have watched it countless times, still packs a fair fucking wallop. THE WICKER MAN is so good, in fact, that not even Neil La Bute's inconsolably shite 2006 remake nor Hardy's own disastrous sequel THE WICKER TREE can diminish its status as quite probably the best British horror film ever made. Yes, even when taking into consideration its annoying bloody songs...

So, onto Studiocanal's 40th Anniversary set. Wherein, we're told, we'll be treated to what is most certainly, definitely, without a shadow of a doubt, the 'final cut' of the film. Sounds pretty definitive...?

This set is being released on both DVD and blu-ray. The DVD only was made available for our review purposes.

The DVD variant of this release contains 4 discs (3 DVDs and 1 CD of the soundtrack - the latter of which we didn't get to enjoy).

Disc 1 contains the 'final cut'. This runs for 90 minutes and 23 seconds. I know, I know - it's shorter than the 'director's cut' that we've already been treated to previously on DVD.

But Hardy is vocal about this being what he considers to be the definitive version of his film in the accompanying press release notes: this is the cut that he submitted to US distributors Abraxus in 1979. Having supervised the new restoration himself. the director goes on to write "The film as I saw it in the editing suite the other day fulfils my vision of what it was intended to convey to the audience".

So, what's different about the film? Not much. It falls somewhere in-between the theatrical cut and the director's cut, starting now with Howie's church sermon and then cutting straight to his short flight to the island. It flows perfectly well and it's hard to care that it's not the longest cut - especially as that's included elsewhere in this set. Most significantly, this version makes it more apparent that the action takes place over 3 days and - best of all - introduces Summerisle earlier into proceedings.

Picture-wise, the film looks incredible for the most part. As mentioned above, a new restoration has taken place and, even in standard definition, this is by far the best THE WICKER MAN has ever looked. Sharp, vivid and bright without any obvious digital enhancement, the results are sterling. FOR THE MOST PART. There are, however, some insert scenes (including the opening scene, that early scene where Summerisle appears outside Howie's hotel at night ...) where the quality is noticeably inferior. In fairness, these are few and far between - but they're there, all the same. 90% of the film, though, looks like you would not believe.

English 2.0 audio is exceptionally clean and clear throughout playback. As are the optional English subtitles on offer.

The disc opens to an animated main menu page. From there, an animated scene-selection menu allows access to this cut of the film via 12 chapters.

Extras on disc 1 begin with an all-new appraisal of the film entitled "Worshipping the Wicker Man". This runs for 22 minutes and contains agreeably enthusiastic contributions from the likes of Eli Roth ("my jaw hit the floor!"), James Watkins and Ben Wheatley. You may not learn anything new, but it's a fun ride anyhow.

"The Music Of The Wicker Man" is a 15-minute chat with assistant musical director Gary Carpenter. This is pretty interesting too and Gary seems like a nice enough chap (I also like the consistency of all of these interviewees being filmed on the same cinema seats), but I almost feel like punching him for putting that cursed "... and on that tree there was a seed" tune in my head for weeks on end. Someone called Jonny Trunk also gets his chance to talk.

A 16-minute interview with Hardy follows. "We wanted to make a treasure trove of clues in plain sight" he reveals. And so he did! Considering the brilliance of THE WICKER MAN and the obvious intelligence of Hardy, it's baffling as to how the rest of his filmic propositions have been so dissatisfying.

Finally, for disc 1, we get an 84-second trailer for this cut of the film - the "definitive version" it tells us.

Disc 2 is gracious enough to furnish us with both the theatrical (84 minutes) and director's (99 minutes) cuts of the film. I admit to getting a fanboy boner when the former opened with the original BBFC 'X' rating title card.

Both of these presentations look very good - correctly letterboxed and 16x9 enhanced, as is the film on disc 1 - but these are more on a par with the previous DVD renditions: they haven't been remastered to the standard of the 'final cut'.

These cuts both come with animated scene-selection menus allowing 12 chapters to each version of the film. The director's cut ports across Hardy, Woodward and Lee's commentary track from previous DVD releases. We also get a lovely 15-minute video insight into the making of said commentary track, moderated by Mark Kermode.

Disc 3 contains bonus features that were available on all previous special editions.

The best of these is the 48-minute documentary "Burnt Offerings", hosted by Kermode. With most participants (Lee, Ekland, Woodward, Hardy etc) present for honest interviews, it remains one of the best DVD supplements around.

A 25-minute archive interview with Lee and Hardy follows, conducted by Grizzly Adams-lookalike Sterling Smith in 1979. The VHS quality picture is as horrible as Lee's oversized moustache, but it's a great watch anyhow.

Last but not least, we're treated to the film's original 2-minute trailer. Which, when played back-to-back with the 'final cut' restoration's trailer, makes you realise what miracles Studiocanal have performed.

As mentioned earlier, there's a 4th disc in this DVD set: a CD soundtrack. It wasn't made available for review.

So the 'final cut' isn't quite what people initially expected and it transpires that those rumours about lengths of film being buried beneath a motorway are shite: so what? Here, you're getting all three cuts of the film, a mountain of extras and nice packaging to boot. There aren't many horror films that receive such treatment. Nor are there many that deserve such treatment as much as THE WICKER MAN does.

Also available as a 3-disc blu-ray set.

Review by Stuart Willis