The Wicker Tree (Robin Hardy)

[Bosco B Thug]

IMDb

[Watashi]

Our own Philosophe_rouge is quoted in the trailer for this.

[Bosco B Thug]

This was delightful. The film's not exactly a success, for Robin Hardy blows all the what-should-be-the money scenes (this is a bad horror film), and the community and their beliefs is not as well-mounted and thoroughly explored as that of The Wicker Man, but the film around the failure is delightful and full of personality and film-making verve. Make it be clear, though, it is a work of camp, and a low-budget digital video work of camp from an old filmmaker who literally hasn't made a film in two decades.

[Rowland]

Make it be clear, though, it is a work of camp, and a low-budget digital video work of camp from an old filmmaker who literally hasn't made a film in two decades.

Sign me up!

Seriously though, I love the original, so I want to like this.

[Rowland]

This was delightful. The film's not exactly a success, for Robin Hardy blows all the what-should-be-the money scenes (this is a bad horror film), and the community and their beliefs is not as well-mounted and thoroughly explored as that of The Wicker Man, but the film around the failure is delightful and full of personality and film-making verve. Make it be clear, though, it is a work of camp, and a low-budget digital video work of camp from an old filmmaker who literally hasn't made a film in two decades.

I generally agree, though more so for the first half, since the film began to lose momentum and verve for me the further along that it should have been building steam. Some of the directorial work belies Hardy's age, lack of experience, and/or budget, one conversation in a moving car for instance looking very conspicuously as though the camera was just artlessly plopped down the road to statically shoot the vehicle driving into the foreground with dialogue from the passengers dubbed in. His approach can be surprisingly sprightly and evocative in other instances however, one handheld long take early in the film tracking from a close-up of an opulent hood emblem to the silhouette of a butcher hacking away in mansion cellar being particularly rich. Gotta say though that Christopher Lee's cameo proves to just be distractingly cheap and forced. A mild yay, and certainly not a patch on the brilliant original, but just eccentric and smart enough to be worth a look for those so inclined, if not quite warranting an unreserved recommendation.

[Bosco B Thug]

I generally agree, though more so for the first half, since the film began to lose momentum and verve for me the further along that it should have been building steam.

The last third was all a general series of disappointment. What a disappointing Wicker Tree scene.

Some of the directorial work belies Hardy's age, lack of experience, and/or budget, one conversation in a moving car for instance looking very conspicuously as though the camera was just artlessly plopped down the road to statically shoot the vehicle driving into the foreground with dialogue from the passengers dubbed in.

So by gum 70's, isn't it? That's early in the film, along with the handheld long take you mentioned, and I was pretty high, with no lows, on the film throughout the first act.

Well, of course there were some eyebrows raised. The Britney Spears hologram... I didn't quite know how to feel about that.

Gotta say though that Christopher Lee's cameo proves to just be distractingly cheap and forced.

Perhaps forced, but I disagree, I thought it was a pretty enigmatic scene. An offbeat flashback during one of the film's more outwardly outré and discursive sections (if I recall it's in a scene where the Lord guy walks around in a kilt and stares at an ancestor's portrait a lot?).

[Philosophe_rouge]

You can barely read it, and it's an awful quote but I am quoted on the Wicker Tree poster. the visionary thing. haha, never use that word because one day, someone will immortalize it.

[Bosco B Thug]

You can barely read it, and it's an awful quote but I am quoted on the Wicker Tree poster. the visionary thing. haha, never use that word because one day, someone will immortalize it.

Whenever I see it, I do a "Rock" fist to myself. That's pretty true, not really exaggerating.

Did they really not have the resources to do or film anything of SPOILER's death, though? That part's anti-realized, but ah well.