The Wicker Man is a 1973 British film, combining thriller,
horrorHorror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
and
musicalThe musical film is a film genre in which songs sung by the characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop the film's characters, though in some cases they serve merely as breaks in the storyline, often as elaborate...
genres,
directedA film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
by
Robin HardyRobin Hardy is an English author and film director. His most famous directorial work was The Wicker Man, and his latest project is a film adaptation of his book Cowboys for Christ, which has been retitled as, The Wicker Tree...
and written by Anthony Shaffer. The film stars
Edward WoodwardEdward Albert Arthur Woodward, OBE was an English stage and screen actor and singer. After graduating from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art , Woodward began his career on stage, and throughout his career he appeared in productions in both the West End in London and on Broadway in New York...
,
Christopher LeeSir Christopher Frank Carandini Lee, CBE, CStJ is an English actor and musician. Lee initially portrayed villains and became famous for his role as Count Dracula in a string of Hammer Horror films...
,
Diane CilentoDiane Cilento was an Australian theatre and film actress and author.-Biography:Cilento's parents, Sir Raphael Cilento and Lady Phyllis Cilento, were both distinguished medical practitioners....
,
Ingrid PittIngrid Pitt was an actress best known for her work in horror films of the 1960s and 1970s.-Background:Pitt was born Ingoushka Petrov in Warsaw, Poland to a German father of Russian descent and a Polish Jewish mother. During World War II she and her family were imprisoned in a concentration camp...
, and
Britt EklandBritt-Marie Ekland is a Swedish actress and singer, and a long time resident of the United Kingdom. She is best known for her roles as a Bond girl in The Man with the Golden Gun, and in the British cult horror film The Wicker Man, as well as her marriage to actor Peter Sellers, and her...
.
Paul GiovanniPaul Giovanni was an American playwright, actor, director, singer and musician. New Yorker Giovanni is best known for writing the music for the 1973 British horror film The Wicker Man...
composed the soundtrack. The film is now considered a
cult classicA cult film, also commonly referred to as a cult classic, is a film that has acquired a highly devoted but specific group of fans. Often, cult movies have failed to achieve fame outside the small fanbases; however, there have been exceptions that have managed to gain fame among mainstream audiences...
.
Inspired by the basic scenario of David Pinner's 1967 novel
The Ritual, the story centres on the visit of Police Sergeant Neil Howie to the isolated island of
SummerisleSummerisle is a fictional island introduced in the 1973 British cult film The Wicker Man.Summerisle should not be confused with the real-life Summer Isles situated off the coast of Scotland, which are frequently mistaken for the fictional island seen in The Wicker Man.- The Wicker Man :Much of the...
, in search of a missing girl the locals claim never existed.
