The Dark Territory
A deep dive into unsettling, obscure, and often overlooked works in film, literature, and music. From body horror to haunted Americana, industrial noise to dystopian novels — it's about exploring the media that lingers in the shadows.
The Dark Territory
Sergeant Howie's Got A Problem With The Wicker Man
A missing girl draws a by-the-book sergeant to a remote Scottish island where the smiles are warm, the songs are catchy, and every answer makes the ground shift under your feet. We dive deep into The Wicker Man’s meticulous design, tracing how a polite reception curdles into a communal performance that leaves no room for dissent. From the first dockside standoff to the final blaze on the cliff, each scene advances a worldview where ritual outranks reason and tradition wears a friendly face.
We break down the elements that made this 1973 classic the blueprint for folk horror: the landscape as character, isolation as policy, and a pedagogy that turns children into keepers of the old ways. Sergeant Howie’s piety and restraint read as strength in his world, but on Summerisle they become criteria. Willow’s haunting song, the bawdy pub chorus, the maypole lesson, and the beetle-on-a-string anecdote aren’t color; they’re doctrine, patiently steering the outsider into place. Christopher Lee’s Lord Summerisle reframes agriculture as mythmaking, blending microclimate and mythology until community identity depends on a calendar that demands sacrifice when the harvest fails.
We examine the investigation’s pivot points—the grave with a hare, the missing harvest photo, the May Day procession—and why the Fool’s costume seals Howie’s fate. The wicker colossus isn’t a twist; it’s the story’s logic made visible, a culmination of cheerful deceit and collective conviction. Along the way, we explore the film’s music, performances, lost cuts, and far-reaching influence on movies and metal alike. If you’re drawn to mysteries where culture is the culprit and the scariest monsters are smiling neighbors, this conversation will sharpen your appreciation for every detail The Wicker Man sets aflame.
If you enjoyed this deep dive, follow the show, share with a friend, and leave a quick review—what moment from The Wicker Man still haunts you?
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SPEAKER_02:She doesn't even know it yet. That'd be hilarious if she ever hears it. Yeah, finished girl, if you're out there.
unknown:Welcome to the dog.
SPEAKER_02:I'm Brandon. Each week we dive into the films, music, and books that fuel our passion for everything dark, mysterious, and strange. And today we are going to explore the 1973 Wicker Man. So this movie, The Wicker Man, uh, I hadn't seen it in probably 15 years. Oh wow. Yeah. And um sat down last night, you know, enjoyed some tea, and uh sat down and watched the Wicker Man. And I was I won't I don't want to say pleasantly surprised because I liked it the first time I saw it, but there were just little nuggets in this movie that I don't I didn't remember from the first time watching that. I was like, wow. It's obvious why this was like the template for Folk Hore.
SPEAKER_01:Oh yeah. I think the first Folk Hore that I liked was uh Blood on Satan's Claw. I saw that a long time ago. I think I was like 16 or 17 when I saw it. I didn't see Wicker Man until way later. Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Is uh is the location a place you would like to go visit someday? Oh yeah. Like I heard they have tours and stuff, like where you can I mean I don't I wouldn't know if I do the like the actual official tours, but I would like to go to locations, you know, especially like where they actually burned the Wickerman effigy.
SPEAKER_01:The establishing shots of this film are great because there's it just looks like a beautiful country.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Northern Scotland.
SPEAKER_02:It also made me want to be a pilot. I want to be able to fly a seaplane because it just looks so cool. Like you could just touch down, you know, in any body of water.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, and you got all these like little islands and these crags, and it just looks like something pagan. Yeah. It's old country, you know.
SPEAKER_02:Oh yeah. Yeah. When he shows up, he's uh oh, sorry, I guess we should introduce the protagonist. Sergeant Neil Howie.
SPEAKER_01:Played by Edward Woodward.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. Great actor. Great actor, yep.
SPEAKER_01:I liked him in this one, and then uh he plays the ghost of Christmas present in the Jorce Scott version of a Christmas girl. Oh okay. He's great in that too. I gotta rewatch that one too. But it's funny because he walked on stilts because Jorge Scott is a very tall actor. Yeah. And Edward Woodward is shorter than Jorce Scott, but the ghost of Christmas present is like he's like super tall in the story. He's like huge. Yeah. So he had to walk on stilts and they had to train him. Oh my god. I guess he was kind of pissed off about that.
SPEAKER_02:But he didn't want to do it. No. Unless he didn't have to wear stilts. No. And um Sergeant Neil Howie basically is he's trying to get a dinghy. It's like who do I gotta blow? Who do I gotta blow around here to get a dinghy?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. And uh and the harbor master is like, Did you lose your bearings? And Sergeant Howie is like, is this summer aisle? And they're like, Yes, and they're like, No, I didn't lose my bearings. Now will you send the dinghy, please? Right. And then he's like, he had to pull rank. He's like, I'm a police officer, yeah, and I order you to give me a dinghy. Yeah, and the uh the harbor master and his buddies, they basically tell him, they're like, Yeah, you can't land here without permission. It's like I am on official police business. Right. You're obstructing justice if you don't give me the fucking dinghy. He's just he he thinks he's like Superman or something. It's like, okay, cop. Yeah, cop.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, come on, come aboard, see what happens.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, so they roll out, they roll out and get him. And you know, they're they're cool with them at first, and he's like, I'll talk to Lord Summer Isle in due time, but right now I'm on business.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Do any of you know this girl? He pulls out a picture of a girl named Rowan Morrison. Yep. And apparently somebody lodged a complaint on the island saying that she's missing. So he passes the picture around. They're like, No, I'm she ain't from this island. And Sergeant Howie, he gets kind of a perplexed look on his face, like, what? Yeah, well, somebody sent, I was like, Maybe you just it's a big island. Sure. They might know every single person on that island, but you know, it wasn't in the 70s. Every single person, there's like five or six of them, they pass around, like, nope, not here, not this island. Yeah, and uh Sergeant Howe's like, Okay, well, thanks anyway. Yeah, it's like where's uh where's Mae Morrison? He's like, Oh May, yeah, she works at the post office, but that's not her daughter. Yeah, and Sergeant Howe, right off the bat, it's like gaslighting on a massive like societal level, it's insane.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, you get the feeling like I mean, there's these knowing looks from everybody. Oh, yeah, and it's just like something's not right. There's definitely a cover-up happening, yeah. So then he he proceeds over to the Mae Morrison. The post office. Post office, that's right, which is also the sweet shop. Yeah, and uh it's got some weird-looking candy, man.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, a lot of uh lot of of uh chocolate march hairs, yeah, with like big red eyes.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I mean, I guess hairs do have red eyes, but these ones look fucking.
SPEAKER_01:The hair is always yeah, the hair has always been a uh a potent image in pagan iconography. Yeah, you know, especially in like fertility cults and things like that.
SPEAKER_02:Plus, they're delicious. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:I've never eaten a hare, I've eaten uh I've eaten rabbit though. Is that the same thing? Yeah, hairs are just bigger, right?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, meat's the same. It's good, it just tastes like chicken. Little rosemary. But yeah, so he goes and talks to the mother, supposedly, that doesn't know anything.
SPEAKER_01:No, and then uh he's like, Well, this is your daughter, right? And she's like, This is not my daughter. Yeah, this is my daughter's right here, yeah. Yeah, Meadow. Yeah, and he kind of yeah, so uh the mom introduces Sergeant Howie to Meadow, and he's you know, like bends down to talk to her and stuff, and the mom goes to answer the door or whatever. And Sergeant Howie just, you know, real casual, asks asks Meadow where Rowan is, and she's like, She's in the fields, she's playing in the fields. And and Sergeant Howie's like, Is she laying down in the fields? And and she's like, No, she's a hare. Yeah, Rowan's a hare, and he's just like, Okay.
SPEAKER_02:Creepy.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. So the mom comes back and asks if you want some tea, and he's like, Oh, I'd love I'd love some tea. Thank you.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, no, she says, You must it must be thirsty work asking all those questions.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah. Thought that was kind of a pointed yeah, a little like rib, you know. Yep. Night's coming and it's obvious he's not gonna get uh he's not gonna be able to fly out. So he goes to the Green Man Inn. Yeah, that's a wild place. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:I I've been to some bars like that where you you got a bunch of drunk dudes just fucking singing dirty songs. Oh, bodies, it's great, singing a body tune. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, uh Landlord's daughter. Landlord is sounds like fun. He gets uh, yeah, he goes and he orders a drink and says he needs a room and he'd like a meal.
SPEAKER_02:Yep.
SPEAKER_01:And they all start singing uh Landlord's Daughter, yeah, which is apparently the there's a lot of music in this movie. I didn't realize that either. I heard that forgot. Yeah, I heard that it was uh supposedly it was originally supposed to be a musical. A lot of people call this movie a musical. I wouldn't. That just has a lot of music in it.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, there it's a little off-putting at first. There's like a tonal shift the first time like you hear singing. I'm just like, oh, is this gonna is this gonna be a musical? Yeah, but uh I think it was unintentional, but it just it actually adds to the kind of creepiness, in my opinion.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, and Sergeant Howie meets the innkeeper's daughter, Willow, yes, played by Britt Eklund, and she is beautiful, very good looking. Oh, yeah, beautiful woman. Yes, as we shall see later. But yeah, they start singing the this raunchy tune about the landlord's daughter, and yeah, Sergeant Howie is not happy about it because see, Sergeant Howie is a very religious person, yes, very devout Christian, yes, and he's checking off all the boxes, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:He's very uptight. If I met a police officer, that uptight, I'm like, yeah. So I you really need to chill out, bro. For real. You're wound way too tight. Yeah, dude. You're drinking a beer and Willow's serving you food. Like, what is there to be pissed off about?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. I think he's just pissed off because of the uh the harsh introduction he's had to this town and the way they're acting towards him. His spider sense is definitely dangerous. Oh, dude. Sergeant Howie sitting there and he's listening to this song, and then you know, they're talking about some raunchy shit about the landlord's daughter, and this big burly dude is like dancing up next to Willow, and she's like kind of twerking on him. It's fucking awesome. She's got this little grin on her face. It's like, damn, I want to go here. For real. This place looks like a good time. And seriously, Sergeant Howie is not happy. He's like, Look, I am not impressed. And he starts banging on the fucking bar. He wants it quiet. Yeah, and he's like laying it down. He's like, I am a police officer. And they're just looking at him like, yeah, we can kind of tell, bro. Yeah, but you're kind of killing the vibe a little bit.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, it's like just relax, brother. Relax. It's like, brother, ooh, brother, relax.
SPEAKER_01:You ever see that meme?
SPEAKER_00:Yes, brother, ooh, brother.
SPEAKER_01:Yes, and so he passes the fucking picture around again. He's like, Can you send this? Uh pass this around your customers, please. Yeah. And the bartender's got this little grin, like, okay, this guy's a fucking asshole. He's passing it around, yeah. And he's like, I'm looking for this girl. Yeah. If anybody has seen her, please let me know. Yeah. And then he's like, I want my food, and he goes and he leaves. But they just start singing again. They're like, fuck this guy. They don't care. Yeah, fuck you.
SPEAKER_02:The party continues.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. And he gets his food, and um, it's not food from the island. Yeah, it's from a can. Yeah. And he's kind of uh he's kind of curious, and he asked, he asked Willow, he's like, Well, why why is this food from a can? You know, I thought this place was known for its agriculture and all. It's like it's all been exported. Yeah. Well, that's not the reason why. No. But yeah. This movie is great on a in on a uh on a mystery level. Yes. It's not really a horror film. Yeah, I would agree with that. It has horrific elements in it, but I never consider this. I've I always thought it was a who-dun it. It does feel that way.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. Yeah. You're learning as much as he does, so you're never one step ahead. You know, it's a cool technique.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. And he has his food, and then he uh decides to go for evening walk afterwards, you know, settle the stomach or whatever. Right. And down by the water. Yeah, and and uh he passes the cemetery, and there's basically an orgy going on in the cemetery. From his mindset, that would be like Armageddon. You'd be like, Oh my god. Oh yeah, these are true heathens. Yeah, because he's so he's so uptight. Yeah. I mean, and there's heathen imagery all over this town, like sons and you know, sun wheels and this and that. And it it's apparent that they've abandoned God. Yeah. Then they've they've went back to like some form of Celtic paganism.
SPEAKER_02:And so he basically he after all this goes back to the inn.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, and he just slams right through and he's like, Give me my fucking room.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I need to go.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, he can't believe what's going on in this town. Yeah, it's just shocked his sensibilities so much, he's just like, What the f I I need to go upstairs and pray right now. Yeah, and um, oh he prays. And there is a scene uh shows him uh he's taking communion, it's like a flashback or whatever. Yeah, you know, he's praying.
SPEAKER_02:Yep, just trying to reinforce the uh his beliefs and yeah, where he comes.
SPEAKER_01:Trying to purge his mind of all this fucked up shit. Yeah. It's not doing such a but uh then we get one of the best scenes in this movie. Yes, yes, we do. Britt Eklund, the actress that plays Willow, she was uh she's a Swedish actress and a model. I think this was her first role. Wow. One of her only roles, I don't know.
SPEAKER_02:But what a role it is. Oh my god, she nails it. Oh yeah, and uh he doesn't, unfortunately. I don't know what he was.
SPEAKER_01:I've never seen, yeah, and this was in 1973, so this is probably a very uh shocking scene for people. There's probably a lot of scenes in this movie that blew people's minds, but she nails it so perfect, it's like she's so natural looking and beautiful that you know you don't feel weird about it because when I saw it uh the first time, I was like, oh my god.
SPEAKER_02:It's like a religious experience, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, you know, and and she just looks like a wild thing from the fields, you know.
SPEAKER_02:Like she does that cool move with the fucking windowsill. Yeah, I thought was neat. Yeah, like I like I liked her whole performance. Apparently, that the actress hated doing this scene. Really? And she she actually didn't enjoy much much of shooting this entire film. She complained about it quite a bit. But yeah, she said that like uh you know, she had to do the whole thing naked, and uh some of the locals were getting peeks through the window, and uh which you know you can't blame them. No, um, and uh I I guess there was even a body double that they had to hire afterwards for the final cut, and she was pissed about that because she had she'd gone through all this trouble to do the scene, and then a body double comes in.
SPEAKER_01:It's almost like she's doing some kind of witchy like magic on it because he's freaking out.
SPEAKER_02:She's knocking on the wind or on the wall, yeah, kind of doing it in different parts of the room, so he's kind of freaked out because like he's hearing her singing.
SPEAKER_01:It's like, is this a ghost?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, also, I didn't know this, but that song was covered by Snicker Pimps, the one that she's singing, which is it really gives this whole scene a really off-putting vibe, like a haunting, haunted vibe. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Um, like she's possessed from a different time. Yeah, yeah. Well, in in essence, they are in a different time, and they're their island is so insular that wildness like that could propagate, you know. It could, it's like midsummer.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, yeah. Once what that's another kind of characteristic of I think folk horror is the isolation, usually.
SPEAKER_01:You know, and and wild things can and bad things can happen when a community is off by itself like that.
SPEAKER_02:Well, and when they've abandoned logic and reason.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, but in their eyes, it's perfectly normal. Yeah. To an outsider like Sergeant Howie, it would be like looking into the past. Yeah. Like an anachronism. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:So uh he doesn't uh go for her temptations and uh he isn't seduced, he holds steady throughout the night, and then the next morning because he's betrothed to somebody else, he's engaged to uh somebody else.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. He's forty two, he's forty-two years old, he's still a virgin. That's wild.
SPEAKER_02:That's right, I forgot that.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. And she's like, You don't want to, and she and uh yeah, because uh Willow's chatting him up, and she's like, I thought you'd come to me last night.
SPEAKER_02:Jesus Christ, man, his balls must be like the size of grapefruits. Oh so getting back to uh back to the scene. So he he wakes up the next morning, not feeling great. He probably had a rough night, a rough night, yeah. And uh Willow, Willow's there taunting him a little bit, like why didn't you? Why didn't you come over? I was calling for you, blah blah blah. And uh he's like, I'm a 42-year-old virgin, I don't do that. Yeah so that's that. And uh so he he goes on his one of his other walks, you know, looking for clues, trying to figure out the mystery, and uh comes across the Maypole. Well, he's uh he's mowing the lawn in the graveyard, and all the graves have trees planted in them. What a hard way to mow the fucking grass, man. That thing did not look up to the task.
SPEAKER_01:No, they look like a thousand years old, and yeah, the guy that plays the sexton, he was in uh Clockwork Orange.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_01:He played uh Mr. Deltoid.
SPEAKER_02:Ah, I thought he looked familiar. Yeah, yeah, okay.
SPEAKER_01:It's that laugh.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, yeah, creep.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah, and he's traveling around the town and he's asking all his little questions and doing all his stuff.
SPEAKER_02:So there's the maple, creepy maple dance. Yeah, and then yeah, and then he goes to the school and uh meets the teacher in the class full of students and is shocked at what they're being taught. Yeah, and openly basically says this is wrong.
SPEAKER_01:He straight walks into the classroom, he's like, Can I talk to you a minute, miss, please? Yeah, takes her outside, and he's like, I don't know what the hell's going on in this in this town, but now I find out that it's all stems from this where there's brawling in public places and debauchery, yeah, yeah, lewdness in in public, and and he's not wrong, they're teaching it right there, right? So the guy's just trying to do his job.
SPEAKER_02:I understand that he's trying to do his job, but he also has this weird kind of moral superiority in his mind, yeah, and he's very heavy-handed as like you might get a little bit more bees with honey.
SPEAKER_01:For real.
SPEAKER_02:What I would do is I would try to like blend in with the fucking the community, yeah. You know, befriend them, and then you can start to get all these, pull all these little secrets out of them. I think get one of the locals drunk, man.
SPEAKER_01:They'll spill their beans. Yeah, be like the guy in uh Shadow Over Innsmouth when he gets the the town drunk wasted. Yeah, hey, tell me the story of this town.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, so then he uh he goes over to one of the students, creepy looking fucker, Daisy, yeah, yeah, and uh she tells the story about this fucking beetle, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:He opens the desk because there's an empty desk there, and we find out in a couple minutes that it's Rowan's desk. Right. And um he opens the desk and there's a beetle, and she's like, it goes one way round and round and round until it's wound up tight to the nail. And and in a way, that's kind of like that's Sergeant Howie. Yep, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:I thought that was kind of a veiled, almost like a threat. It's kind of like we or taunts, it's like yeah, we know what you're what you're gonna amount to.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yes, and he's like, Well then why do you do it?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, he kind of looked almost dumbstruck, I think, just by how forceful he is.
SPEAKER_01:They all are, yeah. I don't think they uh they realize how steadfast he would be. Yeah, it's almost like you know, a push and pull, yeah, like law and order and logic and reason against this animalistic nature, yeah. Yeah, a community that uh is obviously insane, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, they don't hide it. No, everything's in plain sight, and as he kind of goes around this town, that's that's what's kind of shocking about it is you've got this guy trying to come to the find the truth about this murder, and everyone's just kind of going about their daily business as if he's not even there.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Or they're just toying with him. So he uh he opens up the teacher's desk and he finds the student registry and he starts looking through it, and he sees Rowan Morrison, and he's just like, You're all liars. Yeah, and then uh the teacher's uh she goes to say something, he's like, You're the biggest liar of all. Yeah, he's got such an awesome way of talking, especially when he gets angry, man. It's powerful, yeah. It's strident the way he talks. Yes, and there's no way that you're gonna convince him otherwise. Yeah, you know he's he's set in his ways. Oh, yeah. Yeah, so he uh talks to the teacher outside and he's like, Look, I just need to know where she is. If she's dead, cool. Just let me know. Yeah, tell me. Yeah, and she's like, Well, she's not really dead per se. We don't say, and then she like mouths the word dead. So they believe in like reincarnation. She's like, She might be out in the fields as an animal. It's like he's like, Well, oh my god, you're all raving lunatics. Yeah, I can't get a straight answer out of that. None of them, not one single person has played this guy straight since he's got there. Yes, which would just infuriate me. Oh my god, to no end. So he leaves there and he goes to meet the local librarian who's also like the death register. Yeah, and he uh it's she's played by uh Ingrid Pitt, who's a gorgeous woman, yes, she is by the vampire lovers, all the all the old hammer films and stuff. Oh she was beautiful, yeah. And she hands over the uh the register. At first, she doesn't want to, but he's like, Give me the give it the fucking register, or you're gonna be in fucking jail by the end of the night. So she hands it over and he looks and he sees uh Rowan Morrison. Yeah, the body. He's like, Okay, so where is it? Where's the body? So he goes and he finds out, he finds Rowan's grave, but he needs permission from Lord Summer Isle to exhibit because he's like the law. Lord Summer Isle is like the he is the final word on that island. So he's like the cult later, yeah. Let's be real. Yeah, yeah. So he goes to meet Lord Summer Isle and he is a uh it's like a horse and buggy, like the fucking Amish. And he sees a stone circle on the way to meet the master of the island. Yep, and he sees the teacher dancing with all her students, and they're all naked, naked, yeah, yeah. And it's crazy when you think about because you just saw them earlier and they were all sitting in a classroom, but those are all those girls like dancing naked. Yeah, it's wild.
SPEAKER_00:It's like whoa.
SPEAKER_01:And he's just like he's just like he's so perplexed, man. He's just like, I don't even know how to fucking deal with this.
SPEAKER_02:No, like what am I supposed to do here? No, he can't fucking deal with it. So then he finally meets the top dog. Yep, and uh it's no other than uh Chris Frilly. That's right, Sir Chris Frilley, and I guess he did this for free.
SPEAKER_01:He was so Yeah, he he he believed in the project so much that he's like, Oh, you don't have to pay me. I do this for free.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, that's commitment.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Apparently, Christopher Lee was uh he was really into the occult and stuff like that. So really and magic and okay. It's funny, uh, a little anecdote about Christopher Lee. Uh he played Saruman in Lord of the Rings, right? Oh, yeah. He was the only person in that cast that actually met Tolkien. Really? He met J.R. Tolkien like in like 1968 or something. He reads Lord of the Rings every year. It's like one of his well, it was his favorite book. I was gonna say he's not oh, he's dead. Yeah, okay. And he was a fucking Nazi hunter. Oh shit. He was in the OSS, yeah. Nice.
SPEAKER_02:He's had an interesting life. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:And he played in a metal band. Good on you. Yeah, when he was fucking old too. What was the name of it? I can't remember. But I gotta look that up. Yeah, that's cool. So he meets Lord Summer Isle and Lord Summer Isle asks if uh the sight of the young people refreshes him, and he's no, what does not? You know, it's like I don't know what's going on in this island, but uh where I come from, this is illegal. Yeah, and he's like, You're still the subject of a Christian country, sir. Yeah, and Lord Summer Isle is like, whatever. Yeah, I don't think so. But um Lord Summer Isle, you know, he he's really nice and he's like, I think uh you need to sit down. A shock is always taking better when the knees are bent. Yeah, it's a good line, yeah. So Sergeant Howe gets schooled on the history of Summer Isle and how Lord Summer Isle's grandfather came there as an agronomist, fucking agriculture, and um he liked the climate because it was uh like a Gulf Stream. Yeah, and the water was warm, but and he brought a lot of uh a lot of uh invasive plants that probably they shouldn't be there, like tropical plants, yeah. So the thing is is that the the climate that they're in, it's northern Scotland, but it for some reason there's a Gulf Stream there, so it's almost like a tropical island.
SPEAKER_02:Which in reality, apparently it was a cold spring, Scottish spring. So they're wearing all these summer clothes, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:They're yeah, freezing their asses off. It was like it was like uh it was in the winter or some shit.
SPEAKER_02:No, no, it was spring, but it was a cold Scottish spring.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, okay. So yeah, they were freezing. Yeah, they're blowing butts off. Yeah, he goes and he tells Sergeant Howie about how his grandfather he fell in with the locals and he convinced them that God had forsaken their fucking fields and stuff because the shit doesn't grow there, and then he he brought stuff that did grow, yeah, but the crops are failing, yeah, and that's why they're having such a problem. And that plays into the story too. Yes. And Lord Summeral tells Sergeant Howey about you know how his grandfather basically became a heathen, yeah. And then he got everybody else to believe in this heathen practice, and Sergeant Howie, he's like, He brought you up to be a pagan. It's like heathen, most definitely, yeah. Yes, pagan, no. Yeah, and then he's talking about the gods, and then Sergeant Howie's like, Well, what about the one true god whose uh houses of worship and songs have been sung across these islands for thousands of years? And Lord Somerville's like, Yeah, well, he had his chance, he's dead. And Sergeant Howie's like, lost the shit. He oh, dude, he got pissed.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, yeah. I mean, it's it's an interesting dynamic where you see these two figures who are, I think, both, you know, they're they're head headstrong in their beliefs and they're confronting each other, and neither one is gonna budge.
SPEAKER_01:No, and it's like uh an unstoppable force meeting a uh immovable object, yeah. Yeah, you know, it's like science and reason versus heathenism and barbarity. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Now the only difference between science and logic is I think you can point to facts and say this is the reason why, but with their situation, you know, with the sacrifices and things that they feel like they need to do to appease their God, it doesn't change anything. It only changes, I guess, how they feel. And there's a there's a long-standing debate about whether or not Sumrile believes, truly believes in what he's saying. I think he does. You think he does? Oh yeah. Now this is what I would if what I want to know is after sorry, we're skipping ahead a little bit, but after they burn him at the end, did they cover it up? Spoiler alert. Yeah. Sorry. We can move this around. No, but seriously, did they did they did they have some sort of excuse? Because I mean, there would be people looking looking after him, right? Like after he disappears, they would probably send others to be like, We had a detective or a police officer.
SPEAKER_01:Well, I'm sure with the level of gaslighting that goes on with in this town, they could figure something out. They'd probably just tell him, Oh, he left.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:They'd lie until they couldn't lie anymore, and then they'd probably be a siege on that island. It'd be a Waco situation. Fucking Jonestown probably.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, what a wild. I mean, going to an island, dude, it's not like you have the element of surprise.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it'd be like uh native resistance.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, that'd be wild. Yeah, they should make a sequel.
SPEAKER_01:Wicker Man the Siege. They did make a sequel, but it wasn't well known, yeah. Oh shit. They called it the Wicker Tree. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Okay.
SPEAKER_01:Sorry. I never seen it. Yeah, I never, never did. So he asks, uh he asked Lord Somerile for permission to dig up Rowan's grave. And um they go there and she does and he digs her up, and there's a hare in her grave. Yep, a rabbit, yep, and the sexton just starts laughing in that PR deltoid laugh, like sends shiver up your spine, and you're like, oh man. Like the clockwork orange flashbacks. Yeah. It'll be your own torture. Hope to God it'll torture you to madness.
SPEAKER_00:You're now a murderer, little Alex. A murderer. Yeah, such a great actor.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, yeah. It when he when he laughs like that after you find out that it's a hair, you just you know that they're all in on it. Yeah, like there is it's just kind of one big joke. Yeah, and he's the only one that's like, dude, you guys are fucking nuts.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. He takes the hair and he goes back to Lord Summer Isle's house, and the teachers are sitting there drinking and shit. Yeah, and he throws the hair on the ground and he's like, I found that in Rowan Morrison's grave. Yeah. And Lord Summer Isle's like, whatever, dude. Fuck out of here.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, doesn't the teacher go on about how that's her physical form?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, her spirit is yeah, and Sergeant Howe's just losing his shit. He's like, It's like having your worst day with your kids, yeah, and you're just like you're at your under your ropes, you know, you're like, I'm just gonna strangle these motherfuckers.
SPEAKER_02:This is the thing we're talking about, not this, not that.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, you know, it's like come on, and then you know, and then your kids are like, Why? Yeah, how come? Right, why? Right, it's like stop asking me why. It's because for real. Yeah, so doesn't he go where does he go to the library? Yeah, he goes to the library and he talks to the uh first he goes to talk to the chemist about the Mayday pictures he sees. That's right. But then the last May Day picture is missing. Yeah. And he finds the uh he finds the the negative of it and he's he sees the original that yeah, because there's a lot of pictures hanging in the green man of all their harvest festivals, but the one from last year is missing and he goes and he asks the chemist about it later in the movie, and he's like, Oh, I don't keep I don't keep copies. Yeah, Sergeant Howie's like, whatever, here we go again. That's like I don't believe anything any you fuckers anymore. But he finds the picture of of Rowan, yeah, because Rowan was the May Day Princess last year, and um the crops failed. Yeah. Because there's yeah, there's barely any any crops in the picture. Weren't well, all the other ones are bountiful, and there's lots of like overflowing baskets and stuff like cornucopias and stuff. Yeah. He's he it clicks, he's like, the crops failed, that's why they killed her. Yeah. And then he finds out, he finds like a a book at the library about um Mayday celebrations. Oh, yeah. About like punch and all this shit.
SPEAKER_02:Yep.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:And there's uh there's some pictures of the actual Mayday like drawings, illustrations that kind of foreshadow some of the characters that you'll see.
SPEAKER_01:And there's a there's an old woodcut of uh something from the Gallic Wars. The Gauls used to get rid of their criminals by burning them in a giant wooden man.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, okay. That's where that that kind of came from. Yeah. There's a there's a a thing that we'll see later on in the in the Mayday, but uh where they align the swords into kind of like a star, and then you have to put your head through it. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Like they're judging you.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. And it's almost like fate. They're like, you may live, you may not.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:So yeah, so basically he's uh at this point his rights, he's like, I'm out of here.
SPEAKER_01:So he's under the impression that they're gonna they're gonna execute her, they're gonna s uh sacrifice her because the crops fail. And that kicks him into like overdrive. Right. And then he tries to leave. Yeah, he tries to bail, and his plane has been sabotaged.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, surprise. Somebody's fucked with it.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:And he's like, come back, bring me back to land. Yeah. And uh then we see kind of the the May the May Day festival.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, they're getting ready, and he's going into overdrive trying to find uh trying to find Rowan before they uh before they execute her. He basically busts through people's houses, like, I'm just gonna start looking from house to house. Fucking kicks in people's doors and like this this old granny is sitting there rogue. Yeah. Goes out on this boat and finds like a bunch of fucking old apple crates and shit.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, he's he's he's basically breaking and entering. Yeah, thinks because he's a cop, he can do whatever he wants.
SPEAKER_02:Well, he's just lost all patience with these people. He's done with so he's like, I'm gonna get to the bottom of this on my own.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, yeah. And he's always like spying on people, looking at windows and shit, like a peeping tom. He's like, What are you doing, dude? You know, and um he goes back to the green man in to lie down for a while.
SPEAKER_02:Because he's like, Oh, after all that, you know, investigating, I'm tired.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, so I need to say, how could you sleep? So he asks for whiskey and fucking Yeah, he slams it down.
SPEAKER_02:He's like, I need a fucking drink.
SPEAKER_01:Willow and the and her father are like, he's like, You don't want to be around here tonight. You better leave. He's like, I can't fucking leave. Yeah, so I'm gonna go lay down for half an hour.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, and then they kind of they kind of conspire while he's asleep, yeah, quote unquote.
SPEAKER_01:Then uh Willow puts a hand of glory next to his bed to like knock him out. It's like that's some old witchcraft shit right there. Yeah, that's uh you do you know what the hand of glory is? No, it's a curse. It's like uh you take a convicted murderer's left hand arm and you use it for like rituals and stuff. No shit. Yeah, that's the hand of glory. Wow, yeah, it's very powerful, powerful old blood magic, dude. That's wild.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. If I saw a fucking severed hand that was on fire next to the side, that's some satanic shit right there, bro.
SPEAKER_01:He freaks out too. He's like it's a funny scene. Yeah, I mean, yeah, because they're just torturing this guy at this point. It's like fucking with him big time.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, they it that's I think one of the most disturbing parts about this movie is everyone's so kind of joyful and gleeful, even though all this weird shit's going on and this horrible cover-up is happening. And they're just you just get the sense that they're just fucking with this guy the whole time.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, and it's like they're having a they're having a party, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:But they know they I think they know how it's gonna end, they know this guy's never gonna leave.
SPEAKER_01:Well, yeah, you know, anybody that's like that can put two and two together, you figure it out during the course of the movie, but it's executed so well that it's executed so well that you don't care, you're like, God, this fucking story is so great. Yeah, how's it gonna end? Yeah, yeah. And um, so he's going around and they're they're planning their procession, and Christopher Lee is talking about we'll meet up at three o'clock in the town square and march to the to the ritual site as a as is our right.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. And then the proprietor gets dressed up in his weird cosmic.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, because he's playing punch, like the the fool character.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. And he gets punched.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Sergeant Howe knocks his ass out, but you know, he fall he falls like way too easy. It's hard to knock somebody out. Yes. It takes a lot. Yes. Yeah. You just don't hit somebody. And to knock somebody out like that, you would want to hit them in the side of the jaw. They call it the knockout button. You don't hit people in the back of the head to knock them out. Yeah. You could kill them. Yeah. That's such a misconception with like in movies and shit. It's like you should never knock somebody out like that. You could kill them. Yeah, oh yeah, for sure. I mean, you'll get a brain hammer just. Just hit them in their knockout button. Yeah. So, yeah, he ties them up and he takes uh he takes the punch outfit, yeah. The fool outfit.
SPEAKER_02:Yep. Which is kind of symbolic, I think.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, oh yeah. Mayday celebrations, festivals, fool, saturnalia, all that stuff.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. Well, him in particular. King for a day. Yeah. Yeah. So then you see the whole the whole bunch kind of dancing down the street.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it's a cool scene, and the uh the procession music is really cool. It's a haunting piece. Yes. You know, and and um Lord Summer Isle is kind of admonishing the punch character to kind of liven up a little bit because Sergeant Howie's just kind of like walking and he's like, You're supposed to be dancing, you're the fool. Yeah, come on, McGregor. Hurry up. Get it together, man.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, you're embarrassing me.
SPEAKER_01:I think even that part they set him up because dude just went down way too easy.
SPEAKER_02:That's interesting.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah, maybe. They were almost expecting Sergeant Howie to try something like that. So they uh they all kind of gather around these stones. Yeah, it's like a stone hedge replica. It looks pretty cool. It does. I don't know if the if those were props or if those were actually standing stones. I don't know either. There's like modders and shit and stones all over Europe. Yeah, you can find menhers and barrows from like the Celtic age. Yeah. You know, there's the place is so fucking old.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, seriously. So yeah, they're all lined up, and uh these men with the swords, they they line up their swords in kind of this uh star configuration, so there's a hole in the center that people can put their heads through. Yeah, really creepy because you're just like basically they they're it's a game of chance, you don't know who's gonna get beheaded.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:This girl goes through, you think she gets her fucking head cut off. It looks kind of real from a distance. Oh yeah. And then they pull the the whole costume off and it's fucking Rowan. Yeah. And so that was like, I was like, what the fuck? I think that's how it went down, yeah. Yeah. Anyway, and then they fucking give some beer to the gods at the uh at the ocean. Yeah, they're like, here's this barley and get drunk and thanks for all the help. Libations.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, and then they go to the fucking thing where Yeah, there's a little chase scene and um it's a lot of chasing.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. He grabs Rowan and uh he takes off with her because he's trying to, you know, he's gonna be like, he thinks that she's gonna get sacrificed, you know, because they're all standing around, you know, like this is gonna happen.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, we'll go through here. She's like, Thank you. I hate this place. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:And then all of a sudden it's like he sees Lord Somerile and the teacher and everybody sitting there. Yeah. And then he runs up, and then Rowan runs up to her mom. She's like, Did I do good? Did I do good? And Sergeant Howe is like, right then, he knows he's like broken, man.
SPEAKER_02:Fuck. Yeah, you just see him sink. Yeah. He's like, I've been duped. Yeah. This whole thing was a sink.
SPEAKER_01:And he's surrounded because the whole town and they're like wearing these like ritual masks. They look pretty cool.
SPEAKER_02:So do you do you think that they kind of did that whole thing, like like with the missing girl and everything getting out, so that they would have a sacrifice to come to the island? That was the whole thing? Totally. Okay, okay.
SPEAKER_01:But he had to meet certain criteria, right? Yeah. Which he did. Yeah. He had to be from he had to be from a king. Yeah. He had to be a fool. Yeah. He was they treated him like a fool the whole fucking time. Yeah. And he had to be a virgin. Oh. Okay.
SPEAKER_02:So I don't know why he had to be a virgin, but it's I don't know. All those stories seem to go that way. Anytime, anytime there's a fucking sacrifice.
SPEAKER_01:I mean, but usually cops, you know, they have wives and shit. That was a special piece. Yeah, that was kind of plot armor, if you ask me. Probably. They surround him and then he's trying to reason with him. He's like, look, this is why your fucking crops failed. This town, this place isn't meant to grow this stuff. Yeah. And they're like, no. Not gonna have it. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:It's because of the sacrifices.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. It's like, and you that's the pernicious thing about a cult is you cannot reason with them. No. Like, like I said in the car, it's like they'll broach no argument.
SPEAKER_02:That's what makes them so scary.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:And they their allegiance is only to one man who can change his you know, whatever he wants at any given moment. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:And when you're under his spell, and and when the crops keep failing, what are you gonna need next? Two sacrifices?
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Three sacrifices. Are you gonna have it like Sowin when it was all like blood ran down the hillsides? There were so many sacrifices going on. That's another ancient holiday that luckily got. I mean, we have Halloween now, but you know, but Halloween's is a lot different than kills of blood. Soin was a uh it was a night of ritual sacrifice, basically. And bonfires lining like in Halloween three when when Connell Cochran is talking about Soin, it's like, yeah, that's probably how it was. Yeah, it's scary, you know?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, the that folk horror actually probably gets under my skin more than a lot of other horror because the the monsters in it are people, and people are scary, yeah. Like when whole gr a whole group of people decide to conspire and do these crazy things, yeah, you know, because they think that it's the right thing to do. It's terrifying.
SPEAKER_01:He played right into their trap.
SPEAKER_02:Yep, yep. And they uh they basically reveal the wicker man. He goes, he goes, You guys have an appointment with the wicker man, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:And then uh you know, Christopher Lee, he's he's almost amicable with him. He's like talking like like their best friends. Yeah, it's like look, you're doing uh you're doing me a big favor. Thanks, dude. He's like, and then uh then uh Lord Summer Isle tells him that he's been afforded a great honor. Yeah, it's a it's a thing that hasn't happened for thousands of years. Yeah, they this is probably their first time doing a wicker man, yeah. Basically, it's basically they're just trying to make him feel a little bit better about being sacrificed, you know, and uh and the the teacher and the librarian, they're all putting like little dots on him, like some kind of weird hit. That was Jerry too, yeah. Almost felt like the You can't reason with a cult, dude. No, you can't don't even try. Yeah, cults are cults. The concept of cults to me are awesome, but the execution is like wow, dude, really. It always goes bad, yeah. Or like cult-like figures or people that think they're cults.
SPEAKER_02:The moral of the story is don't do any cult. Yeah, okay, just watch horror movies, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Or action movies or something, movies, or good movies in general. Then he sees the wicker man and he's like, Oh god, yeah, oh Jesus Christ, because it's huge, yeah. There's like animals in it and ducks and pigs and shit.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, and and uh no no animals were harmed in this in the making of this film. That was made very clear. But some of the sounds that come out of those animals as this thing is going up in flames is haunting. And he's basically kind of he's trying to he's still trying to reason with these people as the flames are going up. He's basically calling them out and saying, Your beliefs they won't help you.
SPEAKER_01:No, and uh and he he uh he basically points the finger at Lord Summer Isle and is like accuses him as like you've tricked these people, and you know, and next time it's gonna be you because the crops are gonna fail. Yes, and he's like, it will not fail. It's like you can't argue with him. Say that now he wasn't yeah, and there is no way that he was gonna fucking Lord Summer Isle was gonna even accept failure.
SPEAKER_02:Do you think that they they eventually just like resorted to cannibalism? Or did they just keep eating canned food for the rest of their lives? Did they burn Summer Isle? What do you think?
SPEAKER_01:Maybe that would have been an awesome sequel. Hell yeah. Yeah, and then he prays to tells him he believes in the life eternal and all that shit. Yeah, he's praying and the flames rise.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, they they light it up and they they do this joyful song and kind of the rowing dance and summer is a coming in.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it's like the oldest song in fucking the English language. Fucking wild song, dude. Soul Invictus covered that song. It's actually pretty good. Yeah, it's a lot of bands have sampled uh the Wicker Man. I can see why Marduk in their album Nightwing. Yeah, they sampled it. Yeah, Blood Axis sampled it, did a bunch of samples. Sneaker Pimps did the cover. Yeah, we already maiden wrote a song called The The Wicker Man. Oh, yeah. It's directly related to this movie. I could see why. Why it was so uh influential. Yeah, and then the the ending of it is just this really cool shot of the sunset, yeah, and you hear like the crackling of the fire, and yeah, that was cool.
SPEAKER_02:When the wicker man's head falls, and then you see the sun and then it kind of zooms in. Yeah, that was a cool shot. That was pretty cool.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it's amazing how influential this movie is. Neurosis have a wicker man on one of their album covers.
SPEAKER_02:Yep, it's a powerful image and a powerful idea.
SPEAKER_01:I think it called it yeah, it speaks to people on a uh hate to say primal level, but it does.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, well, and it makes us question like the I the duality that we all have about our animalistic side versus our logic and reason.
SPEAKER_01:It's that it's that Ur complex in our brain, dude. That little lizard part.
SPEAKER_02:Yep.
SPEAKER_01:That's still afraid of the dark, you know.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Never gonna get rid of that.
SPEAKER_02:No, and thank god because a lot of cool art comes from that.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, that's what keeps us safe. Yep, exactly. Yeah, so let's get some trivia about this movie. Um, Total Film named it uh the sixth greatest British film of all time. That's pretty cool. Wow. And uh Empire Magazine, they named it 485 of 500 greatest of all time.
SPEAKER_02:Nice. That's pretty cool. Yeah, it should be higher. Yeah. One fun fact though, this movie apparently was almost lost forever. The original cut of the film uh was literally thrown into a landfill by the distributors, and so the version that we know that most people know, it was rec uh reconstructed, pieced together from Surviving Elements, found uh in Roger Corman's archives.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, because uh I was gonna say that British Lion, they ordered 20 to 30 minutes cut from it.
SPEAKER_02:Really?
SPEAKER_01:And they wanted a happier ending for it.
SPEAKER_02:What 20 to 30 minutes do they want cut?
SPEAKER_01:Probably a lot of them.
SPEAKER_02:Don't say Willow's Dance, man.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, probably a lot of them like they probably had a lot more nudity in it.
SPEAKER_02:Uh yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Fucking and they also wanted uh a happier ending where Howie is uh saved. That would have sucked.
SPEAKER_02:That would have been like really that would have defeated the whole point.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, and this movie has has about as many cuts as Blade Runner. Christopher Lee, he believed in it so much he didn't even take pay for it.
SPEAKER_02:Nope. Yeah, man, that's commitment. Yeah. Good on him. Uh apparently it was marketed as a B movie for double features because the studio didn't know what to do with it. So they would pair it with uh movies like Don't Look Now as a double bill, which you know, that'd be an interesting little double feature.
SPEAKER_01:I think this movie has a uh it has an undying appeal for people. It comes back. Yeah, Wickerman. Wickerman's great movie. Um if you have ever seen the uh it's a documentary called uh Woodlands Dark. It's the four-hour folk horror documentary. Oh it talks a lot about Wicker Man. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:I think I saw that last year.
unknown:That's good.
SPEAKER_01:It's a long movie. It's good, it's good. I mean, yeah, it goes in depth though. Yeah, it talks about a lot of a lot of different folk horror like The Witch and The Lighthouse, all of Eggers stuff. Yep. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Well, that concludes this uh this week of the Dark Territory podcast. Yeah. And uh next week we'll be discussing the film 71. Yep. So see you next week.