The Wicker Man - Final Cut

Critics Consensus

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82%

Audience Score

User Ratings: 669

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The Wicker Man - Final Cut Photos

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Movie Info

This film is definitive version of Robin Hardy's thriller of pagan worshippers on a remote Scottish island. Seen for decades only in mutilated copies, the new Studiocanal restoration is the culmination of a long search for the complete director's cut. This year marks the 40th anniversary of the cult classic. After receiving an anonymous letter about a missing 12-year-old girl, devoutly Christian cop Edward Woodward travels by seaplane to a remote Scottish island to investigate. But the islanders welcome neither his badge nor religious devotion, for laird of the isle Christopher Lee and his devoted followers worship only the pagan gods of old - and those gods demand a sacrifice. Woodward fears for the missing girl's life and follows every possible lead to find her - despite the islanders' interference - before she becomes a human sacrificial lamb. (c) Rialto

Rating:

NR
Genre:

Horror, Mystery & Suspense
Directed By:

Robin Hardy
Written By:

Anthony Shaffer
In Theaters:

Sep 27, 2013 limited
Box Office:

$58,341
Runtime:

94 minutes
Studio:

Rialto Pictures

Cast

Edward Woodward

Christopher Lee

Diane Cilento

Britt Ekland

Ingrid Pitt

Critic Reviews for The Wicker Man - Final Cut

All Critics (13) | Top Critics (8) | Fresh (13)

The conclusion is chilling, disturbing and perfectly in keeping with what has taken place before.

Oct 31, 2013 | Full Review…

Kenneth Turan
Los Angeles Times
Top Critic
If not quite the holy grail of horror films, than a holy terror just as well, lying lovingly in wait.

Sep 27, 2013 | Rating: 3/4 | Full Review…

Stephen Whitty
Newark Star-Ledger
Top Critic
An absolute must for all serious movie buffs.

Sep 26, 2013 | Full Review…

Andrew O'Hehir
Salon.com
Top Critic
Troubling, brilliant and unmissable.

Sep 26, 2013 | Rating: 5/5 | Full Review…

Peter Bradshaw
Guardian
Top Critic
A British horror oddity like no other, now fully authorised.

Sep 26, 2013 | Rating: 4/5

Anton Bitel
Little White Lies
Top Critic
The film's driftier interludes, however raggedly psychedelic, remain crucial to its aura, one of hypnotically sinister good cheer.

Sep 26, 2013 | Rating: 4/5 | Full Review…

Tim Robey
Daily Telegraph (UK)
Top Critic
It all helps it make a little more sense on a narrative level without diminishing everything that made it a cult classic in the first place.

Dec 17, 2013 | Rating: 4/5 | Full Review…

Alistair Harkness
Scotsman
No, it hasn't dated particularly well, and Hardy's rampant misogynistic tendencies feel even more appalling now. But it's still an unmissable one-off.

Oct 4, 2013 | Rating: 3.5/5 | Full Review…

Rich Cline
Shadows on the Wall
The strengths are overpowering; Edward Woodward's towering performance, Anthony Shaffer's brilliantly nasty script, Paul Giovanni's weirdie folk music, and that matchlessly horrifying ending.

Sep 29, 2013 | Rating: 4/5 | Full Review…

Mark Kermode
Observer (UK)
While its influence has grown over the years, The Wicker Man still has the feel of a film apart, an island detached from the mainstream.

Sep 27, 2013 | Full Review…

Mark Stafford
Electric Sheep
Still a classic, now enhanced by some judicious edits.

Sep 23, 2013 | Rating: 4/5 | Full Review…

Kim Newman
Empire Magazine
It remains a how-to model for making something that fancies itself a slow-burn thriller-until it isn't slow-burning whatsoever.

Sep 24, 2013 | Rating: 5/5 | Full Review…

David Fear
Time Out
Top Critic

View All Critic Reviews (13)

Audience Reviews for The Wicker Man - Final Cut

Jul 19, 2016

Quite audacious for the time it came out, this creepy cult classic should be remembered for the intelligent questions that it raises about religious intolerance and blind faith, with an also memorable performance by Christopher Lee and a terrifying, unforgettable ending.

Carlos M Super Reviewer