Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/682623
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 22 MAY 2016 30 This Week The burning puzzle of horror cinema ONE of the most celebrated films in the annals of horror cin- ema, the latest cut of The Wicker Man (1973) will be screened at the Valletta Campus on May 28 at 18:30 – an initiative organised in association with the MA in Film Studies and the MA in Lit- erary Tradition and Popular Cul- ture at the University of Malta – with its director Robin Hardy in attendance. Starring the late, great – and inimitable – Christopher Lee as a genial but sinister neo-Pagan community and inspiring its own horror sub-genre as well as musi- cal tributes from the likes of Iron Maiden and Radiohead, Hardy's trip into a remote Scottish island with occult secrets continues to strike a raw nerve. Penned by Anthony Shaffer – who first got Lee interested in the project – it is a unique and compelling piece of bucolic hor- ror that's faint on cheap scares but thick on mood and – it must be said – expertly layered-in eroticism. In a lot of ways, The Wicker Man has survived be- cause it taps deep into the roots of horror to unveil what the gen- re is all about in the first place: man struggling with the natural world, which often has the pow- er to crush him. Such is the fate of obstinately religious police sergeant Howie (Edward Woodward) who flies to a small Scottish village to in- vestigate the disappearance of a young girl. But his encounters with the kindly but eccentric vil- lagers – seemingly led by the pa- triarchal figure of Lord Summer- isle (Lee) – frustrate his religious convictions, and he begins to suspect that their pagan practic- es belie a far more sinister truth. Despite garnering cult appreci- ation further down the line, the film was released to very little fanfare: in fact first appearing as a 'B' picture to that other 1970s horror classic: Nicholas Roeg's haunting adaptation of Daphne Du Maurier's short story, Don't Look Now. But the two films would soon become aligned in their reputation as cinematic keepers, as the 1977 edition of Cinefantastique dubbed The Wicker Man "the Citizen Kane of horror movies" – a reputation that has continued to snowball as the years go by. In fact, it has even created its own niche. In his impeccable survey of British horror cinema for the BBC, writer and actor Mark Gatiss (an expert of the genre, and one of the creators and stars of the BBC's Sherlock) claims that The Wicker Man is responsible for bringing into be- ing the sub-genre of 'folk horror'. Exemplified by films such as The Witchfinder General (1968) and Blood on Satan's Claw (1971), the genre brings to the fore the essential eeriness of the British landscape – leaving its protago- nists at best alienated, at worst vanquished by its ancient, be- witching power. Though apparently short-lived at first, folk horror appears to be having something of a come- back, with recent outings by maverick British director Ben Wheatley paying homage to the vibe of The Wicker Man to dif- ferent degrees in two of his films: Kill List (2011) and A Field in England (2013) – the former tak- ing in the occult social trappings and weaving them into the over- all horror; while the latter im- ports more obvious stylistic ele- ments and brings in some of The Witchfinder General as well. Asked by film scholar Thomas Craig – in an interview for a pamphlet which will be issued at next week's screening – to spec- ulate as to why The Wicker Man enjoys such a long-lasting repu- tation among audiences, Hardy said a deliberate stylistic choice may have played a crucial part. Malta will play host to one of the cult figures of horror cinema next week, as Robin Hardy, director of the legendary neo-Pagan chiller The Wicker Man (1973), will be in attendance for a screening of its long-awaited final cut at the Valletta Campus Genial but sinster: The late, great Christopher Lee gives a career-best performance as The Wicker Man's Lord Summerisle What's your secret? Director of The Wicker Man Robin Hardy claims that keeping things deliberately 'timeless' is what ensured the film's enduring reputation