Burnt Offering: The Cult of the Wicker Man

Another Channel 4 documentary special, with their main man Mark Kermode this time narrating the troubled history of the production of the classic 1973 British shocker, and featuring interesting interviews with many of the principal players - Robin Hardy, Peter Snell and Anthony Shaffer, as well as cast members Edward Woodward, Christopher Lee, Britt Ekland and Ingrid Pitt who put in their two cents worth about the parts they played in the film.

The documentary also explores the technicalities behind the Wicker Man itself, as well as the inspiration for it and the difficulties of filming a movie in October that's supposed to take place in May. The trouble with the film's release, as well as its severe editing into a truncated version, is also mentioned and the movie padded with numerous clips from the production. So, basically, this tells you all you need to know about the movie - good stuff again from our reliable friends at Channel 4.

The cast and main players in the crew come together to discuss the making of cult British horror film The Wicker Man. They discuss the adaptation of the source material, the casting process and the difficult shoot which dealt with everything from a summer film being shot in late autumn and the troubles of the actual wicker man itself.

Everyone knows the film The Wicker Man, even people who haven't seen it will often still be aware of the iconic ending. I have seen it several times but, until I saw this documentary, I was not really aware of the stories behind the making and releasing of the film. In terms of the casting process the film skims over the who's and whys of the process before getting into the more interesting shoot.

Each person has a story to tell. Some of the cast have stories that the others contest (eg Woodward's tale of revolving apple trees) but they are all interesting. The weather hampers the shoot and it is to the cinematographer's credit that he never really lets the audience see that the film was made in dark, overcast conditions! The most interesting tale of on set fighting comes from Ekland who is clearly still angry that the producer's used a body double without her knowledge - not only angry at that, but angry over the fact that the double has a `much bigger ass than me'!

The tales of studio power games are a lot more interesting than they would sound if I described them. Head of the studio at the time Deeley comes in for attack from all sides - to the point that he calls Lee `paranoid' for suggesting that Deeley either destroyed or hid the extra negatives for the longer version of the film. Attempts at the end of the film to look at the wider influence of the film on festivals etc is time wasted, but happily this is only a few minutes long.

Overall this is a good documentary (as indeed most of those featuring Kermode seem to be) It gets the cast together with plenty of good stories and also brings everything out in an interesting manner. So many `making of' films are dull and full of smiling talking heads doing publicity work that it is always nice to hear little stories or memories from shoots no matter what film it is! Should be seen by all fans of the film.

Burnt Offering: The Cult of the Wicker Man (2001)

**** (out of 4)

Mark Kermode hosts this documentary that takes a look at the popularity of THE WICKER MAN. We get interviews with the likes of Christopher Lee, Britt Ekland, Robin Hardy, Ingrid Pitt, Anthony Shaffer, Peter Snell, Edward Woodward and Roger Corman.

If you're a fan of THE WICKER MAN then you'll find this to be an extremely entertaining documentary. A lot of these elements were also covered in the Anchor Bay special features on their original DVD release but this here is a bit more complete and entertaining.

We basically get to review the film's entire history from pre- production all through the filming. We hear about the various issues that some of the cast members had with locals and we also hear from Ekland about how upset she was when the producer hired a body double behind her back. We also get into the controversial nature of the film's original release and who demanded the cuts be made and the now infamous missing negative.

Michael Deeley, who is interviewed here, is certainly made to be the bad guy and his response to the criticism is quite entertaining to say the least. The documentary also has an interview with Corman who originally bought the film for its U.S. release and ended up being the reason it was cut but also the reason it would eventually be restored to its longest length.

The interviews are really fantastic so fans of the film will certainly want to watch this documentary. It does a very good job in telling the history of the film as well as the controversy that has followed it.