Indie & Classic Movie Northside: THE WICKER MAN (1973)

I've always appreciated that so many of you northside Austin folks were willing to make the trek south of the river to come to my movie nights. But maybe every couple of months until someone else decides that they would like to start holding events up in your part of town, we'll hold one up here once in awhile..

That's right...I'm gonna trek to you.

We did a test run up here in August, and although I like the place, the prices are good, and they will let us have a free room, the rest of the bar is just a little loud on Friday nights. So this time we are moving to the middle of the week to avoid that.

Mister Tramps is an old school, kind of divey sports bar on Research Blvd between Burnet Rd. and IH35. The food is good, and they are going to create a special happy hour drink menu just for us. But most importantly, they have a separate, free, private media room in the back that we can close off with a relatively soundproof partition and enjoy our movie. If this works and people come, we'll continue to use it in the future, maybe alternating with my place down south and here every couple of months.

And...its spooky season. So its time to get in the spirit.

I've thought long and hard about what classic or indie Halloween appropriate movie I'd like to screen here. There's obviously no dearth of good indie horror movies out there. One studio in particular, A24, pretty much has made it their stock in trade and given us excellent titles such as HEREDITARY (2018) and MIDSOMMAR (2019), both directed by Ari Aster, as well as films by the equally thought-provoking Robert Eggers such as THE WITCH (2015) and THE LIGHTHOUSE (2019). Or we could have gone with a personal favorite of mine, an excellent director by the name of Ti West, whose slow-burn trips down the 1970's style horror trail mesmerize you into a a false sense of security before opening up a can of whoop ass on your psyche with shocking, unpredictable and usually gruesome endings. Among his films are the underrated THE HOUSE OF THE DEVIL (2009), the equally wonderful character-driven ghost story THE INNKEEPERS (2011), and the titillating and fun X (2022) about a low-budget guerilla porn film that goes spectacularly awry, and its prequel and sequel, PEARL (2022) and MAXXXINE (2024) respectively.

But in the long run I decided to go both indie and classic with this underseen bona fide cult classic . And note that I have often read commentators who have said that Studio A24 would never had existed if it hadn't been for this movie.

First...let's get one thing straight up front. This is not the meme bait version with Nicolas Cage, nor does it really share very much with it.

Look. I like Nic Cage movies, but his attempt to remake this film not only almost destroyed his career, it unfortunately also cast a shadow over this original version, which has suffered for many years in obscure legal battles and problems with the much more restrictive British censors of the early 1970's. More about that in a minute. But for now just forget the Nic Cage version ever existed. There's no histrionics and no bees or any of the rest of the stupidity that made Cage's version a viable candidate for the worst movie ever made.

Taking a deep breath.

Now that I have that out of my system, let's talk about the real WICKER MAN, which is considered by many cinephiles as one of the best...uh...what? Horror movies? No. Not really, although there are clearly folk horror elements. It's probably more of a mystery and detective movie than a straight horror movie. But even that doesn't really capture the flavor of this unique film, which despite its poor box office performance and the savage cuts initially made to it by the British film censors, its fans number in the millions worldwide. It is certainly one of Christopher Lee's finest and strangest performances in a career of iconic roles, and there is just something about it that gets under your skin. And it does so pretty much without a single drop of blood being shown, although there is clearly a shocking finale. I don't want to say any more in case some of you have never seen either version.

What is really interesting about this movie, and what really upset the British censors and distinguished the film from the remake, is its honest, frank, and even somewhat sympathetic treatment on ancient pagan religious traditions and practices, and especially in contrast to Christian beliefs. It seems that in 1973 it was ok to have a woman be drugged and raped by the devil (ROSEMARY'S BABY (1968)) or perhaps have a 13 year old girl be possessed and sexually mistreated by a demon (THE EXORCIST (1973)). After all, those outrages were supposed to be seen through the context of a Judeo-Christian lens and dogma. It apparently was not ok to simply use Christianity as a straw man to contrast much more ancient pagan (and in this case, accurately researched and portrayed) Celtic beliefs.

Several different cuts of this film exist in light of its troubled distribution and release. After much thought, I've decided to show the original British theatrical release, which cut about 12 to 15 minutes (depending on who you ask). I have the "uncut" or "director's cut" version, as well as the original, limited, and somewhat dubious U.S. theatrical release as well. The problem with these latter versions is that they add footage from the film positives instead of the lost negatives. The transition between the two sources is hardly seamless, and can be jarring on a first viewing for people. This is unfortunate, because most of the footage that was originally cut dealt with the intricacies of the religious practices depicted in the film. Of course these cut scenes also and authentically had much more nudity, as most Celtic ceremonies were often sans clothing. I continue to believe that the original British theatrical version of the film is the most accessible for first-time viewers, as it focuses a little less on the meaning of maypoles and more on the mystery being solved by a British detective played by Edward Woodward.

Yet even with the missing 12-15 minutes, THE WICKER MAN is a haunting and even disturbing watch.

So here's the content warning. THE WICKER MAN, even in its cut form, still has a fair amount of nudity but mostly features depictions that some of our more religiously-inclined members might find objectionable. And the finale is both disturbing and shocking even though it isn't particularly graphic. You don't have to see everything for it to creep you out.

But if you really like movies, the original THE WICKER MAN is a don't miss. Many other films have tried and failed through the years to imitate and capture the uneasiness of this film. Some have even succeeded, including the aforementioned MIDSOMMAR, Ari Aster's amazing tribute to many of the themes presented here. But there's nothing like the original.

We'll meet at Mister Tramps at 7:00 pm and start the movie about 7:30 after a brief discussion. If the partition in the back is closed, look for a hallway in the back to the left by the bathrooms and walk to the end, where there is a door into the media room. I'm not sure yet if we're going to have waitstaff back there or if everyone will just need to order food and alcohol at the bar. I'll update when I find out. All I ask is that you do order something, even if its just an appetizer or soft drink. They are giving us this space for free. So enjoy a drink or two, maybe order some food (the Pub Burger I've had was really good), and be sure to tip the waitstaff. We'll see how everything goes and then make a decision if this is a viable space for the future.