It was my late father who introduced me to the 1973 horror classic The Wicker Man and it has therefore long held a special significance for me.
Therefore when I heard that director Robin Hardy would be re-examining the themes of that cult classic in The Wicker Tree, which he was also writing, I was instantly engaged and eager to see this new movie.
It seems like years since it was announced, but The Wicker Tree has finally been released straight-to-DVD this week - but was it worth the fevered anticipation?
Of course, it was. I'll say straight away though that it's no classic as The Wicker Man is, but it's still a worthy, quirky addition to the very British sub-genre of rural horror (see also Blood On Satan's Claw, Wake Wood etc)
The main echo of The Wicker Man in The Wicker Tree is the central theme of zealous Christians coming face-to-face with equally devout pagans - and coming off worst!
Beth (Brittania Nicol) and Steve (Henry Garrett) are a pair of well-meaning Texan missionaries bringing the word of God, and the message chastity before marriage, to the Scottish borders.
Failing to make headway in the city, they are invited out to the rural community of Tressock - where they are welcomed with open arms by the local Lord Sir Lachland Morrison (Graham McTavish) and his posh totty wife, Lady Delia (Jacqueline Leonard).
Complementing the glamour of Lady Delia is fiesty - and horny - Lolly (Honeysuckle Weeks), who runs Lachland's stable for him and provides the main portion of the requisite nudity in the film - as she enjoys naked bathing in the river and being "all things to all men".
Tressock has a problem - an accident at a nearby nuclear plant (run by Lachland) polluted the water-table some years ago with the result that the polluted water caused widespread infertility in the village.
Luckily, however, Lachland know's certain ways to solve this problem (taught him by his father - Christopher Lee, in a fleeting flashback) that require the "services" of a young man and woman on May Day.
The Wicker Tree has so many folksy and religious tunes and ditties in it that it's virtually a musical, but it's also run through with a broad streak of dark humour and not-so-subtle innuendos as Beth and Steve's situation escalates out of control.
A slight weakness of the story - that I guess is to contrast the two Americans with Edward Woodward's unfortunate policeman in The Wicker Man - is that the missionary protagonists, although sent down different paths, both manage to fight back (the demure Beth glasses someone in the unmentionables at one point).
This almost seems out of character with the rather wishy-washy (and stilted) performances of the two leads up until that point, and could even be considered a slight contrivance to ensure the audience didn't just see them as pale reflections of Woodward's character.
For a while it almost looks as though the tale is going to lapse into a traditional Hollywood action movie format... but, thankfully, it veers back into nihilistic Hammer territory by the final scenes.
There's a modicum of gore, some sex scenes - no stronger than you'd see in True Blood (and certainly wouldn't concern anyone used to watching Spartacus) - and a genteel pace coupled with a matter-of-fact approach from the villagers to their pagan rituals.
Unfortunately, the script also has some rather glaring plot holes, particularly the village policeman who appears to be a comparative newcomer to the village - that Lolly has regular sex with - and who is investigating reports of a "cult" in the area. This goes nowhere and adds absolutely nothing to the story - except for the opportunity for Honeysuckle Weeks to get naked again! Not that I'm complaining!
Robin Hardy also uses a fish-eye lens every-now-and-then to replicate a particular raven's point-of-view. But again, this comes to nothing, and appears to be just gimmickry for gimmickry's sake.
Certainly not a film for those who don't like to see fun being made of evangelical Christians, The Wicker Tree doesn't require any knowledge of its precursor to enjoy as the two movies are only linked thematically, not narratively.
I'm pleased to have finally seen it, but I'm not sure what my dad would have made of it as the plot tends to meander - presumably for atmospheric effect - and could even be described as padded in places.
The verisimilitude that Hardy has constructed for the pagan society is wonderful as you'd expect, but the film still falls short. With a total lack of extras on the DVD, I can't help wondering if there is a longer, yet tighter, "director's cut" sitting around somewhere waiting for future release that would fill in the gaps and improve the flow of the picture.
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