Ghostly Countdown

[Pamela Troy]

So in honor of the upcoming holiday, which my husband and I are spending enjoyably hunkered down at home in San Francisco, I've decided to revive an often neglected Christmas tradition -- the spooky story. After all, it's at base a celebration of the darkest, longest night of the year. What better way to spend it than sitting in firelight (or colored Christmas tree lights), stuffing your face, and getting pleasantly chilled?

I know that my readership isn't exactly huge, and that a good many of you are going to be either in transit or involved in more interesting things than reading blogs -- but for those of you who aren't, I thought I'd count down to the 25th with a series of short, sinister clips.

We'll begin with one from my favorite Hammer film.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_iOXc7WQoMho/TKuvTFx4b8I/AAAAAAAAAO8/2FxOKuzvt5U/s1600/at+the+green+man+inn.jpg

Calling the original Wicker Man an oddity is an understatement. It's a horror musical, and I've learned to be wary about recommending it to people. Viewers either love it, or despise it. The plot is simple. Sergeant Howie, a puritanically devout police sergeant, played by Edward Woodward, goes to the insulated island community of Summerisle to investigate the disappearance of a teenaged girl. It quickly becomes obvious that the hedonistic pagan residents are playing a sinister cat-and-mouse game with Sergeant Howie, and this musical number early in the film lays the foundation beautifully. Note the creepy elements added to this rollicking, ribald song, the fey, barely concealed malice of the landlord (Lindsay Kemp) the slightly off-kilter camera angles.

This clip is, by the way, from the infinitely superior UNCUT version, the one that wasn't butchered by the studio before release. If you decide to rent it, check that one out. In the original film the date "1973" is driven home repeatedly, so that both Howie's old fashioned and intolerant piety, and the Summerisle residents' even more old fashioned take on religion are deliberately contrasted with the long sideburns and feathered hair of the early '70s.

As for the execrable remake, I'll say nothing except that Nicholas Cage is no substitute for Edward Woodward.

I'm unable to embed the clip, but click on the link, and enjoy. Just remember. It's a bit on the adult side.

Much has been said of the strumpets of yore,[br />Of wenches and bawdy house queens by the score,
But I sing of a baggage that we all adore!
The landlord's daughter...

[BetsysGhost]

1. hi Pamela

thanks.

[myrna minx]

2. I loved the book, but haven't seen the film, so thanks for the

review. I'll put it in my queue. :hi:

[Pamela Troy]

4. Just be sure it's the UNCUT version.

The story of the movie is almost as interesting as the story it tells. Apparently, the studio execs hated it so much that they actually tried to destroy the original copy, "accidentally" including it in the landfill after demolishing one of the old buildings. In an interview, Christopher Lee said he was convinced it was deliberate, and he seems quite majestically enraged about it. (It was, after all, one of the few Hammer films where he didn't have to wear a cape and fake fangs.)

[Myrina]

3. I loved the original so much more than the remake!

:hi: Thanks for this discussion!!

[Pamela Troy]

5. Well, in the original

the performances of Lee, Woodward, and Kemp that help make it such a fascinating film. Christopher Lee's look of manic, secretly terrified insanity as he sings "Sumer is Icumin In" just can't be equalled in the remake.