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1 comments
Rank This Matchup or Comment/Reply Below
on 4/1/2014
While I understand The Wicker Man's camp value and its lofty status among those who see the film as one of the most well-told horror stories of all time, The story never connected with me as a suspenseful horror movie in the same way that a movie like The Omen did. Perhaps my disconnect was caused by the fact that I had no real affinity for the pagan elements of the story as opposed to the way I do connect to horror movies steeped more heavily in Catholic or Christian mythology and paranoia. The Omen, however, isn't the matchup for The Wicker Man, Brave is. Yes, this is a Disney-fied way of incorporating mildly pagan themes in such a way that wouldn't drive away family audiences, and while the story was mild and fun enough, it still wasn't anything to really write home about. I guess this is my way of saying that I wanted something more from both of these films. I wanted The Wicker Man to burn images in my memory I could never forget, but instead I got a story that meandered with a payoff that really wasn't worth the journey. If a movie is dubbed "The Citizen Kane of Horror," by its fans, I expect a movie that captured my attention as much as Citizen Kane. It just couldn't do it. Brave had a lower hurdle to clear, and was at least "Saturday afternoon good", so I give it the win by a narrow margin.
I don't think anyone should base their opinion of a film according to other people equating it to Citizen Kane, or any other "classic". I don't even know if Citizen Kane can live up to being Citizen Kane. Since a big part of The Wicker Man's reputation is the ending, which you believe wasn't worth waiting for, there's not much point in defending the film to you. I like the ending. I like how the story unfolds ("meandering" is a bit strong). And I also like Britt Ekland's dance number. Brave isn't bad, but there's very little to it. There's also very little about it that is particularly comparable to Wicker Man. But that doesn't matter. Brave is a movie I'll probably forget rather soon. The Wicker Man has been a favorite for quite some time.
