Amoeba Music

Here are numbers 35-26 of the "100 Things That Make The Wicker Man Totally Awesome!"

35. The way Edward Woodward says lines like, "Then why in God's name do you do it, girl!?" or "Jesus Christ!" He also rolls his R's which is great because the girl he's looking for is named Rowan, so every time he says her name it starts with a drum roll.

34. Christopher Lee's speech about snails. It's creepy and disturbing and only in the director's cut, so be sure to stick with that version.

33. The English countryside. It's just gorgeous. But most movies that take place there have terrible things happen to their characters. Despite the possibility of being burned alive (The Wicker Man), or being eaten by a werewolf (American Werewolf in London), or being raped by my best friend's uncle (Withnail & I), I'd still love to move there.

32. After Sergent Howie sees a group of women jumping over a fire nude, he confronts Lord Summerisle about how dangerous that is and Summerisle responds, "It's much too dangerous to jump through fire with their clothes on!" Can't argue with that.

31. The film is secretly a musical. It might try to deny it, claiming to only be a horror film, but I'm much too smart to be fooled. There are more songs in this movie than the collective works of Astaire and Rogers... ok maybe not, but there's still an absurd amount of music. And not just mood music either, this is fully sung, diegetic sound (film school just paid off!)

30. There's no denying the film's anti-religious bent. The film ends with a dedicated Christian yelling to his god for help and finding none. You can read into that many different ways but not too many of them would be positive. Yet, any time in the film where Howie partakes in any form of religious ceremony, whether it be communion or making a cross for a grave, there is a respect and reverence that most films wouldn't entertain.

29. The animal masks scare me. Seriously.

28. If you can find it (and you normally can at Amoeba) Anchor Bay put out a DVD for The Wicker Man that is in a giant wooden box with an image of the wicker man burnt on the cover. It's probably the coolest DVD packaging ever. It's out-of-print so scoop that up!

27. I've kinda already ruined the ending (uhh, spoliers!) but I was genuinely surprised by the twist at the end. And it's sort of a one-two punch twist ending because first you realize that EVERYONE was in on it and then you realize what's about to happen to our would-be hero.

26. One of the shops in the town has a jar of foreskins. Now a jar of foreskins in and of itself is in no way totally awesome. Do not accuse me of saying that! But it's the little touches like that that add to the overall creepiness of the film. It's like the story is ingrained with a uneasiness that digs into your very soul!

There you go, number's 35-26 of the "100 Things That Make The Wicker Man Totally Awesome!"