The recent trend in television of adapting films to series has teetered from carefully and creatively executed, such as FX’s Fargo, to lacklustre with poor ratings to show for it, such as the NBC miniseries Rosemary’s Baby. Although this movement has its inherent challenges to overcome, such as the view that creating a series from a …
With the eve when the veils between worlds is at its thinnest around the corner, it’s difficult not to think of the day’s most prominently featured figure: the witch. Below is an essential viewing list, ranging in genre and targeted age group, of filmic work that showcase witches (loosely defined for our purposes) and …
Rather surprisingly given its small budget and lack of household, or in some cases even recognizable names, Ben Wheatley’s Kill List made quite a critical splash when it was released two years ago. The follow up to his rather porous debut Down Terrace, the story of two hitmen, three targets and an escalation from moody …
There is no denying that this early ’70s British export criss-crosses genres as easily as it defies audience expectations; even today, for first time viewers. Robin Hardy’s The Wicker Man is a film that rejects categorization; it can be considered a horror film, but also a psychological thriller, a musical, a melodrama but perhaps it is best described as a prime example of a short-lived sub-genre known as “folk horror”.
The Wicker Man (1973) Directed by Robin Hardy Written by Anthony Shaffer UK, 88 min. In The Wicker Man, a small island community turns to paganism as a means of coping with failing crops. Framing regression as progression, they clash with the repressed Sergeant Howie, a steadfast believer in Jesus Christ. He is investigating the …