By JAMES D. WATTS JR. Scene Writer on Oct 19, 2012, at 12:21 PM Updated on 10/19 at 1:00 PM
ARTS
A great many things must work together properly for an airplane is ever going to leave the ground.
The same thing is ...
Tulsa Ballet’s “Off the Floor: Creations in Studio K” continues through this weekend at the company’s headquarters, 1212 ...
As far as the Tulsa Artists Coalition is concerned, today is May 5.
The TAC has traditionally opened its most popular ...
CONTACT THE BLOGGER
918-581-8478
Email
Big Tex on fire.
The Wicker Man, fulfilling its devilish destiny...
Regardless of one's feelings about the statue of "Big Tex" on the Dallas fairgrounds and all the things it can represent, the images of this Texas State Fair emblem going up in flames are pretty creepy.
Especially that one in which the arms are still recognizable but the face is this corona of fire. It’s almost enough to give one nightmares – imagine that recorded greeting of “Howdy. Folks!” coming out of that face….
Since it’s so close to Halloween, when our thoughts tend to turn toward the things we find unnerving, the vision of Big Tex on fire brought to mind the finale of one of the creepier movies I’ve seen – “The Wicker Man.”
Not the recent “remake,” which starred Nicolas Cage in what was really a waste of time and celluloid. I’m talking about the 1973 original, directed by Robin Hardy, written by Anthony Shaffer and starring Edward Woodward, Britt Ekland and Christopher Lee.
For the uninitiated: Woodward plays a Scottish police officer who is comes to a place called Summerisle to look for a young girl who has been missing for some time. The very devout Woodward is appalled at what he finds – a happily pagan community that claims to have no knowledge whatsoever about the missing girl.
Yet Woodward’s character keeps finding clues that make him more and more determined to find the girl and rescue her from this place – which is beginning to have an effect on his own character.
It's not a film for everyone -- those who think horror comes via gouts of gore and gotcha! shocks every 45 seconds will likely find "The Wicker Man" uninvolving.
But then, “The Wicker Man” isn’t a conventional horror story as it is a terror story – one that creates a sense of ever-increasing dread, as its proceeds inexorably toward its unnerving climax.
It’s the sort of film that might convince you from explore one of those off-the-beaten-path little towns – especially if they take to building very large effigies out of highly flammable materials.
Only active print or digital subscribers of the Tulsa World are allowed to post comments on stories posted to Tulsaworld.com. After you fill out the form below and click submit, your comment will be published instantly online along with your screen name.
By clicking "Submit" you are agreeing to our terms and conditions.
