THE WICKER MAN (1973)

"...here the old gods aren't dead."

Mainland police receive a letter about a missing child on the island of Summerisle.  Police sergeant Edward Woodward goes, alone, to investigate.  Going solo and unarmed probably wasn't the wisest decision ever, because the citizens of Summerisle are all nuttier than squirrel shit.  How the police didn't already know that everybody on Summerisle is insane, is a total mystery.

Steady pace, creepy citizens, illogical story that would have been better set 50 years (or more) earlier, solid acting, random nudity, Woodward's troublesome lack of a Plan B, nice photography, a jar full of foreskins, Christopher Lee's awesome 70's hair blowing in the wind.

I like THE WICKER MAN.  My only real complaints would be the ending is predictable and nothing totally insane happens.  Yes, the ending is wack, but I was hoping for some creepier shenanigans along the way.  Still, THE WICKER MAN is quite influential in the "folk horror" sub-genre and very much worth watching.  Recommended for sure.  Now...if you need me, I'll be in my room watching MIDSOMMAR.

Remake - The Wicker Man (2006)
Sequel - The Wicker Tree (2011)

EUGENIE (1970)

"Observe this ceremony of sadism..."

Very loosely based on Marquis de Sade's "Philosophy in the Boudoir", EUGENIE tells the story of a young lady who goes to spend the weekend on a private island with a woman and the woman's brother.  Sexual hijinks ensue.  That's really about it.  If the sexual hijinks had actually been stimulating that would have been awesome, but unfortunately, EUGENIE is about as sexy as waking up to find a vampire bat nibbling peanut butter off your dick.

The young girl is drugged (at least twice) and abused, but then, when she wakes up in the morning without a scratch, she's sexually curious about her "dreams".  Eventually a more sinister plan arises, but it's so lame that it might as well been left out of the script.

Boring story, Christopher Lee lifelessly reading his boring lines, a fair amount of nudity by our two lead actresses, average acting, slow as molasses pace, that one dude from MARK OF THE DEVIL, a disappointing ending.

On the one hand, I admired the filmmakers for trying to adapt something by de Sade, but on the other hand, they did such a poor job of it that if de Sade was still alive, he probably would have hated it for being so tame. Skip it.