‘They walked a mile over an evil landscape, strewn with blackened corn cobs, scorched snakes, burned and broken ladders, and the skeletal remains of animals and humans.’ 🙌🏻
But then, by great fortune, we all discovered Substack.
Those old horrors! Can’t put my finger on it. Watched one called ‘Superstition’ about a witch and literally didn’t sleep for two nights. Very unspecial effects and corny storyline in hindsight but got right into my mythic brain.
"he was sleeping in a shrine to Lord Shiva in a quadrant of Hell known as the land that was once called Kansas."
That's just too good an image not to savor :-) The tension between Niyati and Evan in the graveyard leaves some interesting questions lingering after this harrowing chapter (unless I missed something earlier?) And, of course, I have to appreciate a Wicker Man. I've never been able to wrap my head around exactly how the original Celtic version would have worked from an engineering perspective, but I am a fan of all the film versions since. Such a bizarre way to dispatch sacrifices... But I do wonder if, rather than being a creative cage, filling it with various specimens of living beings is a way to "quicken" the frankensteined, godlike figure before immolating it? Which makes your version especially poignant.
Also, a couple of minor catches maybe, since you asked:
The demon child Manat, who was disguise[d]?
Then the inert singularity that had bonded with [him?] on the beach
Thank you for catching the typos. And I’m so grateful for your thorough feedback!!!
The original Wicker Man movie chilled me to the bone. Not so much the remake. There’s something about those late 60s/early 70s UK films (like Hammer Horror) that really worked. Separately, I remember being titillated by Britt Ekland’s naked dance in that film. Years later a middle school friend of mine and I were talking about how we secretly watched a VHS copy of “The Wicker Man” that we snuck out of his dad’s library, and how both of us found that scene so erotic. We reacted similarly to Anne Margaret’s “baked beans” dance in the rock musical “Tommy”. He said, “The thing I still don’t get is why YOU found them arousing... I mean, what with you being gay and all.” - I said, “I attribute those films to making me Bi.” 😂
Agreed, the original is always better (except Dune--that's the one remake I prefer :-) As I recall, the ritual detail was so much better in the first Wicker Man. But somehow I've forgotten the dance scene (I guess it didn't leave quite the same impression on me, haha) but with an endorsement like that, now I'm curious and might have to plan a rewatch!
‘They walked a mile over an evil landscape, strewn with blackened corn cobs, scorched snakes, burned and broken ladders, and the skeletal remains of animals and humans.’ 🙌🏻
But then, by great fortune, we all discovered Substack.
Those old horrors! Can’t put my finger on it. Watched one called ‘Superstition’ about a witch and literally didn’t sleep for two nights. Very unspecial effects and corny storyline in hindsight but got right into my mythic brain.
"he was sleeping in a shrine to Lord Shiva in a quadrant of Hell known as the land that was once called Kansas."
That's just too good an image not to savor :-) The tension between Niyati and Evan in the graveyard leaves some interesting questions lingering after this harrowing chapter (unless I missed something earlier?) And, of course, I have to appreciate a Wicker Man. I've never been able to wrap my head around exactly how the original Celtic version would have worked from an engineering perspective, but I am a fan of all the film versions since. Such a bizarre way to dispatch sacrifices... But I do wonder if, rather than being a creative cage, filling it with various specimens of living beings is a way to "quicken" the frankensteined, godlike figure before immolating it? Which makes your version especially poignant.
Also, a couple of minor catches maybe, since you asked:
The demon child Manat, who was disguise[d]?
Then the inert singularity that had bonded with [him?] on the beach
Thank you for catching the typos. And I’m so grateful for your thorough feedback!!!
The original Wicker Man movie chilled me to the bone. Not so much the remake. There’s something about those late 60s/early 70s UK films (like Hammer Horror) that really worked. Separately, I remember being titillated by Britt Ekland’s naked dance in that film. Years later a middle school friend of mine and I were talking about how we secretly watched a VHS copy of “The Wicker Man” that we snuck out of his dad’s library, and how both of us found that scene so erotic. We reacted similarly to Anne Margaret’s “baked beans” dance in the rock musical “Tommy”. He said, “The thing I still don’t get is why YOU found them arousing... I mean, what with you being gay and all.” - I said, “I attribute those films to making me Bi.” 😂
Agreed, the original is always better (except Dune--that's the one remake I prefer :-) As I recall, the ritual detail was so much better in the first Wicker Man. But somehow I've forgotten the dance scene (I guess it didn't leave quite the same impression on me, haha) but with an endorsement like that, now I'm curious and might have to plan a rewatch!