IT'S the horror movie about obsessive Celtic paganism that inspired one of Scotland's best loved festivals that was scrapped after its founder tragically died five years ago.
The Wicker Man which starred Edward Woodward, Christopher Lee and Britt Ekland was considered a 1973 movie masterpiece telling the unsettling story of life in an obsessive and closed Scottish society on the fictional remote Hebridean island of Summerisle.
It pitches a devout Christian police officer played by Woodward into a community whose pagan rituals and strange customs are revealed as he launches an investigation into the whereabouts of a missing girl.
A music festival inspired by the movie, that featured the burning of a replica Wicker Man shut down three years ago after the 66-year-old co-founder and site landowner Jamie Gilroy died in 2014.
READ MORE: The Wickerman Festival is scrapped
He was found dead at his East Kirkcarswell Farm at Dundrennan with serious head injuries, believed to have been caused by a firearm. Police said the incident was not suspicious.
Now it has emerged that a tribute event inspired by the movie and the music festival will be held on the Isle of Whithorn, one of the most southerly villages and seaports in Scotland. The village is two miles away from Burrow Head, the remote rural spot which was used to film the dramatic final scenes of the cult movie.
The event is the brainchild of local artist and author Amanda Sunderland whose father, Ian played one of the 'antler men' in the movie.
The Wee Wickerman weekend starts tonight (Friday) with a screening of the movie in the village hall and will be followed by a question and answer session with Lesley Mackie who played the character of Daisy in the film.
READ MORE: Co-founder of Wickerman Festival dies
Several locals who were either extras or involved in the building of the original Wicker Man will also be on hand for interviews and discussion.
The main event running from noon till 11pm on Saturday will feature a free concert featuring a number of live bands playing on an outdoor stage.
In a scene reminiscent of the movie, revellers will be asked to participate in a Wicker Man singalong taken from the original Paul Giovanni musical score.
And like the original festival, the climax of Wee Wickerman will see the burning of a giant effigy on the beach at sunset, where the audience will be invited to toast departed friends and the 'god of the sea' as well as pay tribute to their own individual faiths.
One of those helping with the event is Sid Ambrose, a co-founder of the original Wickerman Festival.
Sid Ambrose during the original Wickerman Festival
The organisers hope that visitors enter into the spirit of the day dress and dress as character from the film, or wear an animal mask.
Asked about the reasons for organising the Wee Wickerman, Ms Sunderland said: “The event is a way of bringing our village together and marshalling local skills and enthusiasm. We aim to create a gathering of likeminded people who want to celebrate a cult movie and enduring legend which has very strong local connections.
"I have kind of grown up with the film as my first memory of it is a letter my father to tell me and my brother that he was in a film with Britt Ekland, Christopher Lee and Edward Woodward, which was very exciting at the time. When he said he had done a scene with Britt Ekland, he had to hold her hand and run down the street with her, we were so thrilled.
READ MORE: How a Glastonbury bigwig could yet save the Wickerman Festival
"But sadly it ended up on the cutting room floor. And to add insult to injury I asked my dad what she said to him and he said that she just came out of her trailer, did the scene and went back in! How dare she, I thought, aged nine. "
The organisers want to keep it "small and friendly" and if it goes well will become a future platform for "good local music".
Ruby Bell who is helping Ms Sunderland with the organising of the event added: “The Isle of Whithorn is a stone’s throw away from Burrowhead. This is where the climactic burning scene was shot.
"In addition various locations within the village were featured in the movie so we feel that this will be a great draw for Wicker Man aficionados and fans.”
Amanda Sunderland (far right), her father Ian and daughter Sarah with the beginnings of a new Wicker Man
The original two-day award-winning Wickerman Festival, had been held at Mr Gilroy's farm 25 miles south west of Dumfries since 2002 when the counter-culture music bash attracted less than 2000 people. It went on to cater for six times that number.
The original Wickerman festival attracted big names such as Chic, Texas, Primal Scream, The Charlatans, the Human League, Dizzee Rascal and Gary Numan.
But the festival officially shut down in 2016 two years after the death of Mr Gilroy. His wife Patsy Gilroy had said that she thought the event described as 'Scotland's Alternative Music festival', could continue with another organiser. That's despite concerns that a trebling in the costs of policing music festivals was putting festivals at risk.
But it never did.
Thousands including children traditionally gathered on Saturday at midnight for the burning of a giant 30 ft Wickerman, built by local craftsmen.
At its peak the festival comprised of several stages including the main Summerisle stage, the Axis Sound System reggae sound system tent, the Acoustic Village, a stage for punk, ska and northern soul called The Scooter Tent and the Solus Tent for new Scottish bands as well as several dance tents, a children's area, workshops, beer tent, crafts and a cinema.
The final Wickerman festival was held in July, 2015 and featured headliners The Waterboys and Tom Odell.
The movie is also the inspiration for one of Alton Towers newest and most popular rides.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here