`WICKER' MANIA EERIE ORIGINAL CASTS A LONG SHADOW OVER POP CULTURE.

Byline: - Bob Strauss

For a movie that barely got released, had some of its most provocative material cut out and that relatively few have yet to see, the 1973 ``Wicker Man'' has exerted a mighty influence over pop culture.

The eerie story of a sexually repressed, Christian policeman (Edward Woodward) searching a nature-worshiping Scottish isle for a missing girl, the film also starred the king of British horror actors, Christopher Lee, as the leader of the lusty, possibly murderous cult, and Britt Ekland as its often-naked love priestess.

But the picture's biggest star was the Wicker Man himself, a giant wooden humanoid that loomed over the island like it has many creative imaginations. Without the Wicker forebear, it's doubtful that the annual Burning Man arts festival, currently unfolding in the Nevada desert, would take the form that it does today.

There's an actual Wicker Man festival held in Scotland every summer, too. It's a musical affair, dedicated to the British neo-folk sound that was greatly inspired by American Paul Giovanni's haunting, Celtic-derived compositions for the movie's soundtrack.

Indeed, ``Wicker Man'' seems to exert a special hold on the minds of musicians. Bands as diverse as Iron Maiden, Pulp and Sneaker Pimps have recorded tracks from or dedicated to the movie. And the late punk rocker Johnny Ramone was an avid fan of the film; so much so that he convinced his friend, Nicolas Cage, to produce and star in the new remake.

Then there's the (reportedly apocryphal) story about Rod Stewart buying the original's distribution rights -- so he could cut out all of his then-girlfriend Ekland's nude bits.

In the U.K., ``Wicker Man'' even inspires lifestyle choices.

``It appeals to a sector of British society, a sort of hippie/traveler movement that often congregates around Stonehenge,'' notes John Patterson, an L.A.-based Englishman who writes about film for Britain's Guardian newspaper. ``In a lot of ways, the movie dug up a sort of pre-Christian English culture that had been profoundly forgotten, that had to do with Druids and paganism.''

You can see what all the fuss has been about in a new DVD edition of ``The Wicker Man,'' released by Anchor Bay Entertainment, containing interviews with many of the principals involved, including Lee, Woodward, director Robin Hardy and writer Anthony Shaffer.

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Christopher Lee in the 1973 British version of ``The Wicker Man.''