The Wicker Man (2006 film)

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This article is about the 2006 remake. For the original 1973 film, see The Wicker Man (1973 film). For other uses, see The Wicker Man (disambiguation).
The Wicker Man

Film poster
Directed by Neil LaBute
Produced by Nicolas Cage
Randall Emmett
Norm Golightly
Avi Lerner
Joanne Sellar
Written by 1973 screenplay:
Anthony Shaffer
Screenplay:
Neil LaBute
Starring Nicolas Cage
Ellen Burstyn
Kate Beahan
Frances Conroy
Molly Parker
Leelee Sobieski
Diane Delano
Music by Angelo Badalamenti
Cinematography Paul Sarossy
Editing by Eric Boyd-Perkins
Distributed by Warner Bros.
Release date(s) 1 September 2006
Country Germany/USA
Language English
Budget $35,000,000
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

The Wicker Man is an American horror film, released in September 2006. A remake of the 1973 British film of the same name, it was written and directed by Neil LaBute, and stars Nicolas Cage and Ellen Burstyn. The plot roughly follows the same outline as the original film, though there are several differences (see below).

Contents

[edit] Plot summary

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The movie begins with Edward Malus (Cage), witnessing a car crash that resulted from him stopping a car to return a little girl's doll to her after she had thrown out the window. Once he handed it back to her the first time, she throws it even further from the car, and as Malus turns to go get it, the car is struck by an oncoming truck. Haunted by visions of the little girl he was unable to save, Malus takes time away from his work as a police officer. A female officer comes to his house to bring him his mail, and Malus is suprised to receive a letter from his former fiancee, Willow Woodward (Kate Beahan), asking him to come to a small Pacific Northwest island populated by a secretive matriarchal pagan community, to investigate the disappearance of her daughter Rowan. Upon arriving on the island, he discovers a matriarchal and misandrist society ruled over by Sister Summersisle, a nod to the original film.

Most of the women on the island are hostile towards him, and the few men are all silent, as if they have had their tongues removed, and seem emasculated. Malus questions the inhabitants of the island about the missing child, only to be told that she doesn't exist. When Edward finds Rowan's name crossed out in the school attendance book, he is told by the teacher, Sister Rose, that she burned to death. Willow tells Malus that Rowan is his own daughter, and she is certain that Rowan is being held captive somewhere. Malus fears that his daughter has been sacrificed, or is about to be.

After a continuing investigation, Malus is made aware of the coming ritual and while frantically searching for Rowan, he follows the costumed group to the harvest festival dressed in a stolen bear costume. As they approach the site of the festival he finds Rowan tied to a stake. At the sight of Willows imploring gaze he rescues the girl, and runs away into the woods, only to be led, by Rowan, back to the waiting crowd. The girl was in no danger at all, and the islanders' true plan was to sacrifice Malus - his relationship with Willow was merely part of an elaborate plot to lure him to the island. They needed a stranger who was connected to one of their number, by blood. At this point, to show the true depth of this plot, three of the masked villagers remove their costumes revealing the original mother and child Malus had thought died in the crash, and the female officer who delivered Willow's letter to him in the first place. The villagers, at Sister Summersile's command overpower Malus, break his legs and place him in a giant wicker cage shaped like a man. Rowan drops a flaming torch against the wicker statue and as Malus begs her to stop - she sets the statue ablaze.

As Malus is being sacrificed, the crowd of women chant, 'The drone must die', which is a reference to the male bee, known as a drone. When the drone mates with the queen, it dies shortly after, sacrificing itself for the better of the colony, so the people on the island represent a beehive society. Though he pleads to the onlooking crowd, he is ultimately burned alive in a 'wicker man'.

Six months later, two women from the island are seen in a bar picking up what appear to be new male sacrifices.

Spoilers end here.

[edit] Differences from the original

  • While the original film was set in Scotland, the remake takes place in the USA, on a small island off the coast of Washington (though filming actually took place in Canada).
  • In addition, Cage's character is not a virgin like the protagonist from the original film, as strangely it was thought that the idea of an adult virgin in modern American society was too far-fetched. Instead, Cage's character has an allergy to bees, and has to deal with attacks by them.

[edit] Reception and criticism

The original film's director, Robin Hardy, has expressed skepticism over the Hollywood remake. Hardy had to call in his lawyers to get his name removed from the remake's promotional materials. According to Hardy, he was given writing credit for the screenplay, when he had not received any for the original. Christopher Lee, who played Lord Summerisle in the original film, said about the remake: 'What do I think of it being played by a woman, when it was played by a man in 1972, as part of a Scottish pagan community, and now it's played by a woman with the same name? What do I think of it? Nothing. There's nothing to say.'[1]

The remake has been skewered by critics. 'What a great big mess of nothing at all. When you first see it, it doesn’t make sense, and the more you think about it, the less sense it makes.'[2]

The rating is below 15 percent at Rotten Tomatoes.

It was nominated for five 2006 Golden Raspberry Awards: Worst Picture, Worst Actor (Nicolas Cage), Worst Screenplay, Worst Remake or Rip-off and Worst Screen Couple (Nicolas Cage and His Bear Suit).

[edit] Box Office

As of November 16, 2006, the worldwide box office receipts totaled $32,259,395 worldwide with $23,649,127 of the receipts earned in North America. [3]

[edit] DVD Release

DVD has been released on December 19, 2006 with an unrated alternate ending included.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
  • Alternate ending: Malus is held down and his legs are broken at the knee. A wire mesh helmet is placed over his head and live bees are poured in. After he passes out, the helmet is removed and he is revived with a shot of adrenalin in the neck from his med-kit. Throughout this, he asks how can he be a good sacrifice if he does not believe in their religion? The movie proceeds along the theatrical version except the credits begin after the burning wicker man's head falls off. The "6 months later" scene is missing.
Spoilers end here.

[edit] Trivia

  • The film is dedicated to late musician Johnny Ramone, who introduced Nicolas Cage to Robin Hardy's original film.
  • The main characters Edward Malus and Willow Woodward refer back to the original film's lead actor, Edward Woodward.
  • When Cage pulls over the 1st car in the movie, he touches the trunk with his fingertips. This is something many police officers do during traffic stops to put their fingerprints on the car in case something goes wrong during the stop, and to make sure the trunk is fully closed in case anyone is hiding inside.
  • A 'Missing' poster, featuring the face of Woodward, can be seen in the police station during the first half of the movie.
  • The principal exterior filming was done on Bowen Island, Canada.
  • At the beginning of the movie when Nicolas Cage leans down and picks the doll up while he is riding a motorcycle is a reference to an earlier Nicolas Cage film, Raising Arizona in which his character leaned out of a car and picked up diapers. Also in the film the motorcycle riding bounty hunter Smalls reached down from a motorcycle and picks up Nathan Jr.
  • The movie was originally rated R for extreme violence, disturbing images, language, and thematic elements, but director Neal LeBute wanted a broader audience, so they cut most of the scenes out, some of which are seen in the unrated version of the DVD, to deem it PG-13.
  • Although there is an unrated version of The Wicker Man, there are about four minutes of additional cut footage that are not shown in the unrated DVD.
  • In the beginning of the movie a semi rolls by, with the letters WM (Wicker Man) on the side in red and green.
  • The Rifftrax for the film was released in early March, 2007.

[edit] External links

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