The Wicker Man (2006 film)

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

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).

Plot summary

Template:Spoiler Police officer Edward Malus (Cage) receives 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 society ruled over by Sister Summerisle, a nod to the original film.

All the women on the island are hostile, and the few men are all silent and have seemingly had their tongues removed. Malus questions the inhabitants of the island about the missing child, only to be told that she was burned to death in an accident. 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 sacrificed.

Malus is lured to the harvest festival by the sight of Rowan, who he finds tied to a stake. Rescuing her, he runs away, only to be led, by her, back to the crowd of women. They capture him, break his legs and place him in a wicker cage. Rowan drops a flaming torch against the wicker statue, that sets Malus ablaze as Willow looks on approvingly. The girl was in no danger, 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 bound to one of their number, by blood. Though he fights back, he is ultimately burned alive in a 'wicker man'.

As Malus is led back to the crowd of women, Sister Summersisle mentions that all the people on the island are her children. In a society of honey bees, all those in the swarm - with the exception of the queen - are brothers and sisters, and therefore all have the same mother. And 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.

Divergences 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). Instead of a Scottish police sergeant, Nicolas Cage portrays an American officer with the California Highway Patrol. In addition, Cage's character is not a virgin, like the protagonist from the original film, as 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. Ellen Burstyn also replaces Christopher Lee as the lead antagonist. Writer and director LaBute rewrote the role for Burstyn as the head of a matriarchy, to give the film a 'feminist slant'. Template:Endspoiler

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.

Box Office

As of September 25, 2006, the worldwide box office receipts totaled $25,784,377 worldwide with $22,568,867 of the receipts earned domestically. [3]

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.

• A 'Missing' poster, featuring the face of Woodward, can be seen in the police station during the first half of the movie.

External links

• Official site
• Official trailer
• Wicker Men Critical comparison of the original and the 2006 remake

• Wicker Man review @ Dread Central
• The Wicker Man at IMDb
• The Wicker Man at Rotten Tomatoes
• Review at Paparelli's Movie Reviews