There are also moments that are so unintentionally funny I wish they'd bring back Mystery Science Theater 3000 to give this movie a good ribbing.
The Wicker Man (2006)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:100
Fresh:15
Rotten:85
Average Rating:3.5/10
Consensus: Puzzlingly misguided, Neil LaBute's update The Wicker Man struggles against unintentional comedy and fails.
Runtime: 1 hr 46 mins
Genre: Dramas
US Box Office: $23,607,080
Synopsis: Neil LaBute's THE WICKER MAN stars Nicholas Cage as Edward Malus, a policeman thrust into some dangerous detective work by a series of strange events that begin with a horrific car crash. This... Neil LaBute's THE WICKER MAN stars Nicholas Cage as Edward Malus, a policeman thrust into some dangerous detective work by a series of strange events that begin with a horrific car crash. This incident leaves the cop haunted, with images of the accident replaying in his heavily medicated mind. Edward's hiatus from work is interrupted when he receives a mysterious letter from his ex-fiancé, pleading with him to help find her missing daughter, Rowan. Against his better judgment, Edward travels to the remote, privately owned island of Summerisle, home to a close-knit, secretive community with a clear dislike for outsiders. Considering Edward an intruder, the Sisters of Summerisle offer little information regarding the missing girl. Edward is at a loss, finding even his ex-love Willow to be little help. With vacant eyes and a strange, listless way about her, Willow should be the first of many red flags to send Edward running. But in firm horror-movie tradition, the seasoned cop throws caution to the winds, staying in the place longer than seems smart. This 2006 remake veers away from the 1973 film in several key ways. For one, it replaces the original's eerily upbeat folk soundtrack with a tasteful Angelo Badalamenti score. With a mild PG-13 rating, the 2006 version is relatively tame compared to the original. While the 1973 film freely mixed pornographic elements with horror themes and musical numbers, the new film confines itself to horror, abandoning that strange mixture of genres that made Anthony Shaffer's film a cult classic. While LaBute's film adds a back-story and romantic interest, it requires equal suspension of disbelief. Despite their differences, both films end in the same disturbing way, leaving an indelible image that may haunt viewers long after the credits roll. [More]
Starring: Nicolas Cage, Ellen Burstyn, Molly Parker, Leelee Sobieski
Starring: Nicolas Cage, Ellen Burstyn, Molly Parker, Leelee Sobieski, Frances Conroy, Kate Beahan, Diane Delano, Michael Wiseman, Erika-Shaye Gair
Director: Neil LaBute
Director: Neil LaBute
Screenwriter: Neil LaBute
Producer: Nicolas Cage, Randall Emmett, Avi Lerner
Composer: Angelo Badalamenti
Producer: Nicolas Cage
Studio: Warner Bros.
Reviews for The Wicker Man
Strips away all that was fascinatingly subtextual and deliciously provocative about that unforgettably moody 1973 cult masterpiece, and then pisses on its bare corpse.
The original Wicker Man had its flaws, particularly in the lumpy pacing. LaBute's thoroughly inessential remake not only lovingly reproduces those flaws, it introduces a slew of new ones.
The whole thing is transparently a concoction, and so even though the movie holds you, its climax lacks that tingle of madness. All that's burning is some sticks.
The film is being marketed as a horror thriller, but it lacks suspense and is never particularly scary. It's just weak, and the misogyny that has always animated LaBute's work is really tired. Man, give it a rest already.
LaBute saves his big guns for the ending - but by the time you've seen Cage in a bear suit and Burstyn in Braveheart blue-face, no ending is going to save him.
For viewers, the biggest challenge may be holding back screams of laughter as Summersisle is revealed to be the Island of Awful Acting. ... the original film ended with a sudden shock, this one climaxes with high hilarity.
If a successful marriage were ever engineered to join this artist's personal Heaven and Hell, these late cinematic offspring might finally be as vigorous as his firstborn.
LaBute's remake is an interesting idea that never transforms into a particularly satisfying movie.
This wasn’t a horror film the first time around, and LaBute makes sorry feints at effective creepiness.
The first Wicker Man was about a cult. The remake is more about a dolt.
Cage over the years has more than earned a reputation as an actor who is not afraid to embarrass himself, but in the cause of The Wicker Man, that seems less a commendation than a horrible misjudgment.
Nicolas Cage's finest hours are not spent frantically running through a forest in The Wicker Man, especially when he must do so dressed in a bear suit.
It's never as scary or suspenseful as it aspires to be, but it might just be the greatest bad movie of the year, with its clunky writing resulting in some surprisingly entertaining kooky moments.
Far more ambitious and stylish than most of today's horror crop, Neil LaBute's remake of the 1973 U.K. cult classic The Wicker Man unfortunately still falls far short of its mark.
The sense of dread that should pervade every frame of film is nowhere to be found. It plays like an expensively produced commercial for some organic product grown with loving care by devotees of all-natural farming and/or animal husbandry
A half-compelling, half-goofy and half-redundant piece of remake revisionism. (Yes, that's three halves, but it's that weird a movie.)
Latest News for The Wicker Man
October 17, 2007:
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August 30, 2007:
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January 23, 2007:
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The Golden Raspberry Award Foundation has issued its annual press release announcing the latest batch of Razzie nominees. In an ever-more-crowded field of bad scripts, bad... More...
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