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| 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. As 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
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The movie begins in a diner. Two men are eating at a counter in a diner. One man gets up, pays his tab and leaves. The waitress asks the remaining customer, who is evidently a cop, “Where’s your friend?” The cop points behind him at a bookshelf, where the other cop, Edward Malus (Nicholas Cage), is standing. The waitress tells Edward that his salad is ready, but Edward only says thanks and continues reading the book.
In the next scene, Edward is on a routine drive on his motorcycle. He’s driving in a desert area. After pulling over a teenager and giving him a warning, Edward continues on his drive. After awhile, he notices a station wagon. Suddenly, a small doll is thrown out of the car. Edward, being the good man that he is, picks up the doll and turns on his siren so the station wagon will pull over. The driver turns out to be a fairly young lady in her mid-30s with a small daughter. The woman apologizes to Edward, saying that her little girl has been acting strangely all morning. Edward accepts her apology and returns the doll to the girl. The mother assures Edward that it won’t happen again and thanks Edward for returning the toy. Edward bids farewell to the little girl and begins to leave, but the little girl throws the doll back out of the car. The mother apologizes again as Edward goes to retrieve the doll. As he bends over to pick it up, a large truck speeds out from nowhere and crashes into the station wagon. The entire car is immediately set on fire. Edward rushes to the rear of the car and sees that the little girl is still alive. He uses his helmet to smash the window open and tells the girl to take his hand. Unfortunately, before the girl can take his hand, the car explodes and Edward is pushed back away from the car by the force of the explosion.
A couple days later, Edward is sitting in his apartment when a fellow officer, knocks at his window. Edward is clearly surprised by the visitor, and jumps in his seat. He goes and opens the door, and welcomes her in. She asks him how he’s been doing, and it is clear that the entire station has been worried for Edward’s well-being. He asks her about the mother and daughter from the car accident, but there were no bodies found, and the car itself was not even registered, she comments that they will probably never know who they were. Before leaving she hands him a stack of get-well-soon letters that were dropped off at the station, he sees that one of the letters is from his ex-fiancé, Willow (Kate Beahan). The letter says that her daughter has been missing for several days and that she needs his help. Edward gets dressed and heads down to the station, surprising his coworkers. He finds his partner and tells him about Willow’s letter. His partner is unsympathetic to Willow and says that he's a cop who's playing detective. The partner goes on to say that Willow never seemed to really care about Edward, so he shouldn’t care about her. Edward ignores his partner and heads to Washington. He sees a sea plane pilot and asks him where Summersisle is. The sea plane pilot tells Edward that Summersisle is a private island and that he makes daily deliveries there.
Edward asks him if he can get a ride to the island, but the sea plane pilot says that his plane can only carry the cargo. Edward makes a witty statement and bribes the sea plane pilot to take them over. Edward arrives on the island and goes up a hill, where he sees an elderly woman. It is obvious that the people here do not like strangers. She asks him whether Edward is a doctor or not. Two men are walking up the hill with a large load. Edward notices that the bag is dripping a dark red liquid resembling blood. Edward is somewhat distracted, but he turns to the woman and asks whether she’s seen this girl or not. He shows her a picture of a small girl about 7 or 8 years old with blonde hair wearing a red dress and jacket. It’s Rowan (Erika-Shaye Gair), Willow’s daughter. The woman tells him that she’s never seen the girl before. Edward turns away and asks the men what’s in the bag. Edward flips open a part of the bag, he doesn’t see anything, but the bag jerks and he jumps back. The two men and the woman are all laughing now, and as Edward walks up the hill, he hears the old woman laughing and saying that it ain't Willow’s daughter.
Edward soon reaches a lodge, with a café on the lower level of the lodge and the quarters are above. Edward goes over to the counter. The rough-looking woman at the counter is Sister Beech (Diane Delano). He shows her Rowan’s picture again, but she doesn’t recognize the girl. Sister Beech hands Edward a cup of mead. Edward sees a bee on the countertop, and brings his cup down on the unsuspecting insect, instantly killing it. His cup made a loud noise, and now the entire café is focused on him. Sister Beech asks Edward why he did that. Edward tells the sister that he had to do it because he’s allergic.
Edward walks away from the café and meets Sister Honey (Leelee Sobieski), who takes him to his room. He goes into his room and puts his things away. As he’s unpacking, he realizes that the book he was reading in the diner is missing. He goes back downstairs and asks the waitress whether anyone was looking through his things. He sees Willow looking rather melancholy. She walks towards him and tells Edward that they need to talk privately. She tells him to meet her at the bay. When he walks down to the bay sometime later, Willow is already there. She tells him that she’s really glad he came, but Edward only asks why Willow didn’t ask Rowan’s father for help instead. She tells him that it’s because she trusts him more.
Willow tells Edward not to believe the other villagers because so far, no one has recognized the little girl. Edward takes the photo back out and asks Willow what Rowan is wearing in the picture. Willow tells Edward that she made the sweater for Rowan last Christmas and that the picture was taken not too long ago. Edward tells Willow that he’ll help her find Rowan, but Willow tells him that since the townspeople are all so suspicious of her, they’ll always have to talk in private.
It’s now around 7 or 8 and Edward is heading to his room. There, he hears Sister Beech and four other sisters talking. It’s a meeting of some sort, apparently. He ignores them and lays on his bed for awhile, thinking about Rowan. Edward can’t seem to get to sleep, so he gets up and looks out the window. He sees a little girl, and immediately thinks that it’s Rowan. He runs out of the lodge and chases her into a barn. He follows the noises until he’s in the third layer of the barn. He notices a small room and walks inside. Suddenly, the entire room collapses, and Edward is left hanging on a pillar. He climbs back up and leaves the barn.
In the next scene, it’s morning and Edward is trying to pour some honey into his tea rather unsuccessfully. Sister Honey walks in and Edward says to her that this is store-bought and that he thought they used homemade honey. She apologizes but tells him that they don’t have any Royal Honey, not even a drop. She offers him some sugar instead and he accepts. She leaves to go get the sugar and while she’s gone, Edward notices a wall covered with the same picture of a little girl who looks very similar to Rowan. The only exception is the last picture frame, which has been crushed and the photo stolen. At this moment, Sister Beech returns with the sugar and Edward asks her what the photos are of. She tells him that it’s a celebration they hold every year. Edward asks what happened to the last one and she tells him that it was stolen the night before.
Edward goes outside and sees Sister Honey chopping wood. He asks her if she’s seen Sister Willow, and is told that Willow just went up to the schoolyard. Sister Honey grabs Edward’s arm as he’s about to leave and asks if he'll take her with him. Edward laughs and apologizes because he’s clearly confused.
He continues up the hill to a schoolhouse, and sees that every single student is a blonde girl. Nearly every girl looks just like Rowan and several even have twins. He meets the teacher, who’s apparently giving a sex-ed talk to the very young girls. The woman is using simple terms and metaphors to describe it, and Edward laughs heartily. The teacher’s name is Sister Rose (Molly Parker) and she demands what he’s doing in her classroom. Edward apologizes and tells her that he’s looking for Rowan. The teacher tells him that she’s never seen the girl, but that she’ll pass the photo around. Every girl looks at the photo, but no one recognizes her. Edward notices that every desk is filled with the exception of one. He walks over to the desk, which is slightly dirty. He opens the desk and a large black crow bursts out of the desk. Surprised by the bird, Edward asks Sister Rose whose desk it was and why there was a bird inside, but no one replies. Finally, a little girl tells him that they put the bird in there to see how long it would live. Everyone in the classroom seems perfectly fine with this explanation, except for Edward, who wonders why they would do that. He turns to the teacher and demands to know why she let them do this. He asks to see the class roster, but she refuses. He demands to see the roster again and just grabs it off her desk. He scans the roster quickly and sees that Rowan’s name has been crossed off. He knows that the desk was Rowan’s now, and calls the entire class liars. Then he turns to Sister Rose and calls her the biggest liar of them all. She tells him that they’ll talk outside.
The two head outside and Sister Rose tells Edward that Rowan was burned to death. She tells him that Rowan’s buried at the local church and not to disturb her class anymore. Edward goes to the church, which is clearly dilapidated, and he sees a large pile of dirt, where it is presumed to be where Rowan is buried. He heads back to Willows house where they go to Rowan’s room and he sees that it is completely white with only a white bed, a white chair and a white desk. Willow says that the last time she saw Rowan, Rowan was drawing. Edward’s looking at the desk and flips it over and he sees that someone has inscribed "HELP ME" all over the desk. There’s a picture of Rowan, Willow and a large statue. He asks Willow whether she’s ever seen what Rowan draws, and Willow says that she hasn’t. Apparently, Rowan liked to draw and swim. Edward heads back down to the dock where he came from and sees the plane, but not the pilot. Edward sits there on a box for awhile waiting for the pilot because he needs the radio. Edward hears a bumping noise under the dock looks around a little and suddenly he spots a small child trapped under a gate in the water. He jumps off the dock and swims over to her.
Edward wakes up and realizes that it was just a dream. Edward looks down and sees the decomposing body of Rowan. He’s completely freaked out, even though it was all a hallucination. Edward goes back to Willow and asks her who takes the photos in the town. Willow tells him that Doctor Moss (Frances Conroy) does.
Edward goes to Dr. Moss’ house and she invites him in. Edward asks Dr. Moss about the missing photo at the café, and she tells him that she’ll take the negatives and make another copy for him. As he’s leaving, he notices a book of rituals on the doctor’s desk. Edward goes outside and hides in a bush until the doctor leaves with two women wearing bee keeper masks. Edward goes inside and flips through the Ritual book. He gets freaked out and wanders through the house finding a room full of fetal babies in mason jars, a creepy operating table and other medical instruments. In the last room of the house he finds Dr. Moss’ dark room, leafing through photos in the desk he finds the picture of Rowan (the one from the lodge) then leaves. Edward is walking around when he suddenly trips and falls onto a beehive. He tries to get away, but the camera pans out and we see that the entire center of the island is shaped like a honeycomb. Edward pulls out a needle to prevent the allergy from taking too much effect on him, but it’s no use. Right before he passes out, he sees Rowan in front of him with bees surrounding her.
When Edward wakes back up, he’s on a bed and Dr. Moss is sitting at his side. He asks the doctor if she used his kit and she tells him that they used the "old-fashioned way." Edward gets up and retrieves his sweater and heads out. He sees Sister Summersisle (Ellen Burstyn), another elderly woman. She tells Edward that some of their beekeepers found him. She introduces herself and apparently she is treated like a god on the island. Before leaving Edward asks her if he can dig up the grave where everyone says Rowan is buried.
That night Edward digs up the grave, when he opens the casket there’s only a burnt doll inside. He hears someone crying from inside the crypt and goes to investigate. After breaking open the lock he goes inside where he finds a small well at the bottom of some stairs reaching into it he pulls out Rowan’s sweater. Edward dives in and searches the water but Rowan is not there. When he swims back up, he sees that someone has locked the gate and that he cannot get out. Edward basically waits it out until morning, when Willow comes and finds him. He explains to Willow everything that he found and Willow accidentally reveals that Rowan is Edward’s daughter too.
Edward and Willow head back to her house where he tells her to lock herself in tonight because he has a bad feeling. As Edward is riding downhill on his bike, Sister Rose stops him, but she’s wearing a rather hideous crow mask. She tells him that she’s preparing for a ritual and that Edward can’t leave. She pulls away his bike, but Edward takes out his gun and rides back to the lodge. He heads to his room and grabs his things. As he’s walking back down, he hears Sister Beech talking with another girl about things on the dock.
Edward begins barging into everyone’s homes calling for Rowan, and forces all the young girls to take off their masks. He goes into Sister’s Summersisle’s house, which is huge, and finds rather disturbing images in every single room he goes into. Edward is unable to find Sister Summersisle, but she’s in one of the larger rooms, surrounded by the other girls.
When he returns to the cove he sees that the plane is gone and turning around sees the pilot lying in the driftwood on the shore with his eyes gouged out. He heads back to the lodge, while up in his room he sees Beech and a local woman talking Beech asks the woman if she took care of the harbor problem she says yes before they see Edward at the top of the stairs, when she leaves Edward walks over to Beech who asks if she can do anything for him, he says yes and knocks her out with one punch to the face. Suddenly, Sister Honey attacks him from the back and they fight for awhile until Sister is unconscious. He walks over to the bar and puts on the Bear costume that Beech was going to wear to the ceremony, and follows the locals in a parade being led by Sister Summersisle to a ritual.
They arrive at the grounds and we see Rowan tied to a large tree about to be burnt. Willow looks at Edward and he runs over and saves Rowan. Sister Summersisle turns to the other sisters and says “Girls, get him.” The sisters begin chasing after them and suddenly Rowan breaks free and begins running away. Now Edward is chasing Rowan and the sisters are chasing them both. They run into a clearing and Rowan runs toward Willow. Willow tells Rowan that she did a good job, and Edward is stunned. Sister Summersisle thanks Rowan and Willow and it turns out that Willow is Sister Summersisle’s daughter.
Everything had been planned from the beginning. The masks are coming off of the other people in the crowd. The people wearing them are the female cop, and the mother and daughter from the car accident, Summersisle explains that he was carefully chosen to be her granddaughters father because they needed him to return as the Wickerman, the harvest sacrifice. Edward takes out his gun and tells everyone to back up and fires into the crowd, but nothing happens. Willow opens her hand and all of Edward’s bullets fall out of her hand. All the townspeople surround Edward and begin beating him. They break his legs and carry him in a sheet to a giant wooden man. He’s put inside the very top. Rowan is given the torch, and despite Edward’s pleas, Rowan sets the wood on fire. The camera scans over the island, and Edward's arm is dangling on a ledge.
A few years later, a cop is drinking a beer. His friend comes over and they talk for awhile. A few minutes later, two girls come in and the cop and his friend walk over to her. Unbeknownst to the cops, it’s Sister Willow and Sister Honey. They share a few drinks and Sister Honey says to one of the cops, “When you go, will you bring me with you?” The cop laughs, but little does he know that could be the next sacrifice.
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). Instead of a Neil Howie, Scottish police sergeant, the protagonist is Edward Malus, an American officer with a fictional version of the California Highway Patrol. Unlike Howie, Malus has no jurisdiction on the island he visits, and is searching for Rowen in a personal capacity.
- Malus is not a virgin, as Howie was, as it was thought that the idea of an adult virgin in modern American society was too far-fetched. While virginity was the characteristic that made Howie the ideal choice for sacrifice, in this film it is Malus' former relationship with Willow, with whom he fathered Rowen. In addition, Howie's repressed sexual urges served as a weakness which distracted him, while in the re-make it is Malus' allergy to bee-stings that frustrates his search.
- Ellen Burstyn 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'.
- In this version, the islander's main crop or fertility is honey. In the original, the islander's main fertility is apples.
- In the original, the name of the islanders' festival is the May Day Festival. In this versions, the islanders' festival is called the Day of Death and Rebirth.
Similiarities to the original
- In both movies, when Edward arrives in Sister Rose's classroom, when he asks where Rowan is, in both versions, she responds with the same line "If she existed, we would know of her."
- In the end of both movies, all of the islanders wear all kinds of costumes and masks for their festivities.
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.'
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.'
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).
The movie has garnered a cult following as an unintentional comedy, with several scenes being posted to YouTube.
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.
DVD Release
DVD has been released on December 19, 2006, with an unrated alternate ending included. Template:Spoiler
- 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.
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 to the original film's lead actor, Edward Woodward.
- A maypole was seen briefly in the background, behind Nicholas Cage as he was walking.
- 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.
- 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.
- Leelee Sobieski(Sister Honey) and James Franco(Bar Guy) both appeared in the film Never Been Kissed.
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
- Wicker Man at Gery.pl - Film (pl)
- Symbolism in the Wicker Man movies