DVD Review: The Wicker Man (2006)

By Jeff Swindoll Dec 22, 2006, 12:38 GMT

Wicker Man is a remake of the 1973 British classic starring Edward Woodward and Christopher Lee. This new version can’t hold a candle to the original. In fact, the new version has changes made to its plot that make it downright terrible.

What do the Haunting, Psycho, and the Wicker Man have in common?  They’re all classics that have been remade and the remakes can’t hold a candle to the original.

Edward Malus (Nicholas Cage) is a California highway patrol officer.  On a routine patrol he’s passed by a car and a child’s doll falls out.  He pulls over the car to give the girl back her doll.  The girl throws it out of the car again and Malus crosses the street to retrieve it.  A semi-truck slams into the car with the mother and child and it’s thrown into the ditch and bursts into flames.  Malus tries to rescue the girl from the back seat but the car explodes and he’s knocked unconscious.  He’s pretty disturbed because he wasn’t able to save the girl but he’s on the road to recovery when he receives a letter. 

The letter is from his ex-fiancé Willow Woodward (Kate Beahan).  She tells him that her daughter Rowan (Erika-Shaye Gair) is missing and she needs Malus’ help to find her.  She’s enclosed a picture of the girl and she looks just like the girl that he was unable to save from the burning car.  Willow and the girl live on the isolated SummersIsle Island.  The only way to get to the island is by sea plane, which he buys his way onto. 

Yeah Nic, I'm sorta confused why they remade it

When he gets to the island he finds that it is a female dominated society overseen by Sister Summersilse (Ellen Burstyn).  He finds that the locals, Sister Rose and Sister Thorn (Molly Parker), Sister Honey (Leelee Sobieski), and Sister Beech (Diane Delano), are mum about the girl.  In fact, they deny that she even exists.  Malus begins to unravel the mysteries of the island that lead to a fiery climax. 

Wicker Man is a remake of the 1973 British classic starring Edward Woodward and Christopher Lee.  This new version can’t hold a candle to the original.  In fact, the new version has changes made to its plot that make it downright terrible.  I think that people who love the 1973 version will absolutely hate this version (and probably hated it when it was announced that it would be remade).

The motivations and performances in the original are far superior to this new version.  Christopher Lee is so much better than Ellen Burstyn and the case is the same with Edward Woodward and Nicholas Cage.  Burstyn does not act poorly but Lee’s Lord Summerilse definitely is far more memorable than Sister Summersilse. 

Sadly, Nicholas Cage goes way over the top far too much.  He yells and seems like a wild eyed madman most of the time.  Woodward was a more likeable character and performed his part much better than Cage.  This makes the twist ending (which was retained ironically, you’d think Hollywood would’ve jettisoned it first) much less powerful in the new version than it was in the original.  I feel sorry for Neil LaBute since I enjoyed his film Possession, but he shouldn’t have messed with the Wicker Man.  It was a losing battle.  He was in a Wicker Man of his own (with fans) before he had even shot a foot of film. 

The only thing that's pretty much the same in each film is the man of the title

The Wicker Man is available in two separate versions.  It’s available in a fullscreen version and an anamorphic widescreen (2.35:1) enhanced for 16x9 televisions.  Each version is a flipper disc.  Side one contains the theatrical cut of the movie and the other side contains the original cut of the film (labeled the “shocking alternate ending not seen in theaters”).  When the movie was submitted to the MPAA it was given an “R” rating.  This was not what the studio wanted.  As usual, they wanted a PG-13. 

Let me grouse for a moment here about the current trend of making sure that horror films get a PG-13 rating.  Frankly, I think that this version of the Wicker Man suffers from a dumbing down for the thirteen year olds that would be in the audience.  All of the “thinking mans” horror that was in the original would probably be thought to be over their heads, so it was jettisoned.  Now that I’ve griped about that, I do think that including both cuts was a good idea. 

LaBute wanted both versions to be available instead of just having some bits available under the special features menu.  Kudos to him for that, but I still didn’t like the movie (Sorry Neil). 

Special features include a commentary by writer/director Neil LaBute, Leelee Sobieski, Kate Beahan, editor Joel Plotch, and costume designer Lynette Meyer and the theatrical trailer.  The commentary starts the same on both sides, but it is different.  So if you’re interested you’ll have to listen to the commentary on each cut of the film. 

The Wicker Man is a film that suffers in comparison to the chilling original (though it wasn’t as bad as the Haunting remake – I still hate that one).  So if you’re a fan of the original Wicker Man film, don’t bother with the remake.  I know that you’ll hate it.  I can’t speak to the uninitiated since I’m a fan of the original, but you can give it a rental. 

Ellen Burstyn tries out for Braveheart II

Unfortunately, the performances can’t hold a candle to Christopher Lee and Edward Woodward.  Some plot changes to satisfy the thirteen year olds in the audience sink this new version.  The original was far superior in its reasoning, acting, and suspense.

The Wicker Man is now available at Amazon. It is available for pre-order at AmazonUK for a Jan. 15th release. Visit the DVD database for more information.