Nicolas Cage's The Wicker Man: A Masterpiece of Cult Horror

foreign the 2006 remake of the 1973 British war classic the Wicker man is amongst the greatest films ever made not great in the way that deneve and the nerve sequel to Blade Runner manages to be more haunting and profound in several ways than its predecessor something many regarded as an ear impossible task considering the profound gravity of the originals not only within the genre of Science Fiction but broadly speaking Cinema as a medium but more greatness in terms of Nicholas Cage's presence

as a human being it is a profoundly ridiculous and bizarre film whose lead seems to be consistently acting in a way that's never appropriate for the scene that he's in seriously it's a spell-biting thing to behold watching Nicholas Cage move from sequence to sequence never truly comfortable in his own skin while remaining defiantly confident the original wicker man is a 1973 British horror film directed by Robin Hardy and written by Anthony Shaffer the film has become a cult classic and has infl

uenced many subsequent horror films and stars Edward Woodward Christopher Lee Diane Cilento Brit Eklund and Ingrid Pitt this story set on a remote Scottish island of Summers Isle where a devoutly Christian police Sergeant Neil Howie played by Edward Woodward travels to investigate The Disappearance of a young girl as he Dives deeper into the Island's Pagan Customs he realizes that the villagers are preparing for a sacrificial ceremony and that he may be the intended victim think Burning Man with

less human sacrifice and more drugs what makes the original film unique is the oddly placed musical sequences and a fine fine dream [Music] it's basically Charlie and the Chocolate Factory but instead of one horror musical sequence every single one is like that it also deals with the exploration of pagan traditions and The Devout cult-like behavior of Christianity the clash between their beliefs is a consistent theme in the film neither being portrayed as either good or evil rare nuance and oft

en seen in horror films apparently the idea to remake the Wicker man came from producer Nicholas Cage himself a fan of the original film cage approached La boot with the idea of updating the story for modern audiences one of the major changes to the story was the shift from the Scottish Isle to a fictional one dist off the coast of Washington state this change was made to give the film a more American feel and to appeal to a wider audience the majority of it was filmed on multiple Islands just o

ff the coast of British Columbia like a lot of American remakes the necessity to change location and accents pissed off a lot of the fans of the original the film is a complete mess with a Strange Love Story taking place between officer Malice played by cage and one of the inhabitants of the island he's searching for her daughter who may also be his daughter who may also be dead who may also be alive but is then also reborn because men are subservient to women in a bee Colony but also only usefu

l as servants and as inseminators and men are a very important part of our little colony breeding you know it clearly sounds like a bunch of aspects of the original movie were very interesting to Nicholas Cage while he was extremely high and then he tried to make it a modern paint by numbers jump scarathon that is anything but the production of the film was plagued with issues from the start reports of clashes between cage and the boot were common on set and the boot later admitted that the two

had different versions for the film Cage's performance in the film has been widely criticized for being super over the top and out of place with rumors circulating that he may have been under the influence of drugs or alcohol during the production in addition to these issues the script was also extremely problematic the dialogue was stilted and at times laughable with characters speaking in a manner that was supposed to be old-fashioned but came across as awkward and forced despite all these pro

blems the film was released in September 2006 to incredibly scaling reviews it currently holds 15 on Rotten Tomatoes and was a complete box office flop earning just 38 million dollars worldwide on a budget of 40 million just for the production alone so what exactly went wrong it seems the filmmakers attempted to update a beloved classic for modern audiences but failed to capture the essence of the original the changes made to the story were unnecessary and the script was poorly written Additiona

lly the clashes between caged and the boot on set may have contributed to the film's disjointed feel one of the more interesting aspects about the production was that cage apparently had significant influence on the script itself a lot of the lines he said were improv leading to some of the film's most bizarre and nonsensical moments the Buddha since distanced himself from the film claiming that he was not happy with the final product but hey the greatest bad movies are the ones that were also m

ade with genuine love and care and the wickerman is that but also equal parts crystal meth if you haven't seen it already prepare yourself for the greatest moving moments from the Wicker man [Music] [Music] foreign the plot thickens didn't even know you had a plot no kidding away [Music] Ahoy there who's that I don't know what you're supposed to say you know just go with hello all right hello he just need a good talking too what's in the bag a shark or something it's like a room and a meal okay

Swing Swing what is that some kind of City talk manage that's what he means can we manage to put him up we don't have any Royal Honey for you none at all no no not a drop the crop was cursed last year am I find you a little bit of sugar there are will you tell us what man represents in his purest form yes I'm just up here to find a missing girl whom people are pretending doesn't exist how quick Sonic have a quick Sonic from Don Quixote lofty but ideals whose desk is this [Applause] [Music] you L

ittle Liars Rowan Woodward is your classmate isn't she is she that is her desk and you're the biggest liar of them all I am warning you you tell me another and I'll rescue myself that is a promise Miss Rose Sister Rose of course another plant rose wait wait wait when you say that she's grieving you mean that Rowan is dead you would say so yes she's dead or she isn't we never use that word here no that'd be too quick Sonic quite a little racket you've got going for yourself here reading sounds li

ke inbreeding to me tell me I yes I think yeah how to get burned how to get burned how to get burned how to get burned get off the bike [Applause] step away from the bike take your stupid mask don't be afraid [Laughter] [Music] come on [Music] oh God [Music] [Applause] [Music] what is it what's wrong sister oh nope [ __ ] ugh this is better smarter you all be guilty and you're doing it for nothing killing me won't bring back your goddamn honey foreign [Music] all right [Music]