Questions about plot-holes in The Wicker Man (1973 basket weaving film)

[BJBMK2]

"But they...are NAKED?!"

"Well naturally, it's much too dangerous to jump through fire with your clothes on".

[Glebe]

Though it's a very British film, it's a major cult (heh) item here in the States. We even put Lord Summerisle on our currency!

No that's David Bowie.

[Ferris]

He would have been a lot easier to sacrifice if he was asleep surely? But then if they were expecting him to sleep, why the whole performance for his benefit after?

They needed him to be the willing fool who was also king for a day. By popping the gear on and leading the parade he was both.

[Ferris]

Never watched this. Is it worth it after all these years and seeing clips that didn't exactly excite. Does it have an edge?

I'll join the chorus of people that are surprised as it seems like something you'd have seen even if you weren't a massive fan. I think you'd like it.

One of my favourite films - one of the things I love about it is the creeping weirdness that subtly escalates until the denouement. Pulled the curtains and am about to watch it again off the back of this thread actually. Quite excited.

Altogether now: summer is icumen in...

[Ferris]

Ruddy hell it's good this

[jamiefairlie]

I think it's a very dark comedy, just like it's a musical and a procedural and is really only a horror movie in its last ten minutes or so (and even there, Howie crying out "JESUS CHRIST!" at that key moment is pretty fucking funny too). Coming into it pre-spoiled (and who doesn't know what happens in the end, even if they've never seen it?) makes it even more entertaining in my eyes, especially some of Lee's reactions during his first meeting with Howie.

Though it's a very British film, it's a major cult (heh) item here in the States. We even put Lord Summerisle on our currency!

Not Bowie, surely a young bequiffed Richard Wilson, "I don't believe my hair!"

[badaids]

Rowan Morrison would go on to make Del Boy fly up on a hang-glider of course.

No wonder Alex Ferguson moved him on from Man United.

[Jerzy Bondov]

Thanks. Midsommer was mostly sunlight too and hit the right beats but didn't linger in my mind, like a blair witch did. Will watch it soon!

Wicker Man makes Midsommar look like a load of old shit. It's one of those films where I always think 'ahh it's good but it's not that good' and then I watch it again and it's a banger.

[The F Bomb]

Genuinely seen it, hmm, forty times? Recent rewatch with my wife, her, let's say, third (?) time, and she and we both enjoyed it more that time than any others that we've seen it, or I, separately, have.

[Theoretical Dentist]

Part of me wants to see a Wicker Man Revisited in 2024 to see how they got on over the last 50 years. Maybe would be like Ogdenville or North Haverbrook.

There's a version of this, in short story/audio form, written by Sarah Hall for an episode of BBC Radio 3's The Verb about The Wicker Man (it was repeated in the Radio 4 Extra Wicker Man 50th anniversary night a few months ago, but first broadcast a few months before that). It's still available for download from that page, and on BBC Sounds.

Spoiler alert

In this story, the island was forcibly depopulated after the events of the film, presumably when the authorities came looking for the missing police officer. The inhabitants were moved to the mainland and the authorities tried to convert them to Christianity and suppress the island religion. The story is set in 2023, so about 50 years after the film, and told by the granddaughter of one of the residents moved off the island (not sure if she's meant to be a character from the film); they visit the abandoned island together.

[close]

Not essential, very short and certainly not an official sequel, but the story and the whole programme are worth a listen if you're interested in the film.

Of the programmes broadcast on the Radio 4 Extra Wicker Man night, most of them have expired from BBC Sounds but the other one that's still available is Fear in the Furrows, a documentary about folk horror from 2019 that covers (amongst other things) the thematic trilogy of films @studpuppet mentioned.

[iamcoop]

Someone got me the soundtrack on vinyl for Christmas a couple of years back and I've probably played it more than most of my other records. It's so good, great to play on a Sunday morning. My daughter loves it as well.

CORN RIGS ARE BONNIE

[Bad Ambassador]

Every single song on that album is about sex. Even Prince could restrain himself, and sometimes wrote a song about a car or a hat.

[ASFTSN]

Every single song on that album is about sex. Even Prince could restrain himself, and sometimes wrote a song about a car or a hat.

How a maid, can milk a bull. With every stroke, a bucketful.

Ban this sick filth!

[kalowski]

Though it's a very British film, it's a major cult (heh) item here in the States. We even put Lord Summerisle on our currency!

[poodlefaker]

saw it first when I was about 15 on Central tv at midnight in the mid-80s, in the days when you could stumble across things like this then go for years without seeing it again, or knowing anything about it or meeting anyone else who'd ever seen it.

[The Bumlord]

Hugh Laurie's let himself go monochrome.

Wish I still had the nice 2 DVD wooden box set of this. The wood smelled lovely (ooh)

[studpuppet]

Though it's a very British film, it's a major cult (heh) item here in the States. We even put Lord Summerisle on our currency!

Better still, you also put Terry Gilliam on them.*



^{*Well, maybe not the US Treasury, but JSG Boggs is the spit of old Terry.}

[QDRPHNC]

After watching the original with my partner a couple of weeks ago, we decided to watch the remake last night - just for fun, knowing it's reputation.

But it's even worse than I thought it would be, so much worse. It tries to evoke the strangeness of the original without understanding what made it strange, everything looks like a set, the islanders don't seem to take any joy in their way of life, at every turn it caves to Hollywood conventions, Cage (not for the first time) is chewing the scenery to the detriment of the entire tone, and the audience-friendly changes to the plot actually make the ending make less sense than the original, while characters stand around during the final scene and takes turns explaining every twist and turn of the plot. It's full of unintentional comedy, jump scares that make you laugh, Nick Cage angry-cycling around the town on his bike. And it ends with an absolutely dire little epilogue scene set on the mainland which you realize makes no sense whatsoever even as you're watching it.

What's frustrating is that it had potential. As we were watching the schoolhouse scene which, despite the fact we're on an island in Washington state, is designed to resemble an American's idea of a rural British school from the 60s (because creepy), my partner remarked how much creepier it would have been if the setting had been a near-deserted 80s type American middle school, in some small post-industrial town in the midwest, long white hallways, echoing footsteps, etc.

I'll admit that I never got Neil LaBute — I saw In the Company of Men during that period of time when everyone was raving about it, and it thought it was a grimdark piece of shit written by a man who has never had an office job in his life, yet for some reason I had him filed away in my head as "talented auteur, not my cup of tea". But after seeing this embarrassment of a film...

To be fair, Cage seems to have regrets about his performance. He said he would love to do The Wicker Man over again, in the style of the original Japanese Ring, which would be pretty cool.

In conclusion: Absolute stinker. Not even so bad it's good.

[xxxx xxx x xxx]

And it ends with an absolutely dire little epilogue scene set on the mainland which you realize makes no sense whatsoever even as you're watching it.

...which left it wide open for a sequel which, fortunately, no-one wanted.

[13 schoolyards]

Neil Labute is someone who, to my shame, I did get, though he's since been revealed to be a): the kind of guy who writes snarky and slightly threatening replies to unknown blogs criticising his work, and b): someone who wasn't exactly #metoo'd but was dumped from his long-term regular playwriting gig around the time of #metoo for reasons that were never fully explained. So yeah, turns out all those jerks he was writing about were coming straight from the heart.

Anyway, his Wicker Man remake is dire, but I think that's because it comes right at the point where Labute was moving on from his trad "men and women, what's up with that?" material and trying to do more traditional thrillers but hadn't figured out his approach. He's still making indy films now and while they're not especially worth your while (they range from average to bad), he does seem to have figured out how to make moderately competent horror and suspense on zero budget.

He was clearly hired for the remake because he was a bad boy of indy film known for his edgy takes on men v women, he took the job because he wanted to use it as a stepping stone to show he could do more than what he was known for, and the result was a film that pretty much anyone else could have done better - even Labute, once he had a few more films under his belt.

[QDRPHNC]

Interesting, I didn't know there were rumours about LaBute. When you look at his filmography, his reputation seems outsized compared to what he's actually done. Even though I disliked In the Company of Men, I perked up when I saw his name in The Wicker Man credits because I thought there would at least be a baseline of quality.

Given that he's considered to be kind of a Mamet Lite, the writing in The Wicker Man is shockingly clunky, but the rest of it is so bad you barely notice. I am a little curious to see what he's done lately though, so maybe I'll give one of his more recent ones a go.

[BritishHobo]

I enjoy the remake as a mad What If version of the original: What If instead of being a passive buffoon, Edward Woodward was an unhinged action hero, sprinting round the island, kicking and punching fuck out of everyone

[QDRPHNC]

I enjoy the remake as a mad What If version of the original: What If instead of a passive buffoon, Edward Woodward was an unhinged action hero, sprinting round the island, kicking and punching fuck out of everyone

As I watching it, I had two mad thoughts that would have improved the film immeasurably. Give Nicholas Cage a big fuck-off 70s muscle car for flooring it around the island, and make him much more trigger happy with his gun.

[Dr Rock]

As I watching it, I had two mad thoughts that would have improved the film immeasurably. Give Nicholas Cage a big fuck-off 70s muscle car for flooring it around the island

That could talk!

[13 schoolyards]

The John Wicker Man