The Wicker Man: Director`s Cut (2006)

Introduction

Released in 1973 and distributed as the supporting feature to Nic Roeg`s `Don`t Look Now`, Robin Hardy`s `The Wicker Man` has gained cult status and is recognised as one of Britain`s finest horror movies. In 2006, it was remade by Neil LaBute, who changed the setting from Scotland to Washington State, replacing the clash of religions with a clash of cultures, a pagan society with a matriarchy and the island`s exports to honey instead of apples.

The story stays extremely faithful to Anthony Shaffer`s original screenplay, in which a policeman visits a remote island to investigate the disappearance of a young girl. Once there, he finds that the locals are less than helpful and that the authority he wielded on the mainland means nothing on a private island with it`s own unique and disturbing norms and values. His search for the missing girl is fruitless and the film culminates in the burning of the titular effigy.

As a massive fan of the original, I was less than thrilled by the theatrical release, but was interested to see if the director`s cut was an improvement. The tagline of the film is `Some Sacrifices Must Be Made` - perhaps this review is one of them.

Video

For a film that was in cinemas only four months ago, I expected the DVD to contain a near flawless transfer and it does. One of the highlights of the film is the cinematography and the Canadian scenery and it looks great. However, some of the CGI leaves a lot to be desired.

Audio

The Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack is perfectly clear with good balance through all the speakers.
Angelo Badalamenti`s score is very good and is well presented.

Features

Trailers for other Lionsgate releases `Right at Your Door` and `Edison` precede the menu, but fortunately can be skipped.

At the start of the commentary, Neil LaBute says that this commentary is recorded specifically for the region 2 disc and the British audience with a different commentary on the region 1 release. I have no idea what the differences are and won`t be buying the R1 disc to find out. This is a fairly standard `yak-track` with the film`s producer Norm Golightly and editor Joel Plotsch, in which they impart little information but seem to have a good time chatting away. It was interesting to find out that the part where Edward Malus points his gun at Sister Rose and demands that she "step away from the bike" was supposed to be a comedic line rather than an unintentionally funny moment.

Conclusion

In the 1960s, Woolworths didn`t sell chart singles so used the Embassy record label to release cover versions of chart singles with unknown artists. You could buy hits by The Beatles and Cliff Richard only they were performed by The Typhoons and Johnny Worth; in other words, a cheap knock-off of records that are now regarded as classic tracks. In terms of history repeating itself, this practice is alive and well only with music and films that are several decades old. If a musical analogy can be drawn, this is The Typhoons version of `The Wicker Man`.

It`s always a bad sign when a film is not screened for critics as it`s generally the case that the distributors expect a savaging and don`t want the public to be put off; as the reviews were almost universally negative, the lack of a press screening was understandable.

At the cinema I thought this was a waste of celluloid and a pointless film and my opinion has not changed after watching the DVD. The changes made for this `director`s cut` are for the better, with the `mask of bees` scene that was in the trailer but not in the theatrical release now reinstated together with some graphic violence that was probably omitted for rating purposes and the removal of the epilogue. However, the expression "you can`t polish a turd" fits perfectly. `The Wicker Man` is a bad film and is still a bad film despite these changes.

Made with terrible budgetary constraints, given to bemused distributors who didn`t know what to make of the film and insisted on numerous cuts before releasing it as a B-movie. The history of Robin Hardy`s `The Wicker Man` is almost as interesting as the film itself and has only been saved from obscurity by the persistence of hardcore fans. Despite my love of the original, it is not without it`s flaws and is a film that, like `The Hills Have Eyes`, could have been remade well; indeed Edward Woodward said he liked the script when offered a part in the remake. When an X-certificate film was remade with a PG-13/12A certificate it made me think `What has been removed?`. The answer is everything that made the original so special: the nudity, the horror, the tension, the eeriness and the sheer strangeness of the island society.

The 1973 version worked precisely because Sgt Howie (Edward Woodward) was such a puritanical Christian and the islanders were so noticeably strange that the Christian/Pagan clash, culminating when Howie meets the Wicker Man, is a terrifying moment of pure horror. In the remake, the substitution of a matriarchy for a pagan society results in the film being surprisingly dull without the peculiarity of Hardy`s version to the extent that LaBute resorts to cheap scares to keep the audience interested. In 1973 Edward Woodward put in arguably the best performance of his career, whereas Nicolas Cage is the epitome of bland, so when the film reaches it`s denouement, you`re left with a feeling of `That`s it?` as it lacks the raw power of the original, especially as Sister Summersisle (Ellen Burstyn) seems to have borrowed Mel Gibson`s makeup from `Braveheart`!

One of my worst fears is that someone`s going to remake `Don`t Look Now` with Paul Walker and Jessica Alba or `The Exorcist` with Tom Cruise, Sean Connery, Madonna and Dakota Fanning. `The Omen` remake was pointless but competently done, as was this to a large extent but, as with `The Omen`, `Psycho` and now this, the originals are available on DVD; don`t encourage filmmakers to butcher classics. Rent or buy the original films to try and prevent further cover versions being made.