The Wicker Man

[Muddy]

Awhile back I spied the original at a Goodwill Thrift Shop for a
few bucks so I bought it, watched it then threw it in the trash.
Not my cup of tea particularly. Textbook paganism, most unfortunate
ending. Edward Woodward was great of course as was Christopher Lee
and the kilts were cool but man, what a dreary mess of a film...............

[pdcorlis]

The handwriting was on the wall for the Wickerman re-make when they chose not to preview it for the critics... never good when have a movie with big hollywood talent sneaks into the theatres.

[TechBear]

The handwriting was on the wall for the Wickerman re-make when they chose not to preview it for the critics... never good when have a movie with big hollywood talent sneaks into the theatres.

Indeed. Rotten Tomatos gives it a freshness rating of only 13% (ie only 13% of published reviews are generally positive about the movie.) It has been established that movies that are not pre-screened for critics usually end up as less than 20% fresh.

Personally, I'm surprised the remake is doing so well. :rolleyes:

[Caradoc]

The handwriting was on the wall for the Wickerman re-make when they chose not to preview it for the critics... never good when have a movie with big hollywood talent sneaks into the theatres.

There are exceptions.

"Office Space," for example. They did it to Mike Judge again with his film "Idiocracy".

I rather liked the original "Wicker Man," but it's been at least twenty years since I've seen it...

[TechBear]

but man, what a dreary mess of a film...............

There is a bit of a story behind the 73 movie.

Lion's Gate Studios, which produced "The Wicker Man", had been one of the great movie houses in the 50s and 60s. By the early 70s, however, it had fallen on hard times and had been sold. Rumors circulated that the new owner had bought the studio in order to gut it.

The studio's stable of actors, technicians and the rest all wanted to keep their jobs, and the only way they could do that would be to show that the studio still had what it took. They, and the new owner (anxious to show his good will towards the unions) picked a daring mystery/horror movie that was salacious enough to draw an audience but not prurient enough to annoy the censors to badly.

Several of the actors basically agreed to work for free, accepting future royalties rather than an upfront contract payment, and the movie was produced on a very tight budget. Because of the rushed timeline, filming took place in October, forcing the crew to glue artificial leaves and flowers on all of the apple trees (the story takes place in late April.)

Alas, it was for naught. By the time the movie was screened for the first time, the previous new owner had been forced to sell to a new new owner. His opinion was that it was one of the worst movies he had ever seen. Rather than saving the studio, it condemned it, and the plundering of assets began. "The Wicker Man" would be the last film they produced.

The movie was sent to the British censors' board, who recommended a number of cuts. A tape of that version was sent to Roger Corman in the US. He submitted it to the American censors who recommended further cuts. A second round of cuts in Britain led to the theatrical release, which received a lot of praise from critics and even a few awards. More than 30 years latter, the last 20 minutes or so of the movie is considered to be one of the creepiest scenes ever recorded to celluloid.

The extended release, which comes with the limited edition 2 DVD boxed set, is a reconstruction of the tape sent to Corman. It contains all of the theatrical release, slightly reordered, with the addition of 13 minutes of material from the video (it was early magnetic video tape and not in great condition.) The negative of the directors cut, along with the originals for many of Lion's Gate's earlier movies, were lost and are presumed destroyed.

Anyway, kilts are prominant in the movie, so this ramble is vaguely on-topic.