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This article was written by guest author Anthony Coe.

Release Date: September 1, 2006

The Wicker Man is a remake of the 1973 version written by Anthony Shaffer and directed by Robin Hardy. The 2006 version of Wicker Man is directed by Neil LaBute (The Shape of Things), staring Nicolas Cage (World Trade Center) reads like a bad dime store police novel at first. The clich©s are so predictable, you find yourself mouthing along at times. But not to worry, Nicolas Cage carries the movie through the rough patches.

Nicolas Cage plays Edward Malus, a California State Highway Officer who is having an average day patrolling his beat until he pulls over a mother and her young daughter to return a doll the girl dropped out of the rear window. After a brief lecture by Officer Malus the girl throws her doll back onto the highway. As Officer Malus is picking up the doll again a truck looses control and runs into the car trapping the mother and daughter inside. Officer Malus struggles in vain to save the young girl, who is the sole survivor, from the fiery wreck. The car explodes, killing the girl and blowing officer Malus onto the highway.

While on leave, recovering from the ordeal, a fellow officer (Kendall Cross, Snakes on the Plane) goes to Malus’ house to drop off get well soon cards from the police station. Mixed into the cards is a letter from Malus’ ex-fianc©e (Kate Beahan, Flight Plan), pleading for him to come to Summerisle, an isle commune of the coast of the State of Washington, to investigate the disappearance of her daughter Rowan Willow (Erika-Shaye Gair, The Secret). Against the advice of fellow officers Malus heads off for Summerisle to conduct a missing person’s investigation.

Throughout the movie Malus is haunted by waking nightmares of the death of the girl in the auto accident, soon they are replaced by nightmares of Rowan. After the first one or two you start to stop paying attention to them, and you almost miss the one that actually links back to the main plot.

Malus bribes his way onto Summerisle, which is a closed commune ran by the Matriarch Sister Summerisle (Ellen Burstyn, Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood). From the moment Malus steps off the plan he is met with suspicion and a community that is bent of hampering his investigation. Nicolas Cage’s ability to draw you into the character of Malus saves the movie a bit at this point. You find yourself trapped with Malus in a bad version of the Twilight Zone. The movie takes a series of non-directional twist and turns.

The ending of the movie is its saving grace, but it may be too little too late. Hardy ties the entire movie up in a neat bow at the end. The final twist and ending is unexpected for Hollywood. If you didn’t see the original Wicker Man, you won’t get why the original became such a cult classic. If you have seen the original, you may be a bit disappointed. The over all struggle between good and evil has been watered down in the remake. You never get the ideal that Malus’ faith is being tested in anyway. If you are a die-hard cult fan of the original, don’t waste your time, you will just scream throughout the showing and get ejected from the movies.

One final closing suggestion: Don’t waste your time trying to figure out who or what the Wicker Man is. Your time would be better spent trying to figure out whether or not the Boogieman actually lives under your child’s bed.

Final Grade: C-

The Upside: Nicolas Cage and the ending of this movie save it and make it a movie worth seeing.

The Downside: The pace of the movie makes you feel as if you are trapped in a cheap dime store novel.

On the Side: As homage Director LaBute place a missing poster of Edward Woodward in the police station. This was LaBute’s first attempt at directing a horror genre, he failed.