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| |  | VHS | Home » » The Wicker Man (Widescreen Unrated/Rated Edition) | | | | | | | Description: | | Out patrolling a California highway, police officer Edward Malus (Nicolas Cage) stops a station wagon to return a little girl's lost doll. Moments later, a runaway truck slams into the station wagon, igniting it into a fiery wreck with the mother and child trapped inside. Edward fails to save them before the car explodes...and then spends months of his life choking down pills to get the image of their faces out of his head. But Edward is about to get a second chance. A desperate letter from his former girlfriend, Willow (Kate Beahan), arrives at his home with no postmark. Willow came into his life and left just as unexpectedly years before. But now, her daughter Rowan has gone missing, and Edward is theonly person she trusts to help locate her. She asks him to come to her home on a private island - Summersisle - a place with its own traditions where people observe a forgotten way of life. Edward seizes the opportunity to make his life right again, and soon finds himself on a seaplane bound for the islands of the Pacific Northwest. But nothing is what it seems on isolated Summersisle, where a culture, dominated by its matriarch Sister Summersisle (Ellen Burstyn), is bound together by arcane traditions and a pagan festival called "the Day of Death and Rebirth." The secretive people of Summersisle only ridicule his investigation, insisting that a child named Rowan never existed there... or if she ever did was no longer alive. But what Edward doesn't know is that Willow's plea for help has invited more into his life than a chance for redemption. In unraveling Summersisle's closely held secrets, Edward is drawn into a web of ancient traditions and murderous deceit, and each step he takes closer to the lost child brings him one step closer to the unspeakable. And one step closer to the Wicker Man. | | | Features: | |
• Out patrolling a California highway, police officer Edward Malus (Nicolas Cage) stops a station wagon to return a little girl's lost doll. Moments later, a runaway truck slams into the station wagon, igniting it into a fiery wreck with the mother and child trapped inside. Edward fails to save them before the car explodes.and then spends months of his life choking down pills to get the image of th
| | | Product Details: | | | Actors:
| Nicolas Cage, Ellen Burstyn, Molly Parker, Leelee Sobieski | | Director:
| Neil Labute | | Format:
| AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen | | Language:
| English | | Subtitle:
| English, Spanish, French | | Number of Discs:
| 1 | | Studio:
| Warner Home Video | | Run Time:
| 102 minutes | | DVD Release Date:
| December 19, 2006 | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 255 reviews |
| | | | Used and New: | | | |
| | | | Customer Reviews: | |
Average Customer Review:
 ( 255 customer reviews )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
111 of 123 found the following review helpful:
 Bad Film Fans--This Is the One You've Been Waiting For!Oct 20, 2006
By Rascal Fan
"Rascal Fan"
Oh this film is so very, very bad--totally delicious! You've read the plot line in previous reviews, so my review is more about the essence of the movie. I saw this in a packed cinema--never has one movie given a group of people such unexpected surges of pleasurable hilarity. Everything was fine until Nicolas/Edward almost drowns and then snaps out of his trance to find a dead girl on his lap--the audience couldn't control itself from this point on--the guy in front of me was laughing so hard I thought he'd pass out. I mean, up until now, we only had Exorcist II and Plan 9 From Outer Space to enjoy bad movie-wise--but Wicker Man 2006--thank you Nicolas! Thank you Neil LaBute! The "Bike Scene" the "Rowan and Edward the Bear in the Woods Scene" the "Schoolroom Scene" the "Killing Me Won't Bring Back Your God**** Honey Scene" are all moments to treasure--I can't remember when I've seen such an excellent very bad movie--it makes stuff like Aeon Flux looks like Fellini...my dreams would come true if "Wicker Man II--the Sequel" with Nicolas Cage was announced! Nicolas Cage is at his very best--see him stare...see him punch/slap/kick many of the movie's actresses..see him wear a bear suit...see him come up from underwater with lots of hair dye running down his neck...see him shout out fabulous lines like "Step away from the bike!!!" and "Owww!!! My legs!!!" See him rant and rave and carry on like a maniac. Connoisseurs of really bad movies must see this--you'll totally love it!
16 of 16 found the following review helpful:
The Wicker Man - 2006 vs. 1973 - No ContestMay 08, 2007
By Geoffrey Kragen
I don't write reviews very often because while I'm a movie buff, I don't usually take the time to pontificate. But having seen the 2006 version of Wicker Man on DVD, I feel the need to make a few observations.
First, on the positive side: certainly the production values of the new version are far superior to the original. It is an extremely well-crafted motion picture. The exterior shots were especially beautiful and made me want to revisit British Columbia.
At the end of the film, Ellen Burstyn's makeup and costume were a lot more convincing than Christopher Lee's getup in the original version! Even back when I first saw it in the theatre, Lee just didn't quite seem believable.
Having said this, I have serious problems with the remake. First, one of the things that made the original such an interesting film was the use of Celtic folk music. (The film takes place on Summerville Isle off the coast of Britain.) While the lyrics certainly qualify as bawdy, they are entirely appropriate to the setting of the story. The total absence of this and the orchestral score in the current version diminished both the intensity and the message of the film.
The real problem however is found in the dialog where Sister Summersisle tells Edward Malus he is to be a martyr. The dictionary describes a martyr as a person who is killed because of his or her religious or other beliefs. But as far as we know, Malus doesn't really have any religious convictions. He may be a sacrifice, but he's no martyr.
This brings us to the thrust of the original picture. The message was the battle between British forms of Christianity and Paganism. Both are done a serious disservice by the current version. In the original version, Sergeant Howie (Edward Woodward) is a passionately devoted conservative Christian. Lord Summerisle (Christopher Lee) is an equally committed pagan.
As in the current version, the police officer is tricked into coming to the island for the purpose of being sacrificed because the crops have failed. He is chosen because of his very commitment to his faith and the fact that, due to this commitment, he remains a virgin. (And yes, I know, no matter how good an actor Cage is, nobody would believe he has remained sexually pure.) So Howie as a believer represents the perfect fool for these pagans and therefore the perfect sacrifice and martyr. Sergeant Howie, unlike Malus, actually dies for a reason. Malus just dies. And while Malus has no answers for Sister Summersisle, Howie certainly has them for Lord Summerisle. As Howie dies for his faith, he warns Summerisle that the next time the crop fails, it will be Lord Summerisle himself burning inside the Wicker Man.
The 1973 version ends with a man of honor dying for his faith and the warning that it is only a matter of time before the meaninglessness of the sacrifice will become apparent. In the `06 revised version's ending, we are left with a dead man and nothing more.
If you have only seen the current version of Wicker Man, I strongly suggest you view the original. If you ignore the picture's dated aspects, you will find a film with great depth which presents a highly compelling and far more accurate picture of people of faith, be they Christian or pagan.
23 of 25 found the following review helpful:
 The Horror! The Horror!Oct 13, 2007
By Scott T. Rivers
In cynical fashion, the major studios churn out needless remakes aimed at young moviegoers who lack imagination to track down the originals. The latest casualty is "The Wicker Man" - writer-director Neil LaBute's desecration of the 1973 British horror favorite. Like most contemporary remakes, it has been justly ignored. Hollywood's creative bankruptcy never ceases to astonish me.
19 of 21 found the following review helpful:
Burn, burn!Dec 25, 2006
By E. A Solinas
"ea_solinas"
The star of the original "Wicker Man," Christopher Lee, said it best: "What do I think of it? Nothing. There's nothing to say."
And indeed there is little to say about this flaccid, nonsensical remake of the classic cult horror movie. Little that's positive, anyway -- the movie stumbles around blindly, trying to give itself atmosphere with hokey tricks and silly-looking cinematography. Put simply, "The Wicker Man" is a big, weird mess.
Cop Edward Malus (Nicholas Cage) is recuperating from a traumatic incident, which means he's not on top form when his ex-fiance Willow (Kate Beahan) gets in touch with him. Her child Rowan has vanished, and she wants Malus' help. And so he travels to a remote northern island, ruled by the matriarch Sister Summerisle (Ellen Burstyn).
It seems that the people there are some kind of bizarre neopagan tribe, and the women all hate Malus. The few men there are basically second-class citizens. And as Malus comes closer to finding the little girl who may be his daughter, he discovers a horrifying secret -- which is waiting for him.
Remaking anything is a tricky business, and "The Wicker Man" takes the worst possible approach -- it tries to bluster through. It has a lot to bluster about, because there's no suspense, no atmosphere, and no horror -- only a lame and unsuspenseful mystery, and a bad acid-trip finale, with lots of people in animal costumes.
To make matters worse worse, it feels like it was scripted by several different people who never bothered to consult each other. Allusions -- like Malus' tape -- are dropped. The emotional appeal is trite. The metaphors and symbolism are appallingly blatant, until you feel that Cage's character must be the biggest idiot on the Pacific coast if he hasn't clued in yet.
Director Neil LaBute obviously has no idea how to bring this celluloid Frankenstein's monster to life. So he dresses Cage in a furry costume and saddles the incoherent script with weird bee analogies and absurd dialogue ("Killing me won't bring back your g*dd*mn honey!"), apparently hoping that it will overcome the flimsy plot.
Even worse, sometimes it gets unintentionally campy or funny, when it's actually being deadly serious. The most unintentionally funny moment of the movie comes when Burstyn dramatically says, "Prepare the drone!" near the climax. You'll be rolling off your seat.
Cage himself comes across as confused and over-the-top ("How'd it get burnt?" repeated over and over), and it's hard to care whether his character lives or dies. Burstyn does as well as can be expected, given that her matriarch is a pale shadow of Christopher Lee, and a pretty silly one at that. The other actors just sleepwalk through.
Remakes are bad enough, but remakes of cult classics are simply unforgivable. It's not hard to see why this disjointed dud was a box-office disaster.
(Merry Christmas to all!)
72 of 89 found the following review helpful:
Unbelievably, spectacularly bad. You have to see for yourself.Sep 01, 2006
By K. Hinton
"avid reader"
Nicholas Cage stars as Edward Malus, a California police officer who goes on a leave of absence after witnessing a tragedy on the job. Taking pills to soothe the effects of his post-traumatic stress disorder, Edward is in a weak place when he receives a letter from his ex-fiance, Willow, requesting his assistance in finding her missing child. She bids him come to Summerisle, a small island off the coast of Puget Sound, and help her find her daughter, Rowan.
When Edward first arrives it's clear that Summerisle isn't like other places. Quite frankly, it's the land that time forgot. The women dress like pioneers and the men--well... there don't appear to be many men around. When Edward starts investigating Rowan's disappearance, he hears a different story depending on who he speaks to. Rowan is either: not even Willow's daughter, nonexistent, dead, or soon to die. Refusing to give up, Edward delves deeper into this strange community shrouded in mystery, secrecy, and deception.
The Wicker Man is not for those who can't tolerate trash, as is pretty obvious from the other reviews. I, however, revel in how far a movie can go in its efforts to be different. And different is putting it mildly where The Wicker Man is concerned. Also, for those who can't stand needless violence, at least three women were punched in the face over the course of this movie. Furthermore, there is a scene toward the end when everyone in the village is dressed in animal costumes that made me think I might have stumbled upon an acid trip gone wrong. You've been warned.
It's difficult to put into words how spectacularly bad this film is. I honestly think you should see for yourself. Not for full price, mind you, but at a matinee or second-run theater. It's worth it for the experience of wondering if you could actually be watching something so completely out of touch with reality.
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