Re: Remake of The Wicker Man in the works (BEWARE SERIOUS SPOILER IN LINK!)
Quote:
Originally Posted by James D S
Regarding Woodward's Howie:
Spoiler:
I thought the message of the movie works just as well as an admiration and an approval for Howie's values. Afterall, it's only through his virtue that the people of Somerset Isle can redeem themselves. They value Howie for his moral center and righetousness and his sacrifice is about as Christ-like as you can get in a horror movie.
They believe it's HIS character that can save their wayward community.
Spoiler:
That's an interesting take on it. I do think it's a rather ambiguous story that doesn't have a clear "favorite" for the audience. Howie is an overbearing jerk, but, I dunno, I'm not sure he deserved to be BURNED ALIVE~ for it (and my wife was less concerned for him than for all the animals stuffed in the wicker man with him ). And the islanders, for all their happy free-lovin' ways, do seem rather twisted to me in the end. Maybe I'm as intolerant as Howie but I have trouble with human sacrifice as a solution to problems
Re: Remake of The Wicker Man in the works (BEWARE SERIOUS SPOILER IN LINK!)
Spoiler:
I don't see Howie as an overbearing jerk as much as an fairly self-righteously religious hyper conservative (not something that I generally take a shine to) cop who is horrified by the juxtaposed extreme paganistic/free life style he encounters....but stick up his ass or not his goal in the end is to try and save the life of a little girl and for that I can't find true fault in the man, he may have been a bit of a prude but in the end he was trying to do the right thing...and got burned alive for it.
Re: Remake of The Wicker Man in the works (BEWARE SERIOUS SPOILER IN LINK!)
Well, I'm glad they made the remake if for no other reason than it spurred me to finally get out and rent the original.
Going into this, literally the only thing I knew about it was that there was a big twist. Not wanting to be spoiled by the promotion for the remake I knew I had to see the original while there was still time.
I'm glad I did. What a unique movie, with an obvious ending that I completely and utterly missed. Like any great mystery, all of the pieces slide perfectly into place.
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Originally Posted by Seth--L
It's really hard to imagine the atmosphere of the original being reproduced, which is what made the movie work. I imagine that everything in the American version will be big and played up.
From the trailer this seems to be exactly what happened. Watching it immediately after finishing the original. Almost all of the scenes have a 1-for-1 match with the original. The difference is in the details... the island in the original is obviously a real place and nothing is artifically enhanced; it doesn't have to be. The set design in the remake is too obviously designed. Just look at the roll call book, an inexplicably thick volume with spidery crawl. To me, there was something more unnerving about the regular old roll sheet in the original. The mundane aspect was what made it so chilling.
Here's the real question: I just watched the extended version, with all of the musical interludes spliced back in. Will the remake's score play out on screen like the original did? There was a definitive whole about the original, something that will be irrevokably lost with the Hollywood stock characters.
The other thing is the island itself:
Spoiler:
It makes no sense that these people would commit themselves to such a radical shift in society for such a cold dreary scary place. The original looked like a tropical paradise in the barren north, and it had to; that's the only thing that made the villagers' huge believe system shift plausible.
Re: Remake of The Wicker Man in the works (BEWARE SERIOUS SPOILER IN LINK!)
Adam, I was wondering that myself,
Spoiler:
the original's folk score was an amazingly creepy juxtaposition to the actual nature of the island's people....very earthy indeed....too earthy once you scratch the surface.
The new film will have a standard horror/thriller score I'm sure.....and from the trailers it also seems to have thrown in the standard "creepy girl" cliche that has been culled from so many asian horror films of the last eight years or so.... ...oh, how original.
Yes, yes, I know I am judging before I have seen the final product but I doubt I am far off the mark on this one....and if I am wrong then I'll own up to it....but I seriously doubt I will have to.
Re: Remake of The Wicker Man in the works (BEWARE SERIOUS SPOILER IN LINK!)
Quote:
Originally Posted by James D S
Regarding Woodward's Howie:
Spoiler:
I thought the message of the movie works just as well as an admiration and an approval for Howie's values. Afterall, it's only through his virtue that the people of Somerset Isle can redeem themselves. They value Howie for his moral center and righetousness and his sacrifice is about as Christ-like as you can get in a horror movie.
They believe it's HIS character that can save their wayward community.
Spoiler:
The major source for the movie was The Golden Bough, James Frazer's study of comparative religion. Although most of the freely available texts are from the abridged 1922 edition, earlier editions allegedly included material that would imply that, for all its professed novelty, the rites and rituals of Christianity are suspiciously similar to pagan rites. As I have read only bits and pieces of the abridged, and none of the unabridged, I can't comment further.
Last edited by JeremyErwin : 06-10-2006 at 02:29 AM.
Re: Remake of The Wicker Man in the works (BEWARE SERIOUS SPOILER IN LINK!)
Quote:
I just watched the extended version, with all of the musical interludes spliced back in. Will the remake's score play out on screen like the original did?
Don't count on it. I've read that the butcher behind this remake, Neil LaBute, hated the songs in the original and won't be using them.
Here's an article on this nonsense (contains spoilers for the one and only true The Wicker Man):
In the original, Woodward's character was a virgin, making him ideal for sacrifice. That element has been ditched from the remake, because it was thought that while audiences would accept the idea of an American community that practised human sacrifice, the idea of a grown-up virgin was just too farfetched.
Instead, Cage's character has acquired a serious allergy to bees and travels with a bee-sting kit, as well as rosary beads and self-help tapes.
One of the most laughably pathetic things I've ever heard.
Re: Remake of The Wicker Man in the works (BEWARE SERIOUS SPOILER IN LINK!)
Quote:
Instead, Cage's character has acquired a serious allergy to bees and travels with a bee-sting kit, as well as rosary beads and self-help tapes.
......um...what? I assume the comparative/dueling religious allegories (and the extremes that both sides go in their beliefs) will be reduced in importance as well? What the hell is the point of remaking the film then....in fact
Spoiler:
if the whole paganistic virgin sacrifice twist ending is dropped...WHAT THE HELL IS THE POINT IN MAKING THIS AT ALL?!?! Friggin pointless IMO.
Re: Remake of The Wicker Man in the works (BEWARE SERIOUS SPOILER IN LINK!)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Justin_S
Don't count on it. I've read that the butcher behind this remake, Neil LaBute, hated the songs in the original and won't be using them.
Sacrilege!
If I don't get some On-the-rigs-with-Annie-type action, I'm going to be very disappointed. Because corn rigs are bonnie and I want LaBute to acknowledge that fact.
Last edited by James D S : 06-09-2006 at 09:55 AM.
). And the islanders, for all their happy free-lovin' ways, do seem rather twisted to me in the end. Maybe I'm as intolerant as Howie but I have trouble with human sacrifice as a solution to problems 
...oh, how original.
