The Wicker Man

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Your time will come, your time will come...

Two films. There are tropes for both on this page. Robin Hardy's original film was made in 1973 with Christopher Lee as Lord Summerisle. It's a sort of suspense/horror/folk musical. Neil LaBute remade it in 2006 with Nicolas Cage.

To sum it up it in the nicest terms possible: The original is generally considered to be an influential Cult Classic within the horror film genre, and the remake is mostly viewed as inferior, and is probably better remembered for its moments of unintentional funniness than for being scary.

The basic plot of both films: A detective goes to an island full of pagan cultists in the days before the May Day harvest festival, searching a disappeared young woman, and because of his personal beliefs he increasingly antagonizes with said community in general and with its leader in particular. However, the more the protagonist investigates the more evident it is that the case he is investigating is shaky at best, and that the community has some disturbing intentions of their own towards him...

The Original Film Provides Examples Of:

• Affably Evil: Lord Summerisle. Possibly subverted. It's never clear whether Summerisle believes the religion of his island, or is just playing along to keep his subjects in line. If the former, he may genuinely believe the sacrifice is necessary for the harvest.
  • And he tries to sooth his intended sacrifice:

Howie: I am a Christian. And as a Christian I hope for resurrection. And even as if you kill me now, It is I who will live again, not your damned apples! [The Villagers prepare him for sacrifice] No matter what you do, you can't change the fact that I believe in Life Eternal, as promised to us by our Lord Jesus Christ. I BELIEVE IN THE LIFE ETERNAL AS PROMISED BY OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST! Lord Summerisle: That is good. For believing what you do, we confirm on you a rare gift these days: A martyr's death. You will not only have life eternal, but you will sit with the saints among the elect. Come, it is time to keep your appointment with The Wicker Man.

• Anti-Hero: A very interesting take on it, too.
• Aristocrats Are Evil: Lord Summerisle again.
• Audio Erotica: Howie can only hear Willow's song, not see her, but he's still tempted. Magic may be involved.
• The Bad Guy Wins: Though thanks to Howie's final speech, only till the apple harvest fails again. If you look at it that way, (see Taking You with Me further down) you could arguably say that Howie was the real winner.
• Batman Gambit
• Better by a Different Name: Because of Christopher Lee, Ingrid Pitt and Willow some like to name this "The greatest Hammer Horror that wasn't made by the Hammer Studio.
• Bonnie Scotland
• But I Would Really Enjoy It: Howie doesn't believe in sex before marriage, and is therefore still a virgin in middle age. Willow does her best to seduce him and fails, though Howie is literally trembling with desire.
• Celibate Hero
• Comically Missing the Point: Lord Summerisle.

Howie: But they are... are naked! Summerisle: Naturally, it's far too dangerous to jump through fire with your clothes on!

• Corrupt Church: "Since it is no longer used for Christian worship, whether it is still a church is debatable."
• Corrupt Hick
• Creepy Child: All of them, really, but Daisy Pringle in particular.
• Cult
• Dark Reprise: Howie's reprise of the 23rd Psalm as counterpoint to the townsfolk's "Sumer is Icumen In" at the film's climax.
• Daylight Horror: Many of the events in the movie take place during the day, with the climax happening at dusk. It lets the audience admire the Scenery Porn and also makes the bizarre behavior of the townspeople even more unsettling.
• Deadpan Snarker: Lord Summerisle quite often.
• Death by Sex: Inverted, the pious virgin is killed, and losing his virginity just might have made him an unacceptable sacrifice.
• Deliberate Values Dissonance: Lion's share of the movie's creepiness comprises of this.
• Doomed Moral Victor
• Double Entendre: The song Willow sings to seduce Howie is almost nothing but these.

How a maid can milk a bull!.... And every stroke a bucket full."

• • Milk a bull? There's really only one way to take that.
• Downer Ending
• The Dragon: Oak.
• Dressing as the Enemy Gets him killed.
• Enfant Terrible: Rowan.
• Evil Sounds Deep: Christopher Lee is in this movie.
• Face Death with Dignity: Rather hammily averted at first by Howie ("OH MY GOOOOOD!") but once the fire is actually lit, played straight, as Howie accepts his death and prays for his soul to go to Heaven.
• Faceless Goons: "Take those masks off!"
• Fan Service: Would you like to watch Britt Ekland dance naked?
• A Fete Worse Than Death
• Filk Song: Bruce Dickinson's "Wicker Man" (the one he co-wrote after rejoining Iron Maiden - quoted in the caption above - less so).
• Foregone Conclusion: It's right there in the title.
• For the Evulz: The only possible explanation for Daisy's beetle-abuse.
• Genre Busting: Is it a crime movie? A horror movie? A mystery? You can even argue that it's a Musical, if you're so inclined... Or an excuse (albeit a good one) for Fanservice. Especially the Director's cut.
• Holier Than Thou / Real Men Love Jesus: Sgt. Howie's behavior is, depending on interpretation, either that of a sanctimonious prude or that of a deeply honorable and upright officer motivated by his faith. Or both.
• Horror Doesn't Settle for Simple Tuesday: May Day.
• Human Sacrifice
• Intercourse with You: Heyyy, hoooo, who is there?...
• "I Want" Song: Most of the songs, except the hero's song, which is the 23rd Psalm, starting "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want."
• Jerkass: Lord Summerisle, the island inhabitants, and some of Howie's co-workers from the original version's beginning. Despite his affability, Lord Summerisle probably reigns supreme in this category; as the co-workers are minor, the inhabitants genuinely devout, and Howie at least genuinely wants to do the right thing. Summerisle has no real excuse.
• Looping Lines: Britt Ekland could never master a Scots accent, so they just dubbed over her, and they did a very good job of it.
  • Actually, at least according to Christopher Lee and Robin Hardy on the commentary, this is a myth. Britt Ekland was dubbed over in her song, "since she was the first to admit she couldn't sing", but she did all of her own speaking in the movie.
• A Man Is Not a Virgin: Subverted (in the original, but not the remake), using the audiences' expectations against them.
• No Except Yes: "Now you can wrap it up any way you like, but you are about to commit murder."
• Nothing Is Scarier: There are no real "scares" to speak of, no monsters...the town and its inhabitants are just really, really creepy.
• Nude Nature Dance: Towards the middle, Christopher Lee sees a group of young women dancing around a fire, nude.
• Oh Crap: This is one of the few films where the main character can shout "Oh Jesus Christ!" and have it come across as a true, in-character Oh Crap moment.
• Peek-a-Boo Corpse: But it's in a coffin.
• Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: "THEY. WILL. NOT. FAIL."
• The Radio Dies First
• Religious Horror
• Scenery Porn
• The Scream: "NO! For the love of God, THINK WHAT YOU'RE DOING!"
• Sex Is Evil: Well, on Summerisle it is.
• Shown Their Work
• Smug Snake: MacGregor the innkeeper. What a loathsome creature he is.
• Soundtrack Dissonance
• Spiritual Successor: The Wicker Tree
• Stout Strength: Oak. Howie may look more fit, but he doesn't have a chance. The rest of the crowd can just stand around and watch. Hinted at early on in the inn, when we see Oak carrying a grown man around on his shoulders for fun.
• Taking You with Me: Howie points out that if his sacrifice doesn't bring back the crops, only Lord Summerisle will be a suitable sacrifice next year. Summerisle's reaction shows that it briefly hits home before he declares that the crops won't fail; even if he doesn't believe in the island's gods, the rest of the island certainly does!
• Tap on the Head: When Howie knocks out MacGregor to steal his Punch costume.
• Theme Naming: All the townsfolk are named for trees or plants. May Morrison, gets a doubly symbolic name, with May not only being a plant (another name for hawthorn), but also a month of fertility.
• Town with a Dark Secret
• The Vamp: Willow.
• Viewers Are Of At Least Average Intelligence: Argued by Christopher Lee in the DVD Commentary, very shortly before the remake was announced.

Christopher Lee: This attitude that "people wouldn't understand" is far too prevalent in cinema today. People should be able to use what's left of their minds when they watch something.

• Villainous Crossdresser: Lord Summerisle dresses as a woman for the May Day parade.
• Virgin Sacrifice
• Xanatos Roulette: Summerisle's plan to trick Sgt. Howie into staying until May Day without disrupting preparations, having him knock out the innkeeper, putting on his costume, following the parade to the designated spot and fleeing through the cave depends on Howie acting just as planned a little bit too much.
  • Well, alternately, they could have just as well abducted him from his room. Not that spectacular, but... yeah, it would work. Howie might just have made it all the much easier for them by coming to them instead.
    • Except they couldn't. One of the specifications for the sacrifice is that Howie come of his own free will.
      • Perhaps it means Howie came to the island of his own free will.
• X Meets Y: The White People meets The Lottery
• You're Insane! / Only Sane Man: "You're all raving mad!"

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The Remake Provides Examples Of:

• The Bechdel Test: Shockingly, it fails. It passes the reverse Bechdel Test though, which is actually impressive seeing how it contains a grand total of two male characters with lines.
• Bee-Bee Gun
• Chekhov's Gun: Edward is allergic to bees. He is going to an island famed for its honey.
• Chewing the Scenery: Nicolas Cage, all the time.
• Creepy Twins: Though unusually for Creepy Twins, they're really old ladies, not kids.
• Dream Within a Dream
• Everything's Worse with Bears: The infamous bear suit Cage dons in a scene.
• Everything's Worse with Bees: NOT THE BEES!!!
• Gender Flip: Lord Summerisle was rewritten as Sister Summerisle
• In Name Only: Robin Hardy's attitude toward the remake.
• Lady Land: The island.
• Large Ham: Nicolas Cage. One can easily suspect he knew how awful the film was and overacted on purpose.
• Makes Just as Much Sense in Context: Even knowing how all the Memetic Mutation stuff fits into the narrative doesn't make it any more logical or understandable.
• A Man Is Not a Virgin Played straight: the virgin aspect was removed due to LaBute considering the notion of Cage playing a virgin ridiculous. They gave his character an allergy to bees instead. Not quite the same.
• Milkman Conspiracy
• My God, You Are Serious: Christopher Lee, who played Lord Sumerisle in the original, got this reaction when he mentioned the remake at a press conference.

Christopher Lee: I was very happy to be in it; it was a remarkable film. Occult film, with followings all over the world. They're talking about re-making it in America with Nicolas Cage. (the audience chuckles) No, that's what Universal says. They're going to re-make the movie.

• Riff Trax: It makes the movie watchable.
• Straw Feminist: The cult.
• Wouldn't Hit a Girl: Averted to hilarious effect; Cage's character seems to do nothing but assault women. That said, the very first woman he socks is the incredibly mannish Sister Beech. Hell, he does it while wearing a bear costume.
• Would Hit a Girl: Sending elderly ladies flying into walls with karate-side kicks, in fact. Cage's character punches one woman while wearing a suit and tie, punches another while wearing a bear costume, kicks Leelee Sobieski, and bikejacks another woman at gunpoint. Which has all been condensed here. To said character's defense, he thinks they're all conspiring to burn a little girl alive. That's what they want him to think.
• Xanatos Roulette: Even more so than in the original, especially considering the script changed the cult's reasoning for bringing Edward to the island.