The Wicker Man: Difference between revisions

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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]].

* [[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.

* [[Batman Gambit]]

* [[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 {{spoiler|and fails, though Howie is literally trembling with desire.}}

* [[Dark Reprise]]: {{spoiler|Howie's reprise of the 23rd Psalm}} as counterpoint to the townsfolk's "Sumer is Icumen In" at the film's climax.

* [[Deadpan Snarker]]: Lord Summerisle quite often.

* [[Deliberate Values Dissonance]]: Lion's share of the movie's creepiness comprises of this.

* [[Doomed Moral Victor]]

** Milk a ''bull''? There's really only one way to take that.

* [[Downer Ending]]

* [[Enfant Terrible]]: {{spoiler|Rowan}}

* [[Evil Sounds Deep]]: [[Christopher Lee]] is in this movie.

* [[Faceless Goons]]: "Take those masks off!"

* [[Fake Nationality]]: None of the four leads are Scottish.

* [[Fan Service]]: Would you like to watch Britt Ekland [http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xfv73j_britt-ekland-naked-in-the-wicker-man_sexy dance naked?]

* [[A Fete Worse Than Death]]

* [[Foregone Conclusion]]: It's right there in the title.

* [[For the Evulz]]: The only possible explanation for Daisy's beetle-abuse.

* [[Horror Doesn't Settle for Simple Tuesday]]: May Day

* [[Human Sacrifice]]

* [["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 [[Affably Evil|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.

* [[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.

* [[Punctuated for Emphasis]]: "THEY. WILL. NOT. FAIL."

* [[The Radio Dies First]]

* [[Spiritual Successor]]: ''The Wicker Tree''

* [[Stout Strength]]: Oak. {{spoiler|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.

* [[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.

* [[The Vamp]]: {{spoiler|Willow}}

*** Except they couldn't. {{spoiler|One of the specifications for the sacrifice is that Howie come of his own free will.}}

**** Perhaps it means {{spoiler|Howie came to the island of his own free will.}}

* [[You're Insane!]] / [[Only Sane Man]]: "You're all raving mad!"

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* [[Creepy Twins]]: Though unusually for [[Creepy Twins]], they're really old ladies, not kids.

* [[Dream Within a Dream]]

* [[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 [[Ham and Cheese|knew how awful the film was and overacted on purpose.]]

* [[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.

{{quote| '''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 Nicholas Cage. ''(the audience chuckles)'' [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v{{=}}M39giPEjE6Y No, that's what Universal says. They're going to re-make the movie.]}}

* [[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. {{spoiler|Hell, he does it while wearing a ''bear costume''}}.