The Wicker Man

Neil LaBute’s infamous remake of The Wicker Man is one of the most iconic bad movies of the twenty-first century. What was intended as a modern retelling of a British folk-horror classic became an unintentionally funny, misguided production that found a second life in memes and ironic viewings. Although it was made in earnest, the choices throughout—from beating James Cameron’s Avatar series in its use of the Papyrus typeface to the unforgettably over-the-top performance by producer-star Nicolas Cage—register as amusingly incompetent. It would be easy to blame the writer-director for every baffling detail, but the remake was also clearly a victim of studio uncertainty and post-production tampering. The outcome is a perfect storm of one ill-conceived creative decision atop another, but with just the right amount of overall competence to make it watchable and even downright entertaining as unintentional camp. Regardless of who’s to blame for its failure to replicate the chilling effect of the 1973 original, the negative hype around The Wicker Man is somewhat overblown. Sure, it’s marred by LaBute’s arch discussion of polarized gender dynamics, bizarre decisions from the cast, and an unearned self-seriousness. But it deserves more consideration than mere dismissal.

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