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YMMV / The Wicker Man (2006)

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  • Alternate Aesop Interpretation: Neil LaBute claims that he was trying to show what patriarchal power dynamics would be like if the genders were reversed. Most viewers get the exact opposite vibe from the movie, thinking it's anti-feminist to absurd degrees — his intended message likely falls flat from the men having their tongues cut out in adulthood, and the ritualistic sacrifice, which are hardly present in your average patriarchal-society.
  • Alternative Character Interpretation: One fan-made trailer states that The Wicker Man was actually a Stealth Parody.
  • Anvilicious: Either way you take the film's supposed moral (see above), it still comes across as this.
  • Audience-Alienating Premise: The two biggest problems with the remake are that it's not scary and that both the protagonist and the antagonists are nonsensical jerks. Every scare in the movie is pretty much telegraphed and it's part of a larger Cliché Storm, from fakeouts to figures running in the foreground with a silly "spooky" noise and then everything with the seemingly creepy women that veer straight into Narm. Forgetting the fact that the horror movie is not scary, there's the main cast. Malus is a jackass with barely two brain cells to rub together. He fumbles every single aspect of the search for his daughter and ends up easily sacrificed at the end given that he did pretty much everything wrong. Well, maybe we're meant to cheer for the inhabitants of Summer's Isle? Nope. They're basically a Straw Feminist organization who erroneously thinks that sacrificing a man they lied to and lured to the island after impregnating one of their inhabitants will make them prosperous, which is foolhardy at best and evil at worst, so you're not rooting for them either. Honestly, the best case scenario for anyone enjoying the film is a full on Bile Fascination viewing.
  • Awesome Music: Longtime David Lynch collaborator Angelo Badalamenti provides a creepy, haunting, and beautiful score that's far better than the film deserves (though albeit, at times also silly-bombastic as "befitting" the movie). Here’s a sample.
  • Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: Wait, wait, wait. Summersisle has a website? Malus couldn't get cell reception!
  • Crosses the Line Twice: Violence against women has never been so unintentionally hilarious.
  • Discredited Meme: The "Not the Bees!" scene has been overused so much over the years that some have gotten sick, tired and annoyed by it, and don't get what makes this scene stand out more than most of the other scenes.
  • Ham and Cheese: Nicolas Cage's acting is as over-the-top as ever, but when interviewed he seemed annoyed that it was assumed the film wasn't meant to be ridiculous. He maintains that the over-the-topness was intentional.
  • Memetic Mutation: The movie's infamous reputation made it a Fountain of Memes:
    • NOT THE BEES!!! Explanation
    • How'd it get burned? How'd it get burned!? HOW'D IT GET BURNED HOWDITGETBUUURNED!!?? Explanation
  • Narm: So very much:
    • The way Malus goes around punching and kung-fu kicking all the cultists during the finale, especially the bit where he silently walks up to the innkeeper before randomly punching her in the face.
    • Never has a little girl getting hit by a truck looked so hilarious. The fact they use it continuously doesn't help.
    • Cage running up to a woman in a bear costume and punching her square in the face.
  • Never Live It Down: Due to the clip often being shown without any context, Edward's knocking out Sister Beech is usually presented as Exhibit A that he's a He-Man Woman Hater who spends the story going around beating women senseless. He actually knocks her out so that he can take her bear costume as a disguise, though even with the necessary context it can still take a leap in logic to realize this, thanks to Sister Honey attacking him in the middle of the scene.
  • Nightmare Fuel:
    • Despite the Narmy performance of Nicolas Cage, getting a mask filled with angry bees stinging your face is a horrifying thought, especially if you're allergic to bees like Cage's character.
    • Edward is left screaming in agony and horror as he burns alive in the wicker man. Seriously, the long scream he lets out before the cut to the cultists enjoying the sight will stay with you for a while after. Said scream makes a repeat appearance in the theatrical ending, as Sister Honey asks if one of the two cops will take her home with them, along with bees buzzing, underscoring that the whole cycle will happen again.
  • Nightmare Retardant:
    • Most of the cult outfits during the climax are pretty ridiculous. It's hard to be taken seriously or be frightening when you're dressed in a bee costume that looks straight out of a school play, and the face paint that the cult leader is wearing looks more like something out of Braveheart.
    • This film's wicker man structure looks too much like an Art Deco version of a forest ranger's lookout tower.
  • Signature Scene:
  • So Bad, It's Good: As a horror film, this remake cannot hold a candle to the 1973 original, but Nicolas Cage's often Narm-filled, over-the-top performance, the many Nightmare Retardant "scares", and some just plain weird moments, arguably makes it a pretty entertaining experience if viewed as a surreal comedy.
  • Special Effect Failure: In Cage's famous dying rant ("No! NOT THE BEES"), he screams twice that the bees are, "IN MY EYES!" We can clearly see that they're not. That, and they decided they wanted to be his beard for the night.
  • They Changed It, Now It Sucks!: The original movie was a musical, of all things. Fans of the original were not happy to see that the remake omitted that element, despite the fact it's what made the original so unique. And the fact that Neil LaBute, the remake's director, was smug enough to tell fans that he doesn't want them to watch his remake if they liked the original film's soundtrack really didn't help.
  • They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: Moving the original movie's events to an American setting is actually an intriguing concept, but placing the story in The Other Rainforest when it's better suited for Lovecraft Country or a Southern Gothic setting was the remake's first misstep. In fact, Thomas Tryon's novel Harvest Home had already showed that New England could work as a setting for Neo-Pagan themed Folk Horror.
  • Too Bleak, Stopped Caring: Big time. Malus is an ignorant jerk who only comes to the island to find his kid. He has no personality of which to speak and he demonstrates that he is a terrible cop, so while it is horrifying to either be burned alive at the stake or stung to death by dozens of bees, it's extremely hard to care about him. His ex is in on the whole thing, so you're not rooting for her, and you're definitely not rooting for the hastily written, often confusing Straw Feminist cult either.
  • Watch It for the Meme: Perhaps the only reason the film has any fans today. Curious viewers are advised to avoid the theatrical cut, specifically because it omits the classic "NOT THE BEES!!" showstopper.

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