Charmed by the residents of Tressock, Scotland, two young missionaries accept the invitation to participate in a local festival, fully unaware of the consequences of their decision.Charmed by the residents of Tressock, Scotland, two young missionaries accept the invitation to participate in a local festival, fully unaware of the consequences of their decision.Charmed by the residents of Tressock, Scotland, two young missionaries accept the invitation to participate in a local festival, fully unaware of the consequences of their decision.
- Danny
- (as John Paul McGilvray)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaRobin Hardy had originally written the part of Sir Lachlan Morrison for Sir Christopher Lee. However, while filming The Resident (2011), Lee injured his back after tripping over power cables on set. Although extremely disappointed, Hardy cast the actor who was originally playing Beame, Graham McTavish in Lee's role, with actor Clive Russell taking over the part of Beame. Still wanting to include Lee, Hardy quickly wrote a cameo role for him. He appeared as Sir Lachlan's mentor in a flashback.
- GoofsWhen Steve is laying in bed his shorts are white with red and blue plaid pattern. When we see him through the eyes of the raven, they are dark blue overall, and after the raven leaves they are back to the red, blue and white plaid shorts.
- Quotes
[last lines]
Old Gentleman: But can fate be altered? This is a question that every religion has tried to answer, and the answer is almost certainly no. But we keep trying...
Old Gentleman: Poor wee laddie... catching him is a game of chance!
- ConnectionsFeatured in Diminishing Returns: May Day Special(?): The Wicker Man (2021)
- SoundtracksFollow Me
Lyrics by Malcolm Dudley Hillier
Music by John Scott
Arranged by John Scott
Performed by Brittania Nicol and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Produced by John Scott
Courtesy of JOS Records
Lee was pencilled in to star in this movie but unfortunately health problems excluded him from doing so, his appearance is stripped down to a very incidental flashback scene, yet his name still rides high in the opening credits. This is only the first disappointment that you will experience when it comes to The Wicker Tree.
It is essential to be fair and state that it is far from the worst horror movie you will see this year, as it has a certain amount of redeeming features. The problem is the unfortunate fact that it will always have to stand comparison to the original, a movie which has cemented itself as an indisputable classic.
One of the primary difficulties which The Wicker Tree stumbles to overcome is the overall tone of the movie. It can't seem to decide whether it's a knowing and acerbic in-joke, a serious thriller or a humorous homage to its predecessor. This is one of the main reasons that it fails to have any definite resonance with the viewer, although it doesn't make it difficult to watch. There are some beautifully composed shots of the unforgiving Scottish countryside and a particularly handsome raven, but there's so little going on under the surface that it quickly becomes the equivalent of a rushed meal at a fast food restaurant, complete with the subsequent guilt, nausea and comedown.
The American leads are satisfactory in that all they have to do is play vacuous Evangelist Christians, sent over on a mission to the remote Scottish village. The villagers are played for comic relief rather than any form or actual menace and so the inevitable 'scene' that we're all waiting for the entire movie is played out like a community centre theatrical production of The Wicker Man, only with a slightly bigger budget and more actors.
If you're a Hardy obsessive, by all means give it a shot. If you're unfamiliar with the movie's origins, you'll probably get a few laughs out of it, but that's hardly what one would expect when a story comes from such good original stock. A missed opportunity.
More reviews available at zombiehamster.com
- cjmccracken
- May 6, 2012
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Hình Thụ Liễu Gai
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $7,750,000 (estimated)