“How’d it get burned?!” —Edward Malus
Today’s quick review: The Wicker Man. While recovering from a traumatic incident, police officer Edward Malus (Nicolas Cage) receives a letter from his former fiance Willow (Kate Beahan) asking him to help find her missing daughter Rowan (Erika Shaye Gair). Edward travels to her home on Summersisle, a rustic, private island in Puget Sound, to begin his search. There he clashes with the island’s residents, an ominous group of women hiding a dark secret.
The Wicker Man is a horror movie that sets a bold police officer on the trail of a missing child on an island where nothing is as it seems. The Wicker Man succeeds in creating an oppressive atmosphere and weaving together a potent mystery. However, its flawed writing, weak ending, and misuse of its lead actor keep it from living up to its full potential. The result is a film that goes through the motions of horror without ever quite coming together.
The Wicker Man goes far on just the strength of its premise. The atmosphere, the setting, the plot, and many of the scares follow naturally from the setup. Summersisle is an eerie place. Its inhabitants are brusque and insular, with nothing but polite hostility for Edward and his inquiries. His investigation is complicated by the few facts Willow is able to give him about the island and the hallucinations he’s been experiencing since his trauma.
The lynchpin of the story is Edward Malus, bht this is where The Wicker Man begins to show weakness. Nicolas Cage is a perfect fit for the frazzled, paranoid side of the role but he struggles to portray the beleaguered hero Edward is meant to be. Edward has few endearing qualities to help the audience invest in his plight, and his investigation lacks tact. The end result is a decent mystery without the detective it needs to bring it together.
More broadly, The Wicker Man has a bad habit of fumbling its most important moments. Key incidents later in the film come across as silly rather than dramatic, thanks to a combination of mediocre writing and Cage’s overacting. Tightening up the script in a few places or making Edward more stoic could have avoided the worst of it, but as it stands, The Wicker Man falls apart right when it should be at its most dramatic and its most shocking.
Thriller fans who aren’t too particular about quality will get some mileage out of The Wicker Man for its premise, its atmosphere, and the basic skeleton of its plot. However, its execution leaves something to be desired; those looking for hard scares, subtle acting, or a mystery that can deliver what it promises should steer clear. Nicolas Cage fans interested in seeing one of his more eccentric roles may also want to give it a shot.
For a more artful take on a similar premise, try Shutter Island. For another suspenseful peek into an ominous rural community, try The Village. For a suspense thriller with some of the same atmosphere and a better-handled plot, try Identity.
3.7 out of 10 on IMDB. I give it a 5.5 for half-decent horror with some crippling flaws.