The Wicker Tree

Plot synopsis:
We begin in Texas listening to a radio show introducing and playing a song by Beth Boothby, cut to blonde girl (Beth) in the back of a limo being driven somewhere. The limo stops to pick up a guy (Steve) waiting by a country roadside, they embrace and kiss. Soon the couple arrive at a small church where fans are waiting to greet the singer, who we then see putting on a small christian rock performance. The pastor explains that the couple are going to Scotland for two years to spread the word of Christ. The congregation cheers and claps as they are wished God Speed and when they get back they are to be married.We are then taken to Scotland where we see people making general preparations, as we follow the camera we here the sound of machinery getting louder until the camera stops at a door. Here we can see the outline of a man and a sudden big gush of blood splatters against the window. The man curses and yells and we see he is in some sort of butchering room. Beth amd Steve have arrived and are now being greeted by a reverend. A car pulls up and out steps Sir Lachlan Morrison and his wife Delia, who are the ones that have invited Steve & Beth to stay. After exchanging greetings Beth & Steve show them their matching silver rings which symbolise their vow of chastity to each other. As we go into the church Sir Lachlan & Delia talk amongst themselves about how perfect Beth is. Beth begins to sing to the congregation as Delia goes to speak with Steve, she removes his cowboy hat explaining that hats in church are taboo.We then go to their hotel where Beth and Steve are in her room making out, Steve tries to go further and Beth refuses, when a raunchy pop video comes showing Beth before she was 'born again'. Beth is upset and becomes agitated when she can't turn the TV off. She does, Steve goes to leave when the telephone rings. It is Delia calling to check on them, Steve leaves before she finishes the conversation. The next day we see Beth and Steve traipsing door to door trying to hand out pamphlets - all doors are slammed in their face. Down-hearted, then Delia shows up and invites them to her village, Beth is hesitant but they agree. In the car Delia questions Beth and Steve about their 'born again' views. They pass Tressock Nuclear Power station where they meet Sir Lachlan and travel on to the village. A lady rides up on a horse, they stop & have a brief chat about a special feast on Sunday and the horse. Villages wait slightly out of sight as they enter the village and drive through. They stop and we are introduced to Jack and his pet bird, he talks jibberish to them and the bird says Nevermore. Steve is puzzled, it is clear that Beth has been whisked off and Sir Lachlan explains that they will be spilt up with Beth staying at the manor and Steve staying in a tavern. He is introduced to the owner and off he goes.Lolly, who we now know was the horse rider, and a policeman go into his station/ house and begin to flirt & undress. A car pulls up at a large manor house and out steps Sir Lachlan & Beth. Back to Steve at pub, he is talking with Jack & some other locals. Declines to play cards as he doesn't gamble, but reads the cars and begins to preach something to do with God about every card he picks out. Someone begins to sing and that merges with a females singing same song as Beth walks into the room and meets some girls sewing the May Queen dress, Beth is asked if she would like to see it & try it on, she does, they sing and she is asked if she would be their May Queen.We then cut to Lolly & the policeman having sex & talking. Then we are back at the tavern where a middle age lady is playing piano & singing, Steve goes upstairs to bed and is woken later by a Raven on window sill, he jumps and is woken by Sir Lachlan in his Porsche outside inviting Steve to take his horse Prince for a ride to explore. He does and very soon comes across Lolly in the river naked, he stops, they chat, Lolly invites him into the water - after being a little hesistant, he does, they talk some more and Lolly mentioned that Beth is going to be asked to be May Queen and they want him to be the Laddie, she explains what that means becoming more suggestive and then they have sex despite his vow to be celibate until marriage. Afterwards they talk on the bank of the river, He gets up, dressed and realises he has lost his silver ring in the water.Then we see Sir Lachlan and some others in a meeting about living near their Nuclear Power Station this continues outside in car where it is hinted at a Nuclear accident infiltrating the water and all are now infertile, so no babies. Beth & Steve are in the church preaching to Sir Lachlan and the villagers, Beth begins to sing as Steve passes out pamphlets as the song carries on the villagers begin to join in. Outside is a buffet spread where we see Jack and his bird (Raven), Lolly comes up to him and they chat, she then goes to the church window watching Steve as he walks through the villagers. After this they are taken across the river in a boat to a lodge, and left alone. Steve doesn't talk, Beth becomes concerned and asks whats wrong. He basically says that he will be there for the May Queen crowning the next day, but he is leaving after and returning to Texas as he is a sinner. He goes off with Sir Lachlan to practice what to do next day as Laddie, Sir Lachlan is walking through the woods with Steve telling him what to do, not to listen to anything anyone says and get to a castle ruin where there is a throne he must sit on and wait for everyone else to arrive. Beth is upset at the lodge and begins to listen to her old raunchier song, but then slams it off and regains composure. Back at the tavern Steve is asked for his autogragh by a young boy, Steve mentions there are no other children around and asks why, however the Landlord comes out and tells the boy to get off home and stop bothering Steve. At the Manor Beth is dressed up in a glamourous formal evening dress as tells Delia she's mad with Steve and plans to enjoy herself. Then montage of Steve looking sorry for himself and Beth at the dinner party dancing with someone in a kilt. Then the evening party are singing around the piano, later on Beth is ready for bed in her room saying her prayers, there is a knock at the door and it is the butler (Beame) bringing her some hot milk. There is a cat in her room which Beame tries to chase out but Beth insists it stays. Beth goes to sleep and the cat drinks & knocks over milk. Then cut to the policeman & Lolly having sex again, Jack and another villager stand outside laughing at the noise and we cut to an ambulance rushing off. The next morning the cat is dead on the floor when Delia enters, Beth is asleep. Delia picks up the cat and takes it downstairs to Lachlan and shows him the dead cat. Beame is told to deal with Beth after breaksfast and get her ready. Delia & Lachlan talk about their religious beliefs, he looks at a portait on the wall and we are shown a flashback of him and his Grandfather (Christopher Lee) by the river talking about the Laddie and fate. Delia and Lachlan finish talking and the hunt for the Laddie begins. Beame (wearing traditional kilt) is climbing the stairs carrying a needle, he enters Beths room, but she wakes up as he approaches, she see the needle and struggles picking up some of the broken glass and stabbing in his testicles, he yells and she runs away knocking over the cook, through the house and outside. The hunt continues while Beame is having his injury seen to by the cook and they discuss where she'd go. The hunt is still going and Steve is making good headway until his stirrup breaks (having been cut) making him fall from the horse. He gets up and begins to ride away, but Lolly has caught up and is calling to him. We see Beth running down a deserted road where she comes across Jack. She goes into his house and tries to use the phone but he is too incoherrent to help her. Suddenly Beame walks in, grabs her and takes her away. Lolly tels Steve it's a trap and to follow her, but he thinks it's just a so he ignores her. Steve arrives at the Castle just as the others are catching up. Beth is laid out face down, unconcious and naked on the kitchen table being brushed with oil by Cook. Beame, the cook and another villager (Mary?) talk amongst themselves about Beth and why she is being brushed in oil as the conversation carries on it is apparent that Sir Lachlan intends to eat her raw. Cook says she is sedated as Lachlan like them to be fresh as possible, then Beame gets upset as somebody has been messing with his collection of May Queen eyes. Steve is just getting to the castle, and Beth is being put in a store room still unconcious on a table. She begins to wake up and looks around. In the meantime Lanchlan and the other villagers enter the Castle where Steve is sitting on the throne as he was told. Steve is cocky at first, but starts to lose his bravado as the villagers surround the throne. As this is going on Beth puts on the May Queen dress and explores her surroundings. Lachlan begins to talk as the villagers start to strip off. Beth sees what appears to be statues of previous May Queens, but it starts to become apparent to her that they are not what they seem and she calls out. Lachlan and the villagers start to sing as the continue to strip in front of a confused Steve who doesn't seem to realise what is going on, suddenly realisation dawns as Lachlan begins to give praise to the Sun as the villagers descend. It is too late as the villagers grab Steve and begin to eat him alive, Lolly is outside sobbing and we see the villagers dancing and feasting in praise.As Beth looks at the statues, the Cook is listening to the radio and rather drunk, you can hear Beth calling and banging to be let out. Delia is seen after bathing Steves blood off and hears Beth yelling. Beth touches a statue and the outside cracks away revealing a skeletal hand underneath, she runs for a door that leads her outside, it's locked but she manages to escape through a window. She runs and bumps into Lolly, who tells her Steve is dead, Beth can't beleive it and Lolly tries to get her to go away with her she refuses even though Lolly makes it clear to her that she will be killed. Beth walks on up a hill to where the Wicker Tree stands, Lachlan is singing as the villagers dance around in praise. Beth walks through them and them seem not to see her and suddenly Lachlan is made aware that the Queen is there, he looks surprised but begins to explain when she asks about Steve. She asks Danny (a villager) who confirms he is dead, very quickly as Lachlan continues to talk Beth shoves him into the Wicker Tree where he burns alive. She tells the villagers to sing, they join in and then disperse back to the village. Beth is left alone and trying to find a way out of the village when she comes across the little boy who offers to lead to the next village. As they walk, the villagers start to appear behind her. She is suddenly grabbed by them. Lolly gives birth to a baby, they proclaim as their little cowboy.The end shot is of Beth in full May Queen regalia - despite her efforts she has suffered the same fate as the other May Queens before her.

Tags: comedy, satire

Review:
The one saving grace may have been the close involvement of Robin Hardy, the original author and director of the Christopher Lee classic.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 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.
The storyline doesn't work very well, the music is absolutely woeful and completely wrong - unlike in the Wicker Man where it was perfect and added greatly to the atmosphere - and the sense of realism you get from the original is totally missing here.
I'm not going to waste any more time and energy on this very poor effort, except to say that it's only highlight for me was a comedy scene and if you love the truly classic Wicker Man, do yourself a big favour and stay well away from the Wicker Tree !.
Did we really think writer/director Robin Hardy could better "The Wicker Man", that masterpiece of horror, which along with William Friedkin's "The Exorcist" defined the genre in the 1970's?
It was a tall order, but he did come up with one surprise - he more or less repeated himself.A couple of born-again Christians, 'Cowboys for Christ', Beth Boothby (Brittania Nicol) and Steve Thompson (Henry Garrett), cross the Atlantic on a mission to spread the Lord's word to the spiritually challenged flock in Scotland.
All conspire against them except for Lolly (Honeysuckle Weeks), the head groom on Sir Lachlan's estate.We know how it will end because there was no mercy for Edward Woodward in the first version so we don't expect any for Beth and Steve in this one.The problem with knowing the basic premise is that the only tension comes in seeing how the ritual will be carried out.
The Wicker Tree itself is an artistic looking number, but it doesn't project the menace of the giant wicker cage of the original.Where the "The Wicker Tree" breaks from "The Wicker Man" is in the attempts at black humour; the naive Beth and Steve are treated as somewhat comic characters, as is Beame, Sir Lachlan's head man, who is involved in a number of jocular bits of business such as being stabbed up the kilt with a broken glass; it's hard to know quite how to take this movie as it changes mood at odd times.The film doubles up on a couple of elements from the original, namely the number of sacrifices and the amount of nudity.
Honeysuckle Weeks sheds her "Foyle's War" khakis and everything else for a couple of airy romps, including a brave effort in a chilly Scottish stream.Although it's nice to see Christopher Lee back for a little homage, the biggest problem with "The Wicker Tree" is that it pays just too much homage to the original movie.
The most important sacrifice of all would have entailed letting go of the old plot and heading off in a new direction.Instead of a lop-sided remake, maybe a follow-up to the original would have been a better option - by 2011, the number of disappearances on Summerisle would have reached epic proportions with the supply of wicker also running dangerously low.
THE WICKER TREE is one of the most awful sequels in existence, a completely terrible movie made all the worse by the fact that THE WICKER MAN is one of the best British horror films in existence.
I truly have no idea what Robin Hardy was thinking when he wrote and directed this; it looks like the man's talent left him many, many years ago.This time around, the action is set on the Scottish mainland, where a couple of American evangelists have turned up to preach their usual guff to the residents of a village.
But it's the tone of THE WICKER TREE that is so very, very wrong; that a sequel to one of the classics of British CINEMA, let alone the horror genre, made by the same writer/director of all people, should totally miss the mark and become this kind of mess.
Director Robin Hardy's film (based on his own book 'Cowboys for Christ') shares many similarities with the cult British horror classic that he found success with in the 1970's, but The Wicker Tree is different enough to stand-out on it's own and not be classified as more of the same, even if the basic plot-lines are almost identical.
Christopher Lee makes a brief appearance as an old man in a flash back, who may or may not be intended as an elderly Lord Summerisle, but while his ill-health prevented him from taking on the role of the main villain his shoes are well filled by Graham McTavish, who provides some much needed fire and brimstone in contrast to the rather stilted performances from the two lead characters, although there were some good performances from the supporting cast, most notably Clive Russel as the butler Beame and Honeysuckle Weeks as the promiscuous pagan Lolly.
I found the setting and direction to be excellent and again Hardy has created an intriguing pagan culture that I would loved to have seen more focus upon, but while we all know what the outcome of the story is going to be at the outset of the film it often seems to concern itself more with poking fun than with captivating and intriguing, or even scaring the audience.
It got a good share of laughs throughout and even a round of applause at one point, and I enjoyed it in that respects, but as a horror film, as a film doomed to stand in the shadow of The Wicker Man, I found it to be lacking..
Born again evangelist Beth Boothby (Brittania Nicol) and her cowboy partner Steve (Henry Garrett) travel to Scotland to teach the in-bred locals of Tresock, a small highland town with its own nuclear power station, about Jesus.It's a dumb premise, made all the dumber by childish performances from the two lead roles.
It makes The Wicker Man from 1973 look like The Greatest Film Ever and the 2006 remake of that movie...
Let's also be brutally realistic and point out that films are simply made to make a profit for the company producing it and if Robin Hardy director of the original film says " Hey guys I've just made a sequel to my 1973 masterwork and Christopher Lee returns in it " you can guarantee some naïve fans are going to rush to the cinema to watch it only to realise their mistake after they've paid their money at the box office What makes this film a fairly dreadful experience is the tone .
Regardless of whether you are familiar with the original Wicker Man, this film should be avoided like the plague.
Saw the world premiere of The Wicker Tree @ Fantasia Film Fest 2011 in Montreal with Robin Hardy in attendance (he actually sat about 6 seats away).
He is this film's one saving grace.I wish I did not have to knock this movie and give it such a poor review, as I greatly admire writer and director Robin Hardy.
It goes without saying that his original "Wicker Man" is a cult classic in the top ranks of horror films.
No, I'm talking about the original film from Robin Hardy which featured Edward Woodward becoming embroiled in an increasingly disturbing mystery accumulating to one of the greatest endings in movie history.
After a thirty year absence from the big screen, Robin Hardy himself decided to film a sequel called The Wicker Tree.
The film follows a couple of young, Bible bashing Americans going on a pilgrimage to Scotland to spread the word of God. Just in case you're not sure whether they're American or not from their strong Texan accents, they're complete with cowboy hats and have to sing a country song every five minutes.
Her bo is a born again virgin just like his fiancé, although he still finds time skinny dipping and having sex with strangers in lakes.The original Wicker Man became a cult classic after being re-discovered by some small cinemas in 1977.
I must say that the attempts of Wicker Man-esque horror in the last 15 minutes got a bit tedious, because it felt like they were trying to actually generate scares.
The Wicker Man was awful amateurish movie which become cult classic by mistake,not because of its qualities but mostly because of its shocking end.Yes there was music and strange disturbing atmosphere and Christopher Lee and Lindsay Kemp cameo...but as a whole it didn't deliver and is pretty much definition of overrated.
The fact that they really burnt live animals while they were shooting closing scene speaks volumes.But The Wicker Tree is another level of badness,ultimate disaster,film without any qualities which clearly shows that the director of both movies has zero and I mean ZERO talent.
If The Wicker Tree is to be watched at all in future times it will be for all the wrong reasons - it's so bad it's likely to become a cult classic..
If your a fan of the original Wicker man film, don't watch this it will taint it for you.
If it is to be anything like this film then I hope he doesn't bother.As for whether or not this is better than the remake of "The Wicker Man", well that's a moot point taking in how bad this one has turned out to be..
here we have a (semi) sequel to the original Wicker Man. And, if you look closely at the promotional material, you'll notice that it even has good ol' Christopher Lee in it.
Two American Christians come to a small village on the Scotland/England border to help spread the word of God.If you've seen either of the Wicker Man films you'll know what happens.
Writer/Director Robin Hardy has basically remade his original story with different characters, updating his Macguffin--crop failure in a remote Scottish village--in an interesting way.
But I digress.The original "Wicker Man" gave the world a respectful portrait wrapped up in what is often considered a horror film, though I would argue that it isn't.
The worst horror movie ever is probably The Wicker man remake from 2006.
Unlike Brittania Nicol who played Beth Boothby, she did not use a body double for her scenes.This was supposedly a remake of The Wicker Man and, while it was good, it certainly can't come up to the standards of either version, not the 1973 version with Edward Woodward, or the 2006 version with Nickolas Cage and Christa Campbell.There are a lot of sexual innuendos, as well as a very funny sex scene.Unfortunately, what is going to happen here is very obvious, and there is no element of surprise as there was in the previous films..
I think the thing that is most disappointing about The Wicker Tree is that it's taken such a long time to come to the screen.
In fact, it's based on a novel written by Robin Hardy, the director of the first movie The Wicker Man. I haven't read the book but I am very familiar with the original film which remains one of the best movies of the horror genre.
In fact, in its own way, it is one of the very worst films I have ever seen.I appreciate that Robin Hardy is now an old gentleman and his faculties must be somewhat impaired but how could he agree to decimate the legacy that he built up with the original "Wicker Man" by producing this mess?
Whereas in the original "Wicker Man" the female temptation to Edward Woodward's Christian innocent was provided by beautiful, ripe, alluring beauties such as Britt Ekland, Ingrid Pitt and Diane Cilento the temptress in this film, "Lolly", is played by a minor TV actress who rejoices in the name Honeysuckle Weeks, and who looks like a not very convincing gender reassignment case.
The appearance of the "Wicker Man" at the end of that film was a truly horrifying event, but one that is entirely consistent with where the narrative of the story leads.
However "the Wicker Tree" itself serves absolutely no purpose in the film other than to provide a ridiculous twist featuring the Sir Lachlan Morrison character.
In this film the end was simply a horribly stupid conceit that made no sense whatsoever.The film ends up looking like it had been conceived in 37 seconds by a bunch of film executive dummies in suits rather than 37 years in the making by the creator of the original "Wicker Man".
The reason: The original "The Wicker Man" counts among my favorite films.
But "The Wicker Tree" was the real deal, a sequel in spirit, filmed by the original director Robin Hardy and claiming a cameo appearance by Sir Christopher Lee.Even the hardened Fans must admit that "The Wicker Man" was a great film not because of Hardys skill as a director, but despite of them.
I don't know what route the director wanted to originally take with this piece, but 80% plays out like its trying to be a comedy and it fails miserably , then when the eventual climax comes it give horror a go and then fails at that as well.The two main characters are a pair of young Americans from Texas, The Girl is a Britney Spearseque character who has shunned her dirty pop image of singing about sex in pick up trucks and is now on her Jesus Christ around the world tour.
The rest is just badly acted by some fine thespians who are not best served by Robin Hardy who should stop writing, and should never direct again.This film only exists because the Wicker Man became a cult film.
I hate to put it this way but The Wicker Tree looks, sounds and feels like the work of an old man who is well past his creative prime and no one had the decency to tell him.
And while the original Wicker Man left open the question of what happens after the human sacrifice of a police officer and even hints that things aren't going to turn out well for the murderous cult, this flick ends with an epilogue that expects us to believe that not only can a minor celebrity vanish from a Scottish village with no one caring but that the gruesome death of the founder and leader of the cult would have absolutely no effect on anything.
Believe me, I put as much thought into those four sentences and Hardy did with this script.Topping it all is that while the original seemed like its pagan cult was at least based on some real and coherent religion, The evil faith in The Wicker Tree appears to be nothing more than horror movie tripe that Hardy just pulled out of his butt.
Disappointing, in the first instance, because it bills itself as the true spiritual successor (rather than straight sequel) to 1973's seminal cult horror classic 'The Wicker Man' and then fails, in every conceivable sense, to live up to either the standard or the spirit of the original.
How wrong they are.....The original Wicker man was full of menace and a strange feeling of dread throughout, much like Don't Look Now, and is still heralded today as one of the finest British horror movies ever made.Now we have this, which stamps all over the classic and almost ruins Hardys vision.It was so camp, so over the top, and filled with this really strange unfunny humour, that it was like a car crash, you didn't want to watch it, but you couldn't take your eyes off the screen.The two Americans were truly awful and typecast, and she gave the funniest line in the film, when she is praying and thanking the Lord for her good looks.
This "Tree" film is trying too hard to be like the original that it doesn't work.
Lolly (Honeysuckle Weeks- not a porn name) plays up to Steve, she has taken over the seductress role of Brit Ekland.I loved hearing Beth preach, "Jesus was greater than Rob Roy..." If you have seen any of the "Wicker Man" movies then you know how things evolve.It was good to see Christopher Lee pass the baton, unfortunately this film wasn't as great as the original.
Even then he wasn't referred to as "Lord Summerisle"..In conclusion, I actually quite like the movie for its silliness, but don't for one moment think that you will be getting another "Wicker Man"...
Having watched the original "The Wicker Man" and I'd read all the bad reviews for "The Wicker Tree" but I had to see it for myself.
Only god knows why, but for whatever the reasons, thirty some years after the release of his cult smash "The Wicker Man", director Robin Hardy penned a novel and now a cinematic sequel to the film.
Regardless, the tree itself is hardly even a footnote in comparison to what the movie is really about, unlike the 1973 original where the wicker man played a major role.This present-day tale tells the story of two Texas natives: born-again Christian pop/country star Beth Boothby (Britannia Nichol) and her dopey born-again cowboy boyfriend Steve (Henry Garrett) who both travel to Scotland of all places to spread the word of Christ.