The Wicker Tree (2010)

Director:

Robin Hardy

Writers:

Robin Hardy (written by)
Robin Hardy (novel)

Genre:

Drama | Horror

Tagline:

Accept our sacrifice

Plot:

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.

Plot Keywords:

Black Comedy | Second Part | Satire | Plant In Title | Three Word Title

Cast

Graham McTavish	...	Sir Lachlan Morrison
Jacqueline Leonard	...	Lady Delia Morrison
Henry Garrett	...	Steve Thomson
Honeysuckle Weeks	...	Lolly
Clive Russell	...	Beame
Prue Clarke	...	Mary Hellier
Lesley Mackie	...	Daisy
David Plimmer	...	Jack
Christopher Lee	...	Old Gentleman
Brittania Nicol	...	Beth Boothby
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Astrid Azurdia	...	Patricia Gow
Alessandro Conetta	...	Orlando
Keith Easdale	...	Town Band
Christopher Fosh	...	Trailer Trash Video Dancer
Stuart Glasgow	...	Town Band
Scott Hoatson	...	Carl
Jarkko Lehmus	...	Dancer
St. Clair Leveaux	...	Marion
Ailidh Mackay	...	Anthea
James Mapes	...	Reverend Moriarty
Alistair Maxwell	...	Angus
John Paul McGilvray	...	Danny (as John Paul McGilvray)
Keira McMillan	...	Morag
Bill Murdoch	...	Rev. McLeod
Kirstin Murray	...	Celebrity interviewer
Iain Stuart Robertson	...	Peter McNeil
Ben Sullivan	...	Young Lachlan
Graham Wadsworth	...	Trailer Trash Video Dancer
Terry Wale	...	Murdoch
Keith Warwick	...	Donald Dee
Mark Williams	...	Paul
Hamish Wilson	...	Magnus Tarrant
Amanda Jones	...	Special thanks (uncredited)
Philip Kingscott	...	Villager (uncredited)
Christopher Leveaux	...	Christopher (uncredited)
Alan Marsh	...	Walk On (uncredited)
Callum Mitchell	...	Strange Scottish Villager (uncredited)
Will Thompson	...	Simon (uncredited)

Directed by
Robin Hardy

Writing credits
Robin Hardy		(written by)
Robin Hardy		(novel "Cowboys for Christ")

Produced by
Alastair Gourlay	....	executive producer
Clare Kerr	....	line producer
Donough O'Brien	....	executive producer: Euro Center
Peter Snell	....	producer
Peter Watson-Wood	....	producer

Original Music by
John Scott

Cinematography by
Jan Pester

Film Editing by
Sean Barton
Ray Lau

Casting by
Kate Plantin

Production Design by
Laurel Wear

Art Direction by
Natalie Astridge

Costume Design by
David Blight

Makeup Department
Irene Napier	....	makeup designer

Production Management
Pam Roberts	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Amanda Black	....	first assistant director: second unit
Harry Boyd	....	first assistant director: second unit
Graham Drover	....	third assistant director
Jamie Gavin	....	assistant director runner
Adrian Mead	....	second unit director

Art Department
Jim Elliott	....	standby props
Daniel MacDonell	....	dressing props
Stephen Mason	....	standby art director
Bryony Rumble	....	props buyer/set dresser

Sound Department
Nick Baldock	....	sound effects editor
Peter Baldock	....	supervising sound editor
Ricky Butt	....	foley artist
Chris Campion	....	sound recordist
Tim Dyer	....	boom operator: second unit
Douglas Fairgrieve	....	sound recordist: second unit
Michael Feinberg	....	dialogue editor
Graham McCormick	....	boom operator
Richard Straker	....	sound re-recording mixer
Andrew Walsh	....	sound assistant

Special Effects by
Jody Taylor	....	special effects senior technician

Visual Effects by
Sascha Fromeyer	....	digital compositor
Tom Russell	....	senior colourist
Christopher Watson-Wood	....	visual effects supervisor

Stunts
Nrinder Dhudwar	....	stunt coordinator
David Goodall	....	fight arranger
Tom Lucy	....	stunt coordinator
Curtis Rivers	....	stunt double

Camera and Electrical Department
Stuart Anderson	....	focus puller: second unit
Julie Bills	....	camera operator: dailies
Francesco Bori	....	camera assistant: pick-up unit
Luke Coulter	....	focus puller: 2nd Unit
Graeme Hunter	....	still photographer
Damian Leitch	....	camera assistant
David Littlejohns	....	second grip
Vlad Martins	....	digital imaging technician: Red camera
Grant McPhee	....	assistant camera
Dave Miller	....	second unit: director of photography
Andy Mitwamwari	....	focus puller
Kevin O'Brien	....	a-camera / steadicam operator

Casting Department
Vanessa Baker	....	adr voice casting

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Harriet Edmonds	....	costume assistant
Louise Egan	....	costume buyer
Elizabeth Healy	....	costume supervisor
John Laurie	....	costume assistant
Jessica Gelpke	....	costume researcher (uncredited)

Editorial Department
Gene Mendoza	....	color timer

Music Department
Keith Easdale	....	musical director
Stuart Glasgow	....	music supervisor
Richard Todman	....	music editor

Other crew
Dorothy Connolley	....	script supervisor
Katie Crook	....	production coordinator
Kim Davis	....	location manager: Texas
Andrew Franzkowiak	....	production assistant
Mike Fraser	....	post consultant
Greg Harris	....	production secretary
Tom Jenkins	....	location manager: second unit
Izzie Martin	....	assistant: Robin Hardy
Jacqui McBride	....	assistant accountant
Anya Noakes	....	unit publicist
Christian Otty	....	additional assistant director
Brodie Pringle	....	location manager
Matt Cooper	....	floor runner: dailies (uncredited)

Production Companies

• British Lion Film Corporation (as British Lion) (presents)
• Euro Center Productions (co-produced in association with)
• Tressock Films

Distributors

• Anchor Bay Films (2012) (USA) (theatrical)
• Anchor Bay Entertainment (UK) (2012) (UK) (DVD)
• Anchor Bay Entertainment (2012) (Canada) (DVD)
• Anchor Bay Entertainment (2012) (USA) (DVD)
• Anchor Bay Entertainment (2012) (USA) (DVD) (Blu-ray)

Other Companies

• Anvil Post Production  sound re-recording
• Art4noise  ADR recording
• Art4noise  sound post-production
• Filmscape Media  camera equipment provided by
• Malde & Co.  auditors
• Park Drive Pictures  funding
• Sapex Scripts  post-production script services

Also Known As:

MPAA:

Rated R for sexuality, nudity and violence

Runtime:

96 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Canada:14A (Ontario) | UK:15 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

London Taxidermy, Wandsworth, London, England, UK

Company:

British Lion Film Corporation

Trivia:

Joan Collins was originally set to play Lady Delia Morrison when Christopher Lee was to play Sir Lachlan Morrison. However, when Lee injured himself and was replaced by the much younger Graham McTavish, Collins was replaced with a younger actress, Jacqueline Leonard.

Movie Connections:

Follows The Wicker Man (1973)

Soundtrack:

Power in the Blood

Tragically bad.

A horrible abomination of a film. I had very low expectations for this film but this is much worse than I ever thought it could possibly be. 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? ( yes I know really, it was the money! ) The narrative is a garbled piece of nonsense and the film seems to move forward as if it was assembled from 4 or 5 different stories. The motivations of the characters make no sense. For example two young American evangelists go on a high profile visit to Scotland, including media interviews etc, but very quickly allow themselves to completely change their schedule and go to some sleepy rural village. The Leader of the Cult isn't even convinced of what his group are doing but still blunders ahead with murders etc. The young male evangelist has a vow of celibacy but a quick glimpse of local lady "Lolly" ( about whom there is much more to follow) displaying her thimble chested form in a river and 3 minutes later he has committed the evil deed with her. The pagan group ( who look like a bunch of middle class chumps straight from the Glastonbury Festival ) wander away for the main female character "Beth Boothby" completely ignoring the fact that they have captured her and yet 5 minutes later they are ensnaring her again for their rite. Promising characters, such as "Lady Delia Morrison", wander in and out of the film and appear to serve no purpose and are omitted from scenes in which they would be expected to appear The acting is truly, truly awful. 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. I'm afraid she would certainly tempt no-one from the path of celibacy! Her delivery of her dialogue is so bad that at one stage they have to subtitle the girl even though she is speaking English! Clive Russell as "Beame" does his usual comedy relief but his character and performance is completely out of keeping with the tone of the rest of the film. Poor Christopher Lee turns up in flashback acting opposite some ugly kid who must be the son of one of the producers because the stilted delivery of his dialogue is sub primary school play standard. The two American evangelists are flat and dull too. Henry Garrett as cowboy Steve has the charisma of a cardboard box and Britannia Nichol as "Beth Boothby", looks a bit like Katie Holmes in a blond wig and a comedy pig nose and changes her characterisation from scene to scene. Poor kids must have thought this was their big break! The photography is horrible. The light keeps changing throughout individual scenes so that we go from morning to early evening light in about a minute. At certain points it appears that some sort of filter is being used but it could just be that the camera is out of focus.

The magic and wonder of the original "Wicker Man" came from a genuinely convincing creation of a rural pagan world. The setting of the original, on an island as opposed to some anonymous border village as in this film, served to reinforce the plausibility of such a world existing. However in this film it is never explained why this one village has evolved in this way compared with neighbouring villages? 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. What was the purpose of the "Wicker Tree"? The viewer is left with no idea at all other than to assume that it was just stuck in there as an afterthought to try and create some sort of link with the original film.

The "shocking" conclusion of the film sees Beth Boothby reduced to a wax works display and fully on view. Which Pagan tradition features turning sacrifices into wax works statues? What did the creation of a wax work dummy from the May Queen achieve? The offering of Edward Woodward to the Wicker Man in the first film was entirely consistent and plausible within the traditions and situation created. And honestly, if you had murdered a high profile visitor would you put them on display as a wax works model? 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". I see that they are trying to present it as a "black comedy" and Robin Hardy has said that "it's okay to laugh". Well it's okay to laugh WITH a film but surely not AT a film! Extremely poor and ultimately very sad.