#Neil Labute

[six-demon-bag]

TJ MIKELOGAN'S HALLOWEEN 2024 EVENT | DAY 19: HORROR REMAKES

THE WICKER MAN (2006) dir. Neil LaBute

[adaptations-polls]

Which version of this do you prefer?

[sesiondemadrugada]

House of Darkness (Neil LaBute, 2022).

[roskirambles]

Bad Horror Movie of the day: The Wicker Man (2006)

Californian police officer Edward Malus has separated from his ex-fiancée some time ago, but when she brings news that her daughter has gone missing, he takes the case. Thus, he embarks in an investigation to this island famous for its honey, where the girl was last seen, and a suspicious neo-pagan cult lead by women governs the land. Near Seattle. Uh...

Aka, the stupid, illogical remake of the masterpiece that is the 1973 original. Cutting the folk music is probably the least of the problems here: the story gets convoluted, over the top and involves such radical leaps of logic the questionable attempt at tackling the subject gender roles pales to the sheer amount of idiocy packed in 102 minutes. Every and all changes to the original just make the story make less sense; a pagan island near England works quite well culturally speaking. Near Seattle... not so much. And trying to "punch up" the kidnapping fake out by making the girl related to the Police officer just adds pointless complexity.

But that's not what made this movie worth watching. Oh no. Whoever cast Nicolas Cage on the lead role was doing the world a service, just not for the reason they were thinking. He brings the ham, the cheese and the laughs. And the heat too. Seeing an incompetent police officer with no chill get into a fistfight with inn maids shouldn't be funny and yet here we are, which says a lot since that's far from the most absurd thing to happen in the film.

I could go on about the details as to how it fails to grasp the mechanics of horror and plain basic storytelling, how it's attempts at cleverness feel insultingly on the nose, or how it might have had a shot to frighten people with bee allergies if it wasn't for the fact those animals don't behave like a liquid. But let's just put it like this: when people remember the emotional peaks of your horror film with laughter instead of dread... you fucked up.

[thewarmestplacetohide]

Cryptic Commissions: The Wicker Man

I can be commissioned to do a mini review of any horror film of your choosing for $3/£2.36 on Ko-fi!

Remake of: The Wicker Man (1973) Year: 2006 Genre: Occult Rating: PG-13 Country: United States Language: English Runtime: 1 hour 42 minutes

Director: Neil LaBute Cinematographer: Paul Sarossy Editor: Joel Plotch Composer: Angelo Badalamenti Writer: Neil LaBute Cast: Nicolas Cage, Molly Parker, Kate Beahan, Ellen Burstyn, Leelee Sobieski

Summary: A detective searches for a missing girl on a pagan cult’s private island.

Review: A prime example of a remake that fundamentally does not understand what made its source material work, this is a dull, incoherent mess punctuated by occasional hilarity.

Overall Rating: 1/5

Story: 1/5 - Void of tension or scares, it exchanges the original’s commentary on the dangers of blindly following religion—be it Catholicism or paganism—for a weirdly sexist, plot hole-riddled mystery where Nicolas Cage punches a woman in the face while wearing a bear suit.

Performances: 2/5 - Most of the actresses give the same performance, as if the only way for a woman to be ominous is if she’s stiff, cold, and bitchy. Cage, meanwhile, comes off like an incompetent, hammy nutjob.

Cinematography: 3.5/5 - The movie generally looks quite good, with a strong framing and aerial shots, but it also feels just a little too polished and commercial.

Editing: 2/5 - Bizarre and unintentionally disorienting.

Music: 2/5 - Cliche.

Sets: 3.5/5

Costumes, Hair, & Make-Up: 2/5 - Some of it is serviceable but many of the islanders' outfits, meant to appear homemade and rustic, look like they came from a cheap party store.

Trigger Warnings:

Moderate but brief violence

Child endangerment and implied death

Misogynistic undertones

Animal cruelty and death

Insects

[filmjunky-99]

d e a t h a t a f u n e r a l, 2010 🎬 dir. neil labute james marsden

[artfilmfan]

Fear The Night (Neil LaBute, 2023)

[vintagewarhol]

[watchingalotofmovies]

Out of the Blue

Out of the Blue    [trailer]

Connor, a man whose dull life is transformed into a thrilling fantasy world thanks to the seductive Marilyn.

Despite being familiar, the set-up is not that bad. But things get a bit out of hand story-wise once Connor enters the home of the husband.

Not sure what to make of the frequent mentioning of The Postman Always Rings Twice and the casting of Jack Nicholson's son Ray. Was it always planned to be that way?

[moviesandmania]

FEAR THE NIGHT Maggie Q fights home invaders - reviews and free on Plex and Tubi

Fear the Night is a 2023 American home invasion action thriller about a female war veteran fighting back against a group of home invaders. Written and directed by Neil LaBute (House of Darkness; Out of the Blue; Dirty Weekend; Some Velvet Morning; Death at a Funeral; The Wicker Man; The Shape of Things; Possession 2002; Nurse Betty; In the Company of Men). Produced by Eric Brenner, Larry…

[sweaterkittensahoy]

Every single decision Neil LaBute made in his remake of The Wicker Man was fucking terrible. Like, the absolute level of fucked it up cannot be stated.

[the-nightly-film]

March 4th, 2024

House of Darkness (2022) is a really interesting retelling of the Dracula story. Which can be hard to say in a world oversaturated with such stories. Since the movie is coming up on being two years old I don't feel like it's a major spoiler to reveal its Dracula ties, and I do think it would actually be a bit more popular if its core concept was more widely known. Other than that I'll let the film speak for itself because it really is a gem of a slow burn that fans of Dracula and vampires in general will enjoy.

[halloweenmoviewatchlist]

The Wicker Man (2006)

[haverwood]

House of Darkness Neil LaBute USA, 2022 ★ Well this is certainly a movie that exists.

The star is for Justin Long, always the trooper.

[everyfilmisaw]

Nurse Betty by Neil LaBute, 2000

[tentpoletrauma]

Horror remakes were all the rage by the mid 2000s, so a remake of the seminal folk horror classic The Wicker Man was all but inevitable. Armed with a crazy Nic Cage performance and seasoned indie director Neil LaBute at the helm, the 2006 reimagining was set to catch fire at the box office but fizzled instead, failing to justify its hefty 40 million dollar budget. Join Sebastian, Jennifer and Troy as they travel to Summer’s Isle to reevaluate this much maligned effort and sacrifice their sanity in worship of the modern era’s most bizarre and fascinating remakes.