Pagan Cage: 'The Wicker Man' and a Remake of a Remake

Here is the trailer for the unsettling and spectacular 1973 British cult thriller/horror movie The Wicker Man:

And the trailer for the misbegotten American remake from 2006, starring an aimless, horribly miscast Nicholas Cage:

Butchery anyone? The original British film, based on a late '60s novel called Ritual, concerns an uptight, upright Christian police sergeant named Howie (Edward Woodward) searching for a missing girl on Summerisle, a remote island off the coast of Scotland. The inhabitants of Summerisle have abandoned Christianity in favor of a nature-centric paganism, much to the intense distrust of Howie.

No spoilers, but the film centers around the island's nefarious leader, Lord Summerisle (a fantastic turn by horror stalwart Christopher Lee) and his desire to keep the island's fruit harvest going strong, year after year. It's the lifeblood of the island. To keep this going, sometimes there needs to be sacrifice. Or "a" sacrifice, if you will. One Christian prig vs. an island of pagan men, women,and children, ready to protect at a moment's notice. Do the math.

This cult film about, well, a UK cult in the free love, hippie dippie early '70s is the major hook for this film. A series of folk song performances scattered throughout almost turn it into an odd, colorful musical about worshiping nature's power, even at the expense of killing people who get in the way.

The film is a sharp, slow burn, seemingly frolicsome and harmless at first but with a sinister undercurrent (I suppose depending on your religious affiliation) of one faith trumping another. It's truly an original and stunning feature that was highly underrated for decades.

Then in the mid-'00s, playwright Neil LaBute decided to write and direct a remake of the film as a sort-of misogynist (on purpose?) reframing of the story, with Summerisle being almost entirely populated by females, and, we discover, an island of Salem witch ancestor escapees.  

I guess that fuels Cage's over-the-top performance (see the above "Best of" clips reel, where this horror movie is easily recut as an unintentional comedy) and has him punching out, shoving, slapping, shaking, and knocking over most of the main female characters in the film. They do exact their sweet revenge by forcing hundreds of bees into a helmet over Cage's face, stinging him repeatedly as punishment for this remake being made.

Although a small indie "companion piece"/non-sequel/non-remake titled The Wicker Tree (2012) -written and directed by the original film's Robin Hardy - was released, it didn't get much attention. It was seen as an adequate but unimpressive continuation.

Is 11 years to early to start a remake of a remake? Although there are successful, raw, and tantalizing shades of The Wicker Man in Ben Wheatley's terrifying 2011 film Kill List, what if Wheatley did a full-on remake of the original? Or maybe Sean Durkin, the director of the dread-filled, cult escapee indie Martha Marcy May Marlene, tried his hand at it?

Or for the remake-abhorrent, how about a new take on the tale of an isolated cult being accessed by an interloper? What if the cult was anti-technology, pro-back to nature survivalists housed in a pleasant world of nouveau hippie smiles and Father John Misty folk tunes? There could be chilling power in that version.