10 Hilarious Horror Films That Weren't Supposed To Be Funny
9. The Wicker Man
In order to make this remake ‘work’ for a multiplex audience, all the nudity and weirdness have been excised along with the original setting, which leaves only the cop hero, and thank God the filmmakers chose Nicolas Cage, because otherwise the movie would’ve been yet another dull misfire.
Nic plays it straight, which of course means that his performance becomes hilarious once the going gets weird. To convey his character’s frustration, Nic shouts his lines, says everything three times and, when the going gets weird, eventually resorts to Kung-Fu.
According to director Neil Labutte’s commentary, the star demanded daily rewrites so that his character would be more believable, martial arts apparently being common among motorcycle cops.
Whether dropping the F-bomb in front of small children, stealing a teacher’s bicycle at gunpoint or knocking out a woman while dressed as a bear (don’t ask), Nic’s the whole show here and boy is he a crack detective. After 75 minutes of weird dreams, cheap scares and near-fatal accidents, his character finally concludes that “Something bad is about to happen.”