Neil LaBute's career is a weird one. He's both a crappy Hollywood director and a renowned playwright - one who shot to fame after his movie, In the Company of Men, received a bunch of praise and put him on the map. Then he gave us two more films in Your Friends and Neigbours (also good) and Nurse Betty (also also good). Then something weird happened: LaBute decided that between writing and directing plays, he'd take on random Hollywood film projects. And the defining mess at the centrepiece of this decision? The Wicker Man. Why (or how, for that matter) Neil LaBute ended up behind the camera on this oddity is beyond comprehension. What's even more bizarre? That the final product, now thought of as one of the weirdest and most insane film projects of all time, came from such a talented playwright? Seriously: LaBute wrote the script for The Wicker Man and everything, but presumably did so in the course of a single afternoon, because the results were absolutely tragic. It's bizarre to think that he was so strapped for cash that he got involved with a remake like this.
Sam Hill is an ardent cinephile and has been writing about film professionally since 2008. He harbours a particular fondness for western and sci-fi movies.
