PEGGY J. ROGERS:Wicker Man remake? Watch the original

The new Nicolas Cage movie is a remake of the cult classic “The Wicker Man.” Changes in the 2006 version, directed by Robin Hardy, from 1973 alter its status from being a remake to being a rewrite.

The story stays intact. However, its main character, the overall mood and philosophy differ radically. The revisions change the humorous but chilling original into a moody and confusing adaptation.

Neil Howie travels to a remote island investigating the disappearance of a young girl. Summerisle is a tight-knit community where everyone knows everyone, yet all residents deny they’ve ever seen or known Rowan Morrison.

Howie knows they are lying. Worse, he realizes they are hindering his investigation.

The plot remains faithful to the original movie. Revealing any more of the story means spoiling it for the audience. Discussing the differences between the earlier and newer version, however, won’t give the ending away.

In the first film, Howie is an uptight religious conservative police captain. He is a man to be admire, though, because he stands by his beliefs and convictions, especially in the face of adversity.

The people he meets are free-loving neo-pagan disciples of the island’s owner, Lord Summerisle.

Repulsed by their flagrant lifestyle, he nevertheless faces a moral dilemma. He’s irresistibly attracted to the openly sexy Willow, a bar maid. Her seduction of Howie is partly mesmerizing but also campy, because it’s done as a song-and-exotic-dance number.

The original “Wicker Man” is an eclectic collection of genres: musical, drama, satire and comedy. Despite the low budget and outdated editing style, the film’s story holds up through time.

Dropping a devout Christian in the middle of a hedonistic cult creates a compelling reason to keep watching just to find out what happens next. “Make love not war” and “down with the establishment” were the mantras of the early ‘70s. Incorporating the cultural mores and conflicts of the time into the story line makes the film a piece of art imitating life.

Not so with the remake.

Cage as Howie is an emotional wreck. A routine traffic stop resulting in a loss of life perpetually haunts his waking and sleeping hours. He’s on sick leave when he goes and investigates the missing girl.

His search for Morrison mixes with his recurring nightmares and apparitions of the people from the car accident. The connection is left up for the audience to decide. Is the girl from the car accident really Morrison?

Or, is Howie having a breakdown? His nerves are on edge. He loses his temper quickly, gets frustrated easily and stumbles around a lot. His behavior, attitude and sensitive nature make him a weak character and difficult to respect.

Instead of being fun-loving hippies, the islanders are zombie-like party poopers. The women are in charge. The men have a collective IQ of a moron and do all the minimum-wage work.

Like the original, the residents belong to a cult. A cult about what is impossible to tell, because it is never explained. Somehow it involves bees, honey and the harvest.

Intended to be a horror story, the remake makes promises it fails to deliver. A minor character’s brutal death meant to shock the audience confuses them instead.

The scenes takes less than a minute on screen. Because the man is unrecognizable at first and could be a bad guy, there is no shock or remorse felt about his death.

The original is better. Wait to watch the remake for free.