Why 'Wicker' Is Sending Women Wild for Cinema's Latest Monster
By Romey Norton - November 2, 2026
Somewhere on a windswept coast, a fisherwoman looks at the man she's lost, or perhaps never had, and decides to make one herself. She commissions the local basketmaker, and out of reeds and willow comes a husband: Alexander Skarsgård, tall, creaking and unmistakably handmade. Olivia Colman plays the woman who wove him into being, and Wicker plays it all with a straight face, practical effects and not a pixel of CGI. It's Cottagecore Frankenstein, and audiences have fallen for it hard.
The trailer barely had time to settle before one clip took over the internet: the wicker husband, ever the helpful spouse, attempting to fix a broken bed. The reaction was instant and delighted. The internet was not just amused by this monster. It's smitten.
Why is Wicker an old romance?
Cinema has always known a secret about its monsters: audiences don't only fear them, they want to take them home.
It began in the shadows of silent film, with F.W. Murnau's 'Nosferatu', where Count Orlok's terrible hunger becomes something closer to obsession. Robert Eggers revived that gothic longing in his 2024 remake, with Bill Skarsgård (Alexander's brother, as it happens) as the Count. Francis Ford Coppola went further in Bram Stoker's Dracula, turning the Count into a tragic, centuries-old lover. Interview with the Vampire and Twilight made immortal devotion a defining romantic fantasy for whole generations.
Werewolves have had their romantic turn too. An American Werewolf in London lets tenderness sit beside the terror, and Twilight famously put a wolf in the love triangle. The beast, it seems, always has a devoted following. And if your a TV series fan, Teen Wolf was filled with a lot of shirtless moments for their lead cast.
Then there are the monsters who never needed fangs. Jean Cocteau's La Belle et la Bête and Disney's Beauty and the Beast built a whole tradition on one idea: the creature behind the mask is worth loving. Tim Burton's Edward Scissorhands gave us a gentle, handmade man who couldn't touch the woman he adored. Guillermo del Toro's The Shape of Water won the Best Picture Oscar with a love story between a mute cleaner and an amphibious creature. His Frankenstein returned to the source, where a made man longs to be loved.
What the monster offers in film?
The romantic monster is never really about the monster. He is devotion without conditions, a love that has waited centuries or been built by hand. He is dangerous to everyone but her (whoever the lead is). He is an outsider who sees her clearly and asks for nothing except to stay.
And what Wicker managed to do is take that tradition somewhere fresh. Even the title carries an echo of 1973's folk-horror classic The Wicker Man, where wicker meant dread. Here the same material becomes tender, comic and quietly seductive. This wicker man is not a sacrifice. He's a husband, woven with care, and he seems intent on being useful.
The cultural reaction confirms it. Memes, clips and gleeful speculation followed the trailer within days, and even IKEA couldn't resist joining in, recasting a humble bench as a "racy accessory". When a furniture brand is flirting with your monster, you know he has arrived.
Where to watch Wicker?
Love him or laugh at him, you'll want to see for yourself why the wicker man is winning hearts. Wicker is out now in UK cinemas following its release on October 30. Watch the film, then head online to read our review to see what critics and audiences are saying about cinema's newest romantic monster.
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Romey Norton
Senior Writer
Romey is a senior writer for Film Focus Online, covering the latest film reviews, news, features and interviews, with a passion for all things cinema.
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