It is a shame that most American audiences think of the awful Nicolas Cage version when their hear the title THE WICKER MAN. That 2006 piece of donkey flop is only memorable for the “oh god, not the bees!” scene and does a major disservice to the classic 1973 original starring Edward Woodward and Christopher Lee. THE WICKER MAN regularly tops lists of the best British films of all time and rightfully so. It is a chilling and well-crafted horror movie that has been called the CITIZEN KANE of the genre.
As director Robin Hardy prepares his Final Cut of THE WICKER MAN for a theatrical re-release in the US and UK, he brings to us courtesy of Screen Daily his idea for a final chapter to the trilogy started by THE WICKER MAN. You may not have known but Hardy directed a sequel to THE WICKER MAN entitled THE WICKER TREE in 2011. It was not received well by critics but he is still intent to finish the story with the planned WRATH OF THE GODS.
I am just at the opening stages of financing it and hope to make it next year. The first two films are all (about) offers to the Gods. The third film is about the Gods. I use the vehicle of the final act of Götterdämmerung (the last of Wagner’s Ring cycle).”
Very rarely do we get to see a cult filmmaker finish their long desired trilogies. Italian horror master Dario Argento completed his SUSPIRIA trilogy, started in 1977, in 2007 with MOTHER OF TEARS after a long drought (the second film, INFERNO, was made in 1980). If WRATH OF THE GODS goes on schedule and is filmed for a 2014 or 2015 release that would mark 42 years since THE WICKER MAN hit theaters.
Hopefully fans will get to see THE WICKER MAN this time around and gain an appreciation for the great film and hopefully forget Nicolas Cage and those damn bees.
