The Wicker Man celebrates its 40th anniversary with The Final Cut

Back in December 1973 movie fans were exposed to two of the best horror films ever made. Some shocked audiences watched as two priests fought to release a young Linda Blair from a demonic possession in The Exorcist while others sat transfixed as Christopher Lee made a terrifying sacrifice of the highest order. The latter was Robin Hardy’s cult classic ‘The Wicker Man’.

This year, forty years on, The Wicker Man celebrates a very special anniversary. For the past year STUDIOCANAL have been conducting an extensive worldwide search for lost film materials from this epic piece of filmmaking, including a public appeal to fans for clues as to the whereabouts of the missing original cut.

Eventually director Robin Hardy was able to confirm that a 35mm release print found in Harvard Film Archives was indeed the cut he had himself put together in 1979 for the US release,

“Sadly, it seems as though this has been lost forever. However I am delighted that a 1979 Abraxas print has been found as I also put together this cut myself, and it crucially restores the story order to that which I had originally intended.This version of The Wicker Man will be known as The Final Cut.”

This chilling and macabre story is about a devout Christian policeman who, while investigating the disappearance of a young girl, finds himself in conflict with the close-knit community of Summerisle, an island paradise ruled by Lord Summerisle himself (Christopher Lee). As his search becomes more fraught and embroiled in mystery, the behaviour of the natives leads to an astonishing crescendo, making The Wicker Man arguably one of the best horror films of all time.

STUDIOCANAL UK are proud to announce that the first ever full restoration of The Wicker Man will be hitting the cinemas this Friday, followed by a DVD/Blu-ray release on Monday 14 October.

WIN: Your chance to win The Wicker Man – The Final Cut on DVD
http://thelatest.co.uk/brighton/2013/09/24/competitions-win-the-wicker-man-40th-anniversary-dvds/