The Wicker Tree
Media Reviews & Quotes
From The Fantasia International Film festival in Montreal, Canada and The Film4 FrightFest, London in August 2011






The Wicker Tree
British
Lion's
current
release is
Robin Hardy's
The Wicker
Tree who
also directed
the British
Lion cult
classic The
Wicker Man
in 1973.
Both movies
produced by
Peter Snell







'To me, The Wicker Man has always been a brilliant black comedy - brilliant because, like Psycho, it plays so beautifully with audience sympathies'
Damon Wise, EmpireOnline

'I agree. I have tried to create
The Wicker Tree from the same mould.'
Robin Hardy, Writer/Director

'a fully realized work of a cinematic visionary'

'This is not only a great genre film, but a film that pushes the boundaries of cinema itself, easily on par with the works of our greatest contemporary filmmakers' Justine Smith, soundonsight

'Brittania Nicol as the young American gospel singer Beth (and former pop star and singer of the rather lovely 'Trailer Trash Love') is simply brilliant'

'all the more shocking by the calm of the gorgeous lilting folk songs and speckles of warm, earthy humour' damatomato, frightfest.co.uk

'...the holy sacrament becomes unspeakable sacrifice, the hymn "The Power Of The Blood" is twisted into something unsettling and the resurrection of Christ is referenced in deeply sinister blood ritual'

'music is a high point for the film - mingling folk songs, Christian hymn and country music'
Terry Mulcahy, Film4.com

'a surrepticiously intelligent cache of social commentary'
Kurt Halfyard, twitchfilm.com

'more overtly and deliberately comedic
than The Wicker Man'
Richard Street http://streetrw.blogspot.com

'The Wicker Tree carries a strong sexual imperative at the expense of all notions of chastity'
Alexandre Duguay, sinsitremag.com

'It inhabits the same universe as the first film and it is inspired by the same spirit'

'the unique colors of Scotland's haunting, charming folk songs, all with a pervasive dreamlike sexuality'

'an unusual blend of comedy, musical, thriller and horror film'
Mitch Davis, cyberpresse

'the genius casting and genuinely hokey performances by the two American leads contribute greatly to the guffawing'
EvilAndy, dreadcentral.com







'There's corrupted innocence, bare boobs and ominous foreshadowing'
Michael Gingold, fangoria.com

'Although the film becomes quite horrific in it's second half, the whole is often so funny that one laughs out loud with the vividly drawn characters, in situations that are sometimes gross, sometimes ingenuous, all with the kind of delicious repartee which one only finds in classic horror films'
Jimmy Chartrand, coteblogue.ca

'there's something off-the-wall and bespoke about...Hardy's films that really appeals...you'll see faces, performances and scenes that you'll never see in any other movie'

'like The Wicker Man, and the little-seen follow-up The Fantasist (1989), this is another uneven renegade production that throws up images, moods, lines, ideas and jokes that are sure to stay long in the mind'

'Hardy has some beautifully mischievous points to make about religion'
Damon Wise, empireonline


On Twitter
'The Wicker Tree is The Empire Strikes Back to The Wicker Man's Star Wars. That good. That. Good.'
@Star_wars_Star Wars Spielzeug

'The Wicker Tree is a masterpiece.
Terrence Malick needs to see this film to see how it's done. A classic. Stone cold classic.'
@greghemphill69 Greg Hemphill

'If I've learned only one thing from Twitter today, it's that I NEED to see THE WICKER TREE as soon as is flamin' well possible'
@robbiereviews Robbie Collin

'I really enjoyed THE WICKER TREE, not what I was expecting at all but brilliantly surprised with how much it made laugh'
@eatsleepjordanjordanmcgrath

'The Wicker Tree is a total surprise and my film of the fest so far. Camp, funny, creepy. Like the more esoteric work of Ken Russell'
@mondomovie Ben Howard