English author and director Robin Hardy, who made his name with his directorial debut The Wicker Man, has passed away, Mashable reports. The original 1973 feature The Wicker Man is one of those famous 1970’s horror movies that helped to shape the genre for years to come. Under the watchful eye of first-time director Robin Hardy, the film went on to become one of the most iconic and disturbing horror films of all-time, spawning a less-satisfactory 2006 remake as well as companions in what has been called The Wicker Man Trilogy.
The Wicker Man, which has been described as the “Citizen Kane of horror films,” featured Edward Woodward as an investigator dispatched to solve a case on a remote Scottish island only to find disturbing pagan rituals and a strange leader portrayed by Christopher Lee. The film was the first in Hardy’s trilogy of companion films, the second being The Wicker Tree released in 2011. At the time of his death he was working on the third companion piece, The Wrath of the Gods, although no details about the future of the project have been released just yet.
The news of his passing has been confirmed by BBC. Hardy was 86 at the time of his passing. The haunting images from The Wicker Man continue on to this day and have inspired many in film, literature and even music, with iconic British metal band Iron Maiden penning a piece in tribute to the film.
