STARBURST has teamed with Last British Dragon to exclusively reveal the new poster and screenshots of James Crow’s latest feature film, The Wicker Children. A personal independent film that Crow calls a love letter to the pagan horror films he grew up loving. The film will be released next year with a premiere scheduled near Easter, when he will also unveil the trailer for his company’s next film, The 13th Child.
The film is a psychological horror following an undercover investigator, Hazel (Mirabel Stuart), looking into the disappearance of a mother, Willow Downing, in a strange cult in the country. There she befriends three mysterious children who tell her stories of the woods and are watched over by an ominous father.
James Crow, whose 2015 film Curse of the Witching Tree is currently streaming on Netflix and had a rave review from us, said of the new film: “The Wicker Children was a real passion project and work of love. I think we created something really special. I wanted to create something with a feel of something from the sixties and seventies like The Blood on Satan’s Claw. Mirabel Stuart gives an outstanding lead performance, and the three child actors deliver wonderful, natural, and eerie performances. I think the cast is really great and Pete Coleman’s music is outstanding. I can’t wait to finally share it with people”.
Mirabel Stuart, the lead actress, said: “What drew me to playing Hazel was she’s so multifaceted: a policewoman who goes undercover as a live-in nanny which actually gave me the opportunity to play two sides of the character, exposing different layers in how she attempts to solve the case of the disappearance of ‘The Mother’. I think the plot’s clues and twists will really appeal to audiences as they are challenged to piece it all together. Filming in the middle of nowhere in the Welsh countryside and the authentic stately home gave the perfect creepy backdrop to this gripping horror!”
The film was shot on location in wales and co-produced by Benjamin David with Mirabel Stuart also acting as associate producer, alongside Texan Crow Productions, Paul Hughbanks Entertainment and Terrifying Productions.
It’s been a busy year for Last British Dragon and James Crow, as they recently receiving their first government funding to create a short drama From Mariupol to Maidstone, which has been showing at multiple film festivals. Coming next year James has Harbinger, his second film with Shogun films as director, plus The 13 Child starring Peter DeSouza-Feighoney the lead child star of The Pope’s Exorcist and Peter Pan’s Neverland Nightmare. On what’s coming next, Crow says “I’m working on several new scripts at moment which I’m in exciting talks for but can’t speak about just yet. I am however making a new anthology horror called Urban Monsters, which we’ll be starting soon. It’s a real nod to Creepshow and Tales from the Crypt. We’ve had great fun creating monsters with some terrifying backstories and we’ll be releasing more news soon! The first monster will be played by Les Mills who was the main villain in my film House of Salem plus he delivered a great Krampus in Nightmare on 34th Street. It’s going to be a lot of fun!”
The film will be heading to film festivals in January and is now going to distributors and sales agents for an expected international release early next year. They’ll also be news soon on how to get tickets for the UK premiere of The Wicker Children and also a special screening stateside in Texas with the director. Watch this space!
