So far, readers, there have been two major horror films called Season Of The Witch* – George A. Romero’s 1972 chiller (called Hungry Wives in the States), and Tommy Lee Wallace’s Halloween III: Season Of The Witch, also known as the one without Michael Myers.
But now Dominic Sena and Nicolas Cage are about to make that three.
The director and star, who last worked together in 2000 on Jerry Bruckheimer’s car chase blockbuster, Gone In 60 Seconds, have signed on to bring Season Of The Witch to the big screen.
The film, described as a supernatural thriller (so that’s a horror, then), will see Cage play a 14th century knight who is charged with bringing a witch, who’s suspected of being responsible for the origin of the Black Plague, to a monastery for exorcism.
Sounds intriguing – and it’s refreshing to see a horror film not only with a major actor like Cage attached, but also one with a premise that doesn’t involve teenagers being picked off one by one. Season Of The Witch sounds like it could be a sombre, serious and hopefully scary horror flick.
Certainly, Sena showed with his first film – Kalifornia – that he can conjure an ominous mood. Intriguingly, though, his most recent movie – the Kate Beckinsale thriller, Whiteout, is still awaiting release. We hope that’s not a bad sign.
As for Cage, he’s clearly something of a horror fan. After all, he signed on recently to a John Carpenter vehicle, Scared Straight, and then there was, of course, The Wicker Man. Although perhaps it’s best we don’t mention that. But if he commits to this whole-heartedly, in typical wild-eyed Cage fashion, we could be in for a treat.
Filming on the movie, which was written by Bragi Schut Jr. and will be produced by Chuck Roven and Alex Gartner, will begin in early November in Austria and Hungary.
And yes, film buffs, Martin Scorsese’s Mean Streets was originally entitled, Season Of The Witch.