Relic director’s next film compared to Rosemary’s Baby, The Wicker Man

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

Yesterday we shared the teaser trailer for writer/director Natalie Erika James' debut feature RELIC, which IFC Midnight will be giving a theatrical and VOD/Digital release on July 10th. While we wait for that movie to be released, James is already in development on her second feature, which we've previously heard would be titled DRUM WAVE.

Written by James and her RELIC co-writer Christian White, DRUM WAVE tells the story of 

a pianist who goes to a remote island in Japan where she is forced to confront motherhood issues as the town holds its annual fertility festival.

Speaking with Screen Daily, James revealed that she's drawing inspiration from a pair of all-time classics for this one: 

I'm writing a new project with Christian which is a Japanese folk horror, a la THE WICKER MAN and ROSEMARY'S BABY. It's about motherhood, fear of motherhood, the loss of selfhood. We’re writing a second draft right now, working with the same producers who did RELIC at Carver Films."

Those producers she mentioned are Anna McLeish and Sarah Shaw.

I'm very curious to check out RELIC, and James' choices remind me of Ari Aster at the moment. Aster's debut feature HEREDITARY was a horror movie about a family that started with the death of a grandmother. RELIC is a horror movie about a family that starts with the disappearance of a grandmother. Aster's second feature MIDSOMMAR was a WICKER MAN-inspired folk horror tale about a remote community holding a festival, and James' second feature will be a WICKER MAN-inspired folk horror tale about remote community holding a festival. I'm sure it's a coincidence and the stories are very different overall, it's just interesting two see two filmmakers getting started with similar concepts.

We'll keep you updated on RELIC as its release date gets closer, and on DRUM WAVE as James continues to push it toward production.