It will be the final horrific episode in a trilogy of films, begun in 1973 by famed Scottish film The Wicker Man.

However writer and director Robin Hardy, whose original film starring Edward Woodward and Christopher Lee is now considered to be a classic of its kind, is asking for some help from the public to make his next Scottish-shot drama, The Wrath of the Gods.

Hardy, who followed The Wicker Man with 2011's The Wicker Tree, plans to begin shooting The Wrath of the Gods in November, with locations in Inverness, Shetland and Iceland.

Today he launches a crowdfunding campaign to raise an initial £140,000 needed to "get the cameras rolling".

Hardy is using the Indiegogo crowdfunding online platform to raise the money - contributors can receive various items in return for funding, including appearing as an extra in the movie.

Yesterday Hardy, who has written and will direct the film, said that The Wrath of the Gods was not a direct sequel to The Wicker Man, but a thematic one.

He said: "It is a sequel in terms of its genre, it is the same in that it features the music, the jokes, the sex, the mystery of The Wicker Man.

"It it not like modern horror films, which have buckets of blood in the first five minutes - this, like the Wicker Man, should frighten the pants off you in the last two minutes."

The money raised will be used to build three key items needed for the film - part of a Norse theme park, a "seaworthy" Viking ship, as well as "steampunk" artefacts, including a steam-driven helicopter and motorcycle.

"We need to build them so we are ready to go when filming starts," he said. "It is an expensive thing to do."

In the movie, The Whimsey Company of California decide to create a theme park featuring the Norse Sagas.

A group of intrepid Californians journey into a world "completely unprepared to deal with the descendants of the warrior Vikings, a people who believe in the supernatural."

James Mapes, Christopher Leveaux and Halla Williams have already been cast in roles for the film - Williams is an Icelandic TV and film actress and singer.

Hardy said that the plot had no connection to the 1973 film, which the late Christopher Lee, who played Lord Summerisle, considered to be his favourite film.

The Wicker Man was written by Anthony Shaffer and was filmed in a series of Scottish locations including of Gatehouse of Fleet, Newton Stewart, Kirkcudbright, Creetown, the Isle of Whithorn, and Culzean Castle in Ayrshire.

Like The Wicker Man, The Wrath of the Gods will feature much music, including bluegrass, folk, pop, and the classical work of Richard Wagner.

Hardy said he had spoken to Lee shortly before he died.

"He had been in a lot of pain for a long time," he said.

"But he was very brave about it, and he had one of the greatest innings of all the film stars - he made more than 200 films.

"It was very gratifying when he said The Wicker Man was his favourite."

Those who wish to contribute to the film can visit https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/the-wrath-of-the-gods