'Zardoz' is one of the most unclassifiable works of science fiction. British filmmaker John Boorman secluded himself in the Irish countryside to finish digesting the worst failure of his then-incipient career.

Zardoz failed at the box office despite its large budget, a script that Boorman was particularly proud of and the presence on its poster of a Sean Connery at the peak of his fame. Boorman grew up reading books compulsively in the back room of the pub run by his parents.