Those familiar with Japanese filmmaker Sion Sono will appreciate his bizarre Sundance film, Prisoners of the Ghostland. They’ll also understand why Nicolas Cage was a perfect fit to star in this crazy concoction about a notorious criminal, ironically named Hero, who ventures into a twisted supernatural land to rescue a corrupt official’s daughter.
As seen in the new trailer, genres are mashed-up in nutty ways. You’ve got your samurai epic stuff and a little bit of Mad Max-style apocalyptic desolation. It’s all par for the course for the provocative Sono, and a damn sight different than Cage’s recent dramatic acclaim for Pig.
Also in the cast are Sofia Boutella, Ed Skrein, Nick Cassavetes, Yuzuka Nakaya, plus Bill Moseley of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and The Devil’s Rejects. This thing is a cult movie lover’s dream, and yet it didn’t sit well with me at all.
Prisoners of the Ghostland opens in theaters and VOD on September 17th.
PRISONERS OF THE GHOSTLAND is set in the treacherous frontier city of Samurai Town where a ruthless bank robber is sprung from jail by wealthy warlord The Governor, whose adopted granddaughter Bernice has gone missing. The Governor offers the prisoner his freedom in exchange for retrieving the runaway. Strapped into a leather suit that will self-destruct within three days, the bandit sets off on a journey to find the young woman—and his own path to redemption.
