Sundance ’21: Prisoners of the Ghostland

Westerns have been taking inspiration from Samurai films—and vice versa—for years, so why not put them together? And who better to do it than a master of chaos like Sion Sono, in his first English language production? In terms of cinematic firsts, Sono in English is up there with “Garbo Talks” for fans of hyper-kinetic genre films. An anti-hero known only as “Hero” is in for a wild ride in Sono’s Prisoners of the Ghostland, which premiered as part of the 2021 Sundance Film Festival.

Hero is an outlaw, but he is not evil. Unfortunately, he was teamed-up with the aptly named “Psycho,” who suddenly started blowing away customers in the bank they try to rob in the prologue. Eventually, the law caught up with him, but the sinister “Governor” of a weirdly undefined Wild West Japanese town offers him a deal he has to accept. Hero must “rescue” the Governor’s adopted granddaughter, Bernice, who ran off into the dreaded “Ghostland.” It is sort of a radioactive wasteland, in the Mad Max tradition, but with more radiation and more ghosts.

There will be a few complicating factors for Hero, like the booby-trapped leather jumpsuit the Governor straps him into. The whole thing will self-destruct if he is not back with Bernice in five days. There also happen to be strategically located explosives to regulate his behavior—very strategically, if you follow. He will need her voice to forestall an explosion, but she has been struck dumb by the supernatural power of the Ghostland.

If you know the recent work of Sono and Nic Cage than no review will dissuade you from watching Ghostland. Happily, their first collaboration lives up to its billing. Honestly, Cage gets his most mime-able rant perhaps ever, which he totally knocks out of the park. Oh, you will know it when you hear it.

Boar: The Year of the Pig on Shudder

It’s the Year of the Pig again, but horror movie producers are weirdly tardy on capitalizing. What, do they want us to watch Pig Hunt all year? At least Shudder finally stepped up to the plate. Logically, they acquired a new-ish killer pig movie from Australia, the country that proudly brought us Razorback. The pork will do all the feeding when Chris Sun’s Boar premieres today on Shudder.

There is a killer boar out there preying on travelers who stray too far into the Australian Outback. What’s not to get? In this case, some significant Australian genre specialists will pop up to serve as snacks. There is no missing huge Nathan Jones, who played the freakish Leatherface-esque slasher killer in Sun’s Charlie’s Farm, but this time around, he gets to be the hero: meathead farmer Bernie. He will be hosting his city slicker sister Debbie, her second husband Bruce, daughter Ellie and boring son Bart, as well as Ellie’s jerky boyfriend, who is keen to join the family. He will take the fam to see some of Oz’s wonderful natural sights, but at Debbie’s insistence, he only brings one gun. In retrospect, that was a mistake.

John Jarratt, best known as the vicious Mick Taylor in the Wolf Creek franchise, gets to play a decent feller this time around as old blokey Ken, who is simultaneously rattling around the big pig’s feeding grounds with his old crony Blue. Horror veteran Bill Moseley also effectively plays against type as the immensely likable Bruce. For his part, Jones shows he could have a credible future as muscle-laden genre protagonists. Chris Haywood, who appeared in the old school 80s Razorback, memorably drops in to portray the silly old codger who saw the big boar, but his warnings went in vain, due to his being a drunken bumkin. However, Melissa Tkautz steals multiple scenes as Ken’s sarcastic pub-keeper daughter.

Boar is far from a perfect film, but the pig attacks are surprisingly fast and brutal. Honestly, the bloodthirsty beast looks and sounds deadly in the extreme. You have to give Sun and the effects team credit, because the boar feeding sequences are shockingly intense. Unfortunately, the characterization is a little thin and much of the dialogue is flatter and more wooden than plywood panels. Of course, this is a horror movie about rampaging swine, so that is almost to be expected.

So, lets all eat a big plate of ham and bacon today, for the sake of public safety. Pig Hunt remains the gold standard of monster pig movies, but at least Boar is far superior to the manipulative and disingenuous Okja. It is straight-up exploitation throwback, but that is really the whole charm of it all. Recommended for retro animal horror fans, Boar starts streaming today (6/6) on Shudder.

Dead Souls: A Birthday Surprise

An unexpected bequest is always a dramatically mixed blessing in horror films.  Take Johnny Petrie, for instance.  On his eighteenth birthday, he learns he is adopted and has inherited the farmhouse where his birth father killed the rest of his original family.  Returning to claim his legacy, Petrie will be forced to deal with some supernatural family business in Colin Theys’ Dead Souls (trailer here), the Chiller original film based on the novel by Michael Laimo, which premieres this Friday night.

One dark and stormy night, the infant Petrie’s preacher father up and killed his family in a bizarre ritual, but not before his big brother safely hid him away.  Eighteen years later, give or take, Petrie is living in New York with his super-Christian, hyper-protective, hypochondriac aunt, whom he believes to be his real mother.  Oh, but not so, as he learns from the lawyer handling his parents’ estate, upon reaching his majority.  When his presumed mother is once again admitted to the hospital, Petrie is able to sneak up north to take possession.

Strangely, once the prodigal son arrives, a pack of locals tries to strong-arm him back to the City.  His estate attorney is also eager to facilitate a lucrative potential sale ASAP and be rid of him, but Petrie wants to look around, soaking up his roots.  Before long, he comes across Emma, a squatter, which is exciting for him, because she’s a girl.  Unfortunately, they are not alone.  The spookiness starts coming fast and furious, possibly involving the sacramental killing of his family.  It seems the ritual was not completed.  Our first clue would be the fact that Petrie is still alive.

Theys has a good grasp on the three classical unities as they apply to horror movies.  The creaky old barn and farmhouse are quite ominous looking (with credit also due to Paul Pribble and Jeanette Drake’s design teams), giving the film a genuine sense of place.  Indeed, Souls is surprisingly distinctive visually, but the story itself is rather workaday genre stuff.  The evil psychotic clergyman is also a decidedly tired cliché, though one could argue his cult does not really qualify as Christian, per se.

On the plus side of the ledger, the cast-members are all professional grade.  Jesse James is sufficiently moody and confused as Petrie, but horror fans will be more interested in the supporting cast, particularly cult favorite Bill Moseley (of Devil’s Rejects and House of 1,000 Corpses infamy), who lends grizzled credibility to the third act as former Sheriff Depford.  Jaiden Kaine also brings some energy to the proceedings as Andrew Judson, the dodgy lawyer (is there any other kind?).

The mechanics of Souls are fairly strong and it boasts some colorful, fan-pleasing supporting turns.  There are eerie moments, particularly by television standards, but it always clear what general direction it is headed.  For horrors fans who value atmosphere over story, Dead Souls should still work well enough.  It airs this Friday night (10/12) on Chiller TV.