Starring: Nicolas Cage, Sofia Boutella, Bill Moseley, Tak Sakaguchi, Nick Cassavetes
Director: Sion Sono
Released: 2021
Mood: If you’ve got a fever and the only cure is more Nicolas Cage.
My obsessive pursuit of horror Westerns has taken me to some strange places – but none so bizarre as watching Nicolas Cage in a dystopian Japanese Wild West, with only one testicle, shouting “Hi-f*cking-ya!” at his enemies.
Prisoners of the Ghostland has a lot of symbolism, even more flashing lights, and the most extras doing the most at all times.
There’s clear Western representation in some characters, costumes, and various tropes. I didn’t get any horror vibes from it, though. It doesn’t successfully build suspense, despite the presence of a giant clock in the Ghostland and time literally ticking down on Cage’s life if he doesn’t complete his mission. But there’s quite a bit of violence, some gore, and a bunch of mutants with physical deformities, which is probably horror-esque to some.
Honestly the most disturbing plot point is the rich old politician who keeps a harem of young women as sex slaves, and shouts things like “make this country great again” and “long live the animal farm.”
Overall this film is high on action, high on effects, and probably best watched while high on something.
Prisoners of the Ghostland takes place in a near-future version of Japan, after a cataclysmic event. A bus full of violent prisoners crashed into a transport vehicle full of nuclear waste, resulting in the region being quarantined. Naturally a rich white Texan called Governor (Bill Moseley) became the leader, and turned it into what is now called Samurai Town – a city full of cowboys, samurai, and comfort women.
Governor calls his personal gaggle of girls his “granddaughters.” One of them, Bernice (Sofia Boutella), runs away into the deadly Ghostland area beyond city limits. Governor springs bank robber Hero (Nicolas Cage) from jail to hunt her down in exchange for a pardon.
Hero is given a black bodysuit with multiple bombs attached to it, two specifically located on his nuts, and some strict rules. Locate the girl within five days, get her to speak her name into a device, and don’t harm her in any way.
But the Ghostland isn’t what it seems, Hero keeps getting brutally injured and blacking out, and Bernice is catatonic from trauma. Will he return Bernice to her creepy predatory captor and earn his life and freedom? Are we really rooting for that?
Prisoners of the Ghostland feels a bit like someone turned a Friday night game of Smash Up into a script, and then peppered it with meaning before hitting publish.
Picture The Good, the Bad and the Ugly taking place in the world of Return to Oz, with samurai. Or The Fisher King meets Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, with samurai. I don’t watch samurai movies, so I don’t have a good reference to use.
But that isn’t to say there’s no merit. There’s quite a bit that makes it worth a watch.
- It’s super unique compared to other dystopian Westerns
- Bill Moseley and Tak Sakaguchi are excellent
- Nic Cage is everything you want him to be
- The visuals are stunning
Seriously, watch this clip and tell me you DIDN’T enjoy him screaming “testicle!” I love this era of Nic Cage.
Prisoners of the Ghostland was supposed to be shot in Mexico to look like a Spaghetti Western, but filming switched to Japan due to director Sion Sono’s heart attack and recovery. The nontraditional locale somehow aligns just right with Cage delivering an unhinged take on the iconic man-in-black character.
The visuals, sets, and costumes are captivating. The desert scenes feel like an ‘80s carnival overrun by a chaotic folk parade of mutants, rat men, and people who might be in a death cult or are actual ghosts. And the town scenes are richly layered with elements of east and west, old and new. The score is also appropriately weird.
Some reviewers have said that the movie is clearly an allegory for Japanese history, specifically the fallout after Hiroshima was bombed. The hands on the ominious clock point to 8:15, the time when the first atomic bomb was dropped by the US Army Air Force, there are multiple mushroom cloud scenes, and there are blue flowers in a possible reference to radiation.
Sono said in several interviews that the movie is about time, which is much more obvious even if you don’t usually pick up on symbolism, which I don’t. Although I did pick up on the mushroom clouds.
Even though Prisoners of the Ghostland has a lot of flashbacks – and I mean a LOT – I actually could have used more so we could get to know the backstories of the other main characters. Bernice, Yasujiro, Psycho, and Enoch are all interesting characters deserving of more than the mere morsels we got to know about them. Heck, I’m even curious about how Governor came to run a town in Japan.
It’s a fascinating universe that writer Reza Sixo Safai has created. If it became a graphic novel series, I’d be all over it. In fact, there were a several elements of the movie that reminded me of East of West, which I love.
If you want to watch a futuristic Western like nothing you’ve ever seen before, give ‘er. But if you want to really trip out on a Nic Cage horror movie, I’d go with Mandy instead.
