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'Boldly Insane' PRISONERS OF THE GHOSTLAND Releasing In Australia Next Month! | Film Combat Syndicate
Following on from the excellent MANDY (2018) and COLOUR OUT OF SPACE (2019), Nic Cage appears in another avante-garde offering called ‘PRISONERS OF THE GHOSTLAND’ (2021). Cage stars as a condemned man recruited by a wealthy stranger to locate and rescue his daughter imprisoned by some bizarre cult like group. Though a simplistic premise, the movie itself is anything but one note and even the two-minute trailer evokes two adjectives: boldly insane.Whether real or imagined, this trailer immediately reminded me of the bizarre ‘EL TOPO’ (1970) directed by Alejandro Jodorowsky. Drawing from symbolism from both East and West, the characterisations in ‘PRISONERS OF THE GHOSTLAND’ (2021) unashamedly wear its influences on its sleeve; adapting cowboys in westerns, sword fighters from samurai films and a clear post-apocalyptic setting – again boasting the premise that, anything goes.
Vance Ang