Monday, October 12, 2015

Only now does it occur to me... NOMADS

Only now does it occur to me... that 1980s bizarro arthouse fantasy-horror flick NOMADS (from director John McTiernan, whose work includes DIE HARD, PREDATOR, and LAST ACTION HERO) has––in addition to Pierce Brosnan doing a wonderfully ridiculous French accent–– some incredibly inspired and eclectic casting.

The eponymous band of nomads, who appear as post-apocalyptic 1980s biker punks straight out of CYBORG or ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK, happen to include rocker Adam Ant:

singer Josie Cotton (of "Johnny, Are You Queer?"):

sinister character actor Frank Doubleday (who I've referred to as "John Carpenter's Klaus Kinski" after his appearances in ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13 and ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK):

Alvin Ailey dancer and Cannon Films henchman Héctor Mercado (of DELTA FORCE 2 and DEATH WISH 4):
 
 and cult legend Mary Woronov (EATING RAOUL, ROCK N' ROLL HIGH SCHOOL).

I would've liked to have seen Paul Bartel also dressed as an 80s punk biker.

Hell, we even have David Lynch's favorite granny Frances Bay as a terrifying nun.

On the whole, NOMADS is an atmospheric fantasy thriller that, I guess, does for anthropology what JURASSIC PARK did for paleontology?

In closing, I never thought I would see Mary Woronov dancing creepily to Ted Nugent guitar riffs as Pierce Brosnan tries to photograph her, in the name of science.



There is at least a Ph.D's worth of behavioral science in this tableau.



2015 HALLOWEEN COUNTDOWN

3 comments:

  1. Let me just say that I can't decide whether Brosnan's French accent in this one is brilliant or terrible. It's possible that it's both at the same time! When it showed up on Netflix, I immediately watched it and was kinda shocked that I had literally never heard of it before. It's way cool, but it definitely seems like something I should've remembered, like on VHS as a kid or something.

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  2. Mike,

    I'd never seen this till it was on Netflix instant, during my John McTiernan-completist phase (ohh, ROLLERBALL 2002), and it definitely has that underground 80s chic to it, like THE HUNGER or VAMP. As you say, I am kinda surprised I don't remember the VHS cover, which seems to have been pretty solid!:
    http://www.vhscollector.com/sites/default/files/vhscovers/nomads-paramount1%20%28VHSCollector.com%29%20.jpg

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  3. Oh yeah, that cover is schweet indeed!

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