Since we first started hearing about Prisoners of the Ghostland (2021) everything was getting more and more exciting. Controversial Japanese filmmaker Sion Sono, known for his irreverent films including Antiporno (2016), Love Exposure (2008), or Suicide Club (2001), is making his first English language movie. And Nicolas Cage is going to be the star! Well, that automatically makes Prisoners of the Ghostland (2021) one of the most expected movies of the year, no matter what.
The movie 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.
Prisoners of the Ghostland (2021) is considered a neo-noir western horror action film. Sion Sono directs a screenplay written by actor-turned-writers Aaron Hendry and Reza Sixo Safai.
Besides Nicolas Cage playing the hero of the movie (in fact, his character is named Hero), the attractive main cast is also formed by Sofia Boutella, Nick Cassavetes, Bill Moseley, Tak Sakaguchi, Takato Yonemoto, Narisa Suzuki, Canon Nawata, and Jai West.
Nicolas Cage has said about Prisoners of the Ghostland (2021) that “it might be the wildest movie I’ve ever made, and that’s saying something“, while director Sion Sono has compared it with his Cage’s favorite movie, Wild At Heart (1990). With these references, the movie had its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival early this year. And while we wait for its release in September, here we can watch its first official trailer.
