NOMADS (1986 - SUPERNATURAL THRILLER/MYSTERY) ****1/2 out of ***** / 9 out of 10
CAST: Pierce Brosnan, Lesley-Anne Down, Anna Maria Monticelli, Adam Ant, Jeannie Elias, Alan Autry, Nina Foch, Hector Mercado, Mary Woronov, Frances Bay.
DIRECTOR: John McTiernan
WARNING: Some SPOILERS and some damn good reason to "not look too closely" - straight ahead.
IT'S LIKE THIS: If there was ever a movie to preach the merits of not working as an ER doctor, it's this one. Our next review is the undiscovered, low-budget "diamond-in-the-rough" supernatural thriller NOMADS, which starred Pierce Brosnan in his REMINGTON STEELE heyday, and was directed by John McTiernan before he graduated to helming pricier blockbuster fare like PREDATOR, DIE HARD, THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER, THE THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR (remake), and LAST ACTION HERO. Okay, alright, I wouldn't brag about that last one, but that is another story.
Anyhow, NOMADS gets started with a typically chaotic night at a typically chaotic Los Angeles emergency room. One of the attending doctors is the lovely Eileen Flax (Lesley-Anne Down), who is on the tail-end of a 36-hour shift. Yes, folks: thirty-six hours. Bet you lazy assholes out there complaining about the TWO WHOLE HOURS of overtime you had to work last weekend will now kindly shut the fuck up. You know who you are. After you see what Dr. Flax goes through, you will never ever whine again about your shift.
So back to our lovely Eileen who, as we mentioned before, got the raw end of the deal when it came to her work schedule. She only has about four more hours to go on her (oh. dear. lord) 36-hour shift before she can go home to continue unpacking her apartment. You see, Eileen just got divorced and moved to L.A. from Boston, where her ex-husband lives and is clearly a tool of the greatest magnitude since he voluntarily parted with a chick who looks like Lesley-Anne Down. Dumb. Ass. Sweetie, you're better off in Cali. Take my word for it.
Unfortunately, any hopes Eileen had of sailing through the rest of her shift unscathed are cruelly dashed when her next patient is wheeled in to the ER. He is none other than Pierce Brosnan. Well, someone who looks a hell of a lot like him, anyway. But also bug-eyed and screaming in French as though a red-hot poker with diamond studs was just shoved up his ass. Zut alours! Mon Dieu! Eileen tries to do her job, but our hot French mystery patient just keeps muttering madly in French: "N'somp pas. S'on des inuat." Or something like that.
Well, I'll just cut to the chase and tell you folks that it all ends pretty badly: our Frenchie McFrench patient has a seizure and grabs our good doctor and whispers something into her ear. Right before croaking right there on the ER floor. For her part, Eileen shrugs off the whole thing as yet another crackhead freaked out of his gourd and moves on to her next patient. Just another night in the ER, no?
No. Not even close. You see, it turns out that Frenchie McFrench was not just some crackhead who looked like Pierce Brosnan. He was actually a highly-respected French anthropologist named Dr. Jean-Charles Pommier. Who looks like Pierce Brosnan. Remember how in our last review of POSSESSION, we talked about The Sexy Scholar/Scientist cliche in movies? You know, seriously fuckable hotties-with-titles like Dr. Christmas Jones and Dr. Will Rodman? Well, Dr. JC Pommier is yet another one of that unique (but not always believable) breed.
Right now, you're probably wondering why Pierce Brosnan is top-billed, but yet his character dies within, like, two minutes of the opening credits. Patience, young Jedi. You see, soon Eileen starts having "visions" and "flashes" to Jean-Charles final days, as if she is reliving his last hours. She also finds out from her foul-mouthed colleague Cassie (Jeannie Elias) that "N'somp pas. S'on d'es inuat" actually translates to "They are not there! They are Inuat!" What the fuck is an "Inuat"?
Well, Eileen doesn't have to wait long to find out. A friend from Boston does some research for her and she finally finds out what Inuat are: Nomads. According to an ancient myth, Nomads are roaming, malicious, evil ghosts who are capable of taking human form, are attracted to places where horrible deaths occurred, and generally go unnoticed by most people. Those unlucky enough to "look too closely" and see the Nomads, however, are soon targeted and, eventually, killed. Hence, Jean-Charles' insane muttering of "N'somp pas. S'on des inuat." What he was actually telling Eileen in the ER was: "They are not there! They are Nomads!"
Soon enough, Eileen realizes through her flashbacks of Jean-Charles' last two days that he stumbled upon the existence of the Nomads in the modern burg of L.A. - and was hunted by them. Now, because of the telepathic link Jean-Charles made with Eileen before he died, the Nomads may also know about her. Will she be able to escape them? Will Jean-Charles' heartbroken wife Nikki (Anna Maria Monticelli) be able to help her? Or are these two women the next targets of the... Nomads?
Let's put it this way: these ghosts make the ones from THE GRUDGE look like Disney characters. My advice to Eileen and Nikki: run, ladies, run...
BUT, SERIOUSLY: Last fall, we reviewed 51 thrillers that were examples of the Gialli sub-genre. Gialli are Italian thrillers or American/British thrillers that bear heavy influences of the original Italian Gialli. One of the categories was SUPERNATURAL GIALLI, films that have the traditional Gialli trademarks but have a more supernatural bent. Our latest review is a great example of an American Supernatural Giallo. NOMADS has an eerie, other-wordly atmosphere to it that just absolutely drips with doom and foreboding. This is no small feat since the film is set in sunny L.A. - not the gloomy countryside or a dark house. NOMADS turns the sun-drenched and neon-lit streets of Los Angeles into an environment choking with dread. It also feels distinctly European in its somber and methodical build-up to a bone-chilling finale, further reinforcing its link to Italian Gialli.
Like a lot of the original Gialli (especially Dario Argento's classic Supernatural Giallo INFERNO from 1980), NOMADS tells the story in a fractured, surreal way that doesn't spell everything out. Like INFERNO, which also revolved around humans who pay the price of investigating the origins of a supernatural urban myth, this movie may require multiple viewings to pick up on all the layers and pieces of the puzzle. Some folks with short attention spans may be confused or even bored by NOMADS, but those who like their thrillers and mysteries to be challenging and genuinely intriguing will love this film. Once you have pieced everything together, the film makes perfect sense on its own terms.
Pierce Brosnan, Lesley-Anne Down, and Anna Maria Monticelli are all terrific as the three leads. Brosnan made this movie at the height of his REMINGTON STEELE tenure on TV and years before he took on the role of James Bond, but he already showed here that he is more than suited for the big screen. Brosnan evokes sympathy for Jean-Charles and his French accent is (to my ears anyway) quite acceptable. Anna Maria Monticelli is heartbreaking as Nikki, the wife that Jean-Charles leaves behind who finds herself targeted (along with Eileen) by the Nomads. Monticelli has a nice, warm chemistry with Brosnan which goes a long way in building sympathy for the supernaturally-besieged couple they play.
This movie, however, belongs to the exceedingly lovely Lesley-Anne Down. Down was one of my biggest cinematic crushes growing up, and she's terrific here, playing Dr. Eileen Flax with a compelling mix of shy tentativeness, gutsy smarts, and dry humor. Like Brosnan and Monticelli with their characters, Down must create sympathy for Eileen on the fly, since the script is quite taut and all-business. She does this through eloquent non-verbals and expressions, ably conveying Dr. Flax's confusion, terror, courage, and resourcefulness. The character is one of my favorite movie heroines.
Some folks tell me that they don't understand how (or why) Jean-Charles was able to transfer his memories to Eileen before he died. Isn't the answer obvious?, I ask them. Look at the title of the movie - then think about Eileen and Jean-Charles' backgrounds: both are European, both are recently transplanted to L.A., and both are essentially nomadic themselves. Nikki even tells Jean-Charles (in a flashback) at one point that their move to L.A. is the first permanent home they've had in over a decade because of Jean-Charles' work as a traveling anthropologist. Meanwhile, Eileen's recent divorce from her husband has forced her to move to L.A. to start over. It's this shared status as strangers in a strange new land that bond Jean-Charles and Eileen and leads to that fateful "mind-meld."
It's also interesting to note how the traditional Italian Gialli element of an American in a foreign land who is thrust into a deadly mystery is inverted in this American Supernatural Giallo. Here, all three of our leads are foreigners in America who find themselves in the middle of a very dangerous situation that is not of this world. And the atmosphere that writer-director John McTiernan brings to NOMADS is truly remarkable. I can't think of a film with a more oppressive and sinister ambiance than this film, and considering we are always in the middle of sun-drenched L.A., that is a remarkable achievement. Bill Conti's truly ominous and mournful score also further underscores the sense that another world could possibly co-exist with ours - sometimes right in front of our eyes without us knowing.
Then there's that ending, which is easily the best thriller/horror movie twist ending I've ever seen. That's all I'm going to say. Suffice it to say, NOMADS is a hidden gem that deserves to be released on Blu-Ray. It's foreboding atmosphere and creepy aura would be even more effective.
TRIVIA: Arnold Schwarzenegger was so impressed with NOMADS and then-unknown director John McTiernan's talent and style, that he immediately hired McTiernan to direct a little movie called... PREDATOR. Which led McTiernan to another little movie called... DIE HARD. And this led to THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER. And the rest is history...
