Nomads (DVD, 2002)

NOMADS, Director John McTiernan's first film, is a blueprint for his later psychic thrillers, PREDATOR, DIE HARD, and THE LAST ACTION HERO. Here he boldly delivers a movie which deviates from the blasé and conventional plots popular in most mid-eighties films. After moving to Los Angeles, Pommier (Pierce Brosnan), a cultural anthropologist and his wife, Niki (Anna Maria Montecelli) are attacked by a group of what appears to be angry street kids. It turns out that the punky group are not urban riff raff, but in fact, evil Eskimo spirits called the Innuat which have been haunting Pommier across the planet. Eventually driven mad by the spirits, Brosnan transfers his persona into Dr. Flax (Lesley-Anne Downs). In order to rid herself of the malady, she joins Niki and searches out the Innuat. With NOMADS, McTiernan treats the viewer to a cinematic cascade of lunacy. The viewer sees Pommier's memories through Flax's eyes: or, are the memories merely a hallucination? One isn't sure until the shocking finale, which make NOMADS both frightening and unforgettable.