One of many genre influences prevalent throughout OUTLANDER is John McTiernan’s peerless 80’s jungle action-horror fest PREDATOR, a fact that is immediately apparent from the very first scene of Howard McCain’s movie.
The Moorwen, a dragon-ish creature designed by Patrick Tatoupolous, boarded Jim Caviezel’s ship and killed his crew, causing him to crash-land in 708 A.D. Norway. The creature, which has a big red mouth and smells of death, proceeds to decimate the Norse village where beardy king John Hurt rules with a stern hand. Sophia Myles is Hurt’s daughter and the village babe : in the first scene she looks like she’s about to embark on an armour-themed photo shoot for an 8th century Nordic version of FHM. Caviezel figures in the movie’s central A CONNECTICUT YANKEE IN KING ARTHUR’S COURT fish-out-of-water premise and, after a battle with a grizzly bear and some initial alienation, is warmly welcomed into the village’s grog-laden feasts and primitive party games.
Punctuated by full-blooded, bloody fast-cut battle scenes, OUTLANDER is an unpretentious old-school horror-adventure that feels like a movie 1986 forgot : made two decades ago, it would have starred Arnold Schwarzenegger and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, with a rigorous score by Jerry Goldsmith and creature work by Stan Winston. Made today, it has a dashing, persuasive hero in Caviezel, who conveys around 249% of the emotion Arnie would have shown back in the day, while a solid back-up cast is stolen by the formidable presence of Ron Perlman (ignore the shaky accent) as a mallet-wielding badass who loses his head in a splashy show-stopping rampage moment.
The creature is as much a patchwork of earlier, better genre movies as the script itself : throw in elements of ALIEN, dragons, THE RELIC’s Kathoga, a glowing quadroped, dinosaurs and some green blood and you have an approximation of what to expect. This being 2009, you can also expect a significant amount of CGI creature embellishments that stick out like a sore Nordic thumb (mostly moments involving fire and water) and, truth be told, the scariest shot of the monster is in the trailer, but nonetheless the Moorwen is an enjoyably non-discriminating figure of fear.
Good production values and solid acting help instill a feel of quality to the kind of story the Sci-fi Channel produces for a pittance every month – and, although far too long for this kind of no-brain B picture, OUTLANDER is sufficiently exciting and lively to make for a zippy enough view.
– Steven West
- Interview with J.R. Bookwalter - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Andrew J. Rausch - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Rick Popko and Dan West - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Director Stevan Mena (Malevolence) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Screenwriter Jeffery Reddick (Day of the Dead 2007) - January 22, 2015
- Teleconference interview with Mick Garris (Masters of Horror) - January 22, 2015
- A Day at the Morgue with Corri English (Unrest) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Writer/Director Nacho Cerda (The Abandoned, Aftermath) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actress Thora Birch (Dark Corners, The Hole, American Beauty) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actor Jason Behr, Plus Skinwalkers Press Coverage - January 22, 2015
