Outlander
Release Date:
January 23, 2009
Limited release
Ah, fantasy writers. Is there no concept so ludicrous they won't dismiss it outright? From the looks of Outlander, that appears to be a big negatory. Writer/director Howard McCain, veteran of Roger Corman productions, brings us this story of an alien (conveniently human-looking) who crash lands on Earth in the Middle Ages in the middle of Viking lands, bringing along with him an ancient enemy.
Oh, sure, it sounds like an accident at the Madlib factory, but this is a real plot that someone wrote down, got money to shoot and convinced recognizable actors to star in.
James Caviezel, worlds away from The Passion of the Christ, stars as the alien, while Ron Perlman, John Hurt and Sophia Myles cash paychecks as Viking villagers. Notable mainly as the first film to use Old Norse for its script, it should end up as a bit of a camp classic.
It's had a long wait for an actual premiere - almost two years - but somehow it's managed a real release, if only a token one. It should then move almost immediately to the seven-day shelf at Blockbuster. (Reagen Sulewski/BOP)