John McTiernan's directorial debut has earned seven ten star votes along with a few nines and eights as of writing this review. I find it hard to believe that Nomads can be considered "brilliant" or a "masterpiece" more than his later works like Die Hard and the underrated 13th Warrior when he had more experience under his belt. The aggregate score of five is more indicative of where this film truly belongs.

We are introduced to a bloodied Jean-Claude Pommier (Pierce Brosnan) a French anthropologist that whispers into the ear of his attending doctor (Lesley-Anne Down as Dr. Eileen Flax) somehow transferring his last memories to her just before he dies. Soon Dr. Flax is plagued by hallucinatory flashbacks that tell the story of Pommier's last days on earth told oddly enough from a third person point of view. Jean-Claude and his wife have just moved into a house in L.A. and becomes intrigued by the local ruffians that insist on congregating outside of his home. After finding graffiti scrawled upon his garage Pommier decides to pursue this group and analyze what sort of mindset drives these people to choose this kind of nomadic life. Soon Pommier becomes obsessed with observing these people prompting him to approach the nomads for an impromptu photo session. When the photos develop Jean-Claude realizes that these people are anything but normal. It then becomes the task of Dr. Flax to save Pommier's wife and flee their common supernatural pursuers.

Nomads sadly reflects the era it was made in when it comes to the absurdly dressed gang. They appear like glam-rocker extras from a Mad Max movie. Mary Woronov bares the brunt of this as her heavy makeup and teased hair make her look like a transvestite. It's just very hard to take them as a serious threat. The Irish born Brosnan and England bred Down both constantly slip in and out of character making me wonder why they had to play a French man and an American doctor respectively. The ending is a bit of a disappointment as it seems even ghosts must respect state jurisdiction. Nomads starts with promise and tails off drastically toward the end. Not a bad movie by any stretch of the imagination just not as good as some reviewers would have you think. But don't take my word for it, rent it yourself and give me your thoughts.

'Nomads' is the debut feature from director John McTiernan, who would go on to bring us unforgettable films like 'Predator', 'Die Hard', and 'The Hunt for Red October'. Honestly, I would lie if I were to tell you I know what 'Nomads' is all about.

This is probably the type of film you have to carefully analyze to fully understand or appreciate. Although classified as a horror movie, it is not horror in the sense of blood, guts and gore. This is horror on a different level: discomfort, nightmares, visions...The film is interesting at times, but ultimately just too weird, and not all that easy to follow due to a most unusual narration.

The film plays like a nightmare - literally. The acting was pretty good, but didn't compensate for a very confusing script. The film certainly is mysterious, and very different. By the end, I had no idea what the story was, or what message they were trying to convey. I'm going to forget this very soon. Even famed film critic Robert Ebert referred to the film as "too confusing to understand".

Would I watch it again? No.