HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

''The Traveler'' is a 2010 American–Canadian
direct-to-video Direct-to-video or straight-to-video refers to the release of a film, TV series, short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than an initial theatrical release or television premiere. This distribution strategy was p ...
horror film directed by
Michael Oblowitz Michael Oblowitz is a South African filmmaker. Early life and education Oblowitz was born in Cape Town where he grew up surfing in the 1970s. He is a Fine Arts and Philosophy graduate of the University of Cape Town. He received an M.F.A. in Fi ...
written by Joseph C. Muscat, and starring
Val Kilmer Val Edward Kilmer (born December 31, 1959) is an American actor. Originally a stage actor, Kilmer found fame after appearances in comedy films, starting with ''Top Secret!'' (1984) and ''Real Genius'' (1985), as well as the military action film ...
and
Dylan Neal Dylan Jeremy Neal (born October 8, 1969"Catching up with....Dylan Neal". ''Soap Opera Digest''. July 22, 2013. p. 73.) is a Canadian/American actor. He holds dual citizenship in Canada and the United States. He is known for his portrayal of the ...
. Kilmer plays a stranger who walks into a small town's police station, confesses to murder, and is interrogated by detective Alexander Black (Neal). Filmed in Canada.


Plot

A stranger walks into a small town's police station during a rainstorm on
Christmas Eve Christmas Eve is the evening or entire day before Christmas Day, the festival commemorating the birth of Jesus. Christmas Day is observed around the world, and Christmas Eve is widely observed as a full or partial holiday in anticipation ...
. He tells the desk sergeant that he wishes to confess to murder, after which the desk sergeant points a handgun at him and calls for his colleagues to restrain him with handcuffs. The stranger refuses to reveal his name, preferring to be known as "Mr. Nobody." After the stranger provokes them, the officers are about to assault him as detective Alexander Black walks in. The stranger states that he will confess to six murders, and when he describes each murder, the officers graphically die in the same way he explains though the stranger himself remains incarcerated. While the officers panic, the stranger notices a dedication text on detective Black's golden-metal pen and remarks upon it, drawing the suspicion of Detective Black, who received the pen from his murdered daughter, Mary Black. The officers think that the stranger could be a suspect whom they arrested a year ago when they were investigating the disappearance of Mary Black. Unable to prove his guilt, they tortured and beat him to get a confession, though he continually maintained his innocence. However, they realize that the victim of their violence should still be in a coma that resulted from their brutal torture, stationed at a medical facility. The officers telephone the facility and discover that the victim had died earlier that evening, at the same time as the stranger entered the police station, which proves that the stranger is not who they thought he is. Despite this new evidence, the officers believe that the stranger is a
vengeful spirit In mythology and folklore, a vengeful ghost or vengeful spirit is said to be the spirit of a dead person who returns from the afterlife to seek revenge for a cruel, unnatural or unjust death. In certain cultures where funeral and burial or crem ...
of the previously tortured man. Detective Black talks about superstition and his experiences in
Gulf War The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Iraq were carried out in two key phases: ...
, while the remaining officers continue to die in ways that mirror the acts they committed against the now-dead suspect a year earlier, until only detective Black remains. Detective Black apologizes to the stranger for killing an innocent suspect, but the stranger says that he was the one who murdered his daughter. Detective Black then stabs his daughter's golden-metal pen inside his own ears to avoid hearing the stranger's confession. Black's dead daughter then appears. She tells him she knows the name of the stranger and whispers into his deaf ear. Black shoots the stranger with a shotgun and causes him to fall through a window. After the stranger's death, Christmas Day arrives and Detective Black sees his daughter leave up the stairs, presumably leaving to the afterlife.


Cast

*
Dylan Neal Dylan Jeremy Neal (born October 8, 1969"Catching up with....Dylan Neal". ''Soap Opera Digest''. July 22, 2013. p. 73.) is a Canadian/American actor. He holds dual citizenship in Canada and the United States. He is known for his portrayal of the ...
as Detective Alexander Black *
Val Kilmer Val Edward Kilmer (born December 31, 1959) is an American actor. Originally a stage actor, Kilmer found fame after appearances in comedy films, starting with ''Top Secret!'' (1984) and ''Real Genius'' (1985), as well as the military action film ...
as Mr. Nobody *
Paul McGillion Paul McGillion is a Scottish actor, who has worked in television, film and theatre. He is best known for his role on the television series ''Stargate Atlantis'' as Dr. Carson Beckett. Early life McGillion was born in Paisley, Renfrewshire, Sco ...
as Deputy Jerry Pine *
Camille Sullivan Camille Sullivan (born July 7, 1975) is a Canadian actress. She has starred in various films and television series. Among her notable television appearances are ''Rookie Blue'', ''Da Vinci's Inquest'', ''Intelligence'' and '' Shattered''. She won ...
as Deputy Jane Hollow * Nels Lennarson as Deputy Toby Sherwood *
Chris Gauthier Christopher Gauthier (born 27 January 1976) is an English-born Canadian actor best known for his work in '' Need for Speed: Carbon''. He had a recurring role on the SyFy Channel series ''Eureka'', as Café Diem owner Vincent. While filming the fi ...
as Desk Sergeant Gulloy *
John Cassini John Cassini (born in Toronto) is a Canadian actor. Career Cassini appeared in the 1995 Brad Pitt film '' Seven''. He starred in the 2005 film '' Cool Money''. Cassini starred as Ronnie Delmarco on the CBC series ''Intelligence'', which was c ...
as Deputy Jack Hawkins * Sierra Pitkin as Mary Black *
Panou Panou is a Canadian actor. Biography His birth-name translates to 'God Among Us' in his native Creole.Panou.net
His first
as Trooper Vitelli * Denyc as Trooper Velasquez


Production

The film was shot in
Vancouver, British Columbia Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...
, Canada.


Release

The film was first shown at the Aruba International Film Festival in June 2010 before its release in the United States in October 2010 by
Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...
. It was released on home video on January 25, 2011.


Reception

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, a
review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...
, reports that 20% of five surveyed critics gave the film a positive review; the average rating was 2.5/10. John Marrone of
Bloody Disgusting Bloody Disgusting is an American multi-media company, which began as a horror genre-focused news site/website specializing in information services that covered various horror medias, including: film, television, video games, comics, and music. ...
rated it 2.5/5 stars and called it "a decent horror flick" that has been unfairly criticized. Gordon Sullivan of
DVD Verdict DVD Verdict was a judicial-themed website for DVD reviews. The site was founded in 1999. The editor-in-chief was Michael Stailey, who owned the website between 2004 and 2016, and the site employed a large editorial staff of critics, whose reviews ...
called it a predictable and boring film that is comparable to the early, weaker '' X-Files'' episodes. Todd Rigney of Beyond Hollywood called it "a fetid slice of supernatural tomfoolery that will insult your intelligence every chance it gets." Allan Dart of ''
Fangoria ''Fangoria'' is an internationally distributed American horror film fan magazine, in publication since 1979. It is published four times a year by Fangoria Publishing, LLC and is edited by Phil Nobile Jr. The magazine was originally released i ...
'' called it "monotonous, silly and lamentably predictable".


References


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Traveler, The 2010 films 2010 direct-to-video films English-language Canadian films American supernatural horror films Canadian supernatural horror films Films shot in Vancouver Direct-to-video horror films Voltage Pictures films 2010s Christmas horror films American Christmas horror films Canadian Christmas horror films 2010s supernatural horror films Films directed by Michael Oblowitz 2010s English-language films 2010s Canadian films 2010s American films