The Western is actually perfect terrain for a horror story. The people of the 1880s, like Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday, may have been tough, but they had incredibly antiquated weapons to take on a vampire or a werewolf. Even if they were taking on a zombie, there would be no way for these small, dusty towns to communicate with one another fast enough to warn one another of what the threat they’re all facing is, much less any updates on how to kill them. At least in the 1960s world of Night of the Living Dead people could look at their black and white TV and learn to aim for the head.
Videos by ComicBook.com
And yet it’s rare that we get a movie that blends the Western and the horror film. The best examples are horror movies that emulate Westerns, e.g. Near Dark or Vampires. As for movies that lean Western but have horror elements, they’re rarer still. But there is at least one great one: S. Craig Zahler’s Bone Tomahawk.
What Is Bone Tomahawk About?
Like most great Westerns, Bone Tomahawk makes you believe you’re joining the residents of a small town in a day in their lives. Unfortunately, on this particular day, the residents of Bright Hope are dealing with a group of cannibals, who have come down from their mountain home and abducted a handful of the town’s residents.
Kurt Russell plays Sheriff Franklin Hunt who, along with gunslinger John Brooder (Matthew Fox), his deputy, Chicory (Richard Jenkins) and, begrudgingly, Arthur O’Dwyer (Patrick Wilson), who is restricted due to an injured leg. But O’Dwyer’s wife was one of the individuals kidnapped, so there’s no talking him out of joining.
By the end of this journey some of the kidnapped residents of Bright Hope will return home, some of the rescue party will die (brutally), and the small town will be forever changed. If you want a movie that pulls no punches, Bone Tomahawk is the one for you. Even if you typically feel no urge to watch cannibal movies (which is fair), this one is worth giving a shot.
How Did Bone Tomahawk Do with Critics & Where Is It Streaming?
When it was released, Bone Tomahawk received acclaim from critics and to this day it holds a very impressive and very deserved 91% on Rotten Tomatoes. Reviewers praised the performances of Russell, Jenkins, and Fox as well as the film’s visual aura, which accurately recaptures the classic Westerns of the 1950s, the direction, and the screenplay.
Unfortunately, it didn’t do nearly as well at the box office. To be fair, it was only given a very limited release, but it still only managed to pull in $475,846 domestically on a mercifully miniscule $1.8 million budget. The film then became profitable via home media sales.
Stream Bone Tomahawk on Hulu.
What are your thoughts on Bone Tomahawk? What did you think of Zahler’s subsequent movies, Brawl in Cell Block 99 and Dragged Across Concrete? Let us know in the comments.
Most Viewed
-
Image via THQ Nordic -
image courtesy of 20th Century Studios -
Image courtesy of 2th Century Studios
