Bone Tomahawk- a Western Meets the Zombie Apocalypse

This one's a bit of an oddball, and some may find it a bit slow, but there is a pay-off. Another day in the West, Kurt Russell as sheriff, the local cowpoke played by Patrick Wilson, who did such a great job in last season's Fargo. Richard Jenkins plays the nutty old coot, and Matthew Fox plays the elegant gunslinger. They are all on the same side, and ride out to rescue a couple townsfolk who were kidnapped by some pretty scary natives. Not just your average Western-style "Indian" with warpaint and revenge on his mind, but something far worse: according to the local expert (wasn't this the actor who played the native American "tracker" for the crime family in Season 2 of Fargo?), this gang of bad men are "troglodytes." You find out what that means when the posse, such that it is, gets to their stomping ground. Although not as abrupt a transition as, say, 'From Dusk Until Dawn," which took your standard gangster/bank robber movie into vampire land, this has a Zombie Apocalypse quality to it- these troglodytes are just nasty ****ers, something you'd expect to meet deep in the Amazon, not in the old West. You get some foreshadowing of what's to come right at the beginning, when a couple of grave robbing, murdering thugs happen to cross into troglodyte territory.
As mentioned, the pacing is a little slow, since much of the story is taken up by the travails of the posse heading to their destiny. I'm a big fan of Westerns, less so trash and slash. But, there's enough here to amuse both kinds of fans. Movie was apparently released in 2015 but available for streaming. Anybody else catch this one?

 

Rented the BR last week, yes it was kinda slow, but I liked the cast and the scene in the cave with the deputy kinda sticks in your head
for awhile.

 

Decently entertaining. It has a weird mix of authentic Western and zombie. I found the dry humor of the dialogue original and funny. Definitely not your garden variety film. Worthy of renting.

 

Nice Kurt kept his H8 tash in this.

 

I thought Bone Tomahawk was more a melding of the Western with the Italian cannibal films of the '70s/'80s. I haven't seen Eli Roth's recent throwback to Italian cannibal films, The Green Inferno, but I can't imagine it having the intelligence, craft, and impact of Bone Tomahawk. I mean, that scene, holy cow.

The cast is great all around, but man I loved Richard Jenkins in this.

I'm definitely eager to see what writer-director S. Craig Zahler does next.

 

I agree with you about Bone Tomahawk being a mix of Western and cannibal films. There are no zombies. Unsure why that word has popped up here. I found it pretty entertaining. I particularly enjoyed Richard Jenkins chatterbox character.

As for Green Inferno, despite it looking like a terror/horror film, its pretty funny, imo. And intentionally so. It has some brutal scenes, but there is a dark sense of humor to the whole thing that keeps you laughing. It doesn't provide the sense of dread you get watching his earlier works Cabin Fever and Hostel.

 

Fair comment re Italian cannibal films.

 

Sounds interesting.

 

You are right, if I could recaption it it would be "a Western Meets the Cannibal Holocaust" and I'd replace 'zombie' with 'cannibal' in the text. There were no zombies.

 

It's pretty good. Surprising what happens to a lot of name actors in the movie.

 

I looked for the trailer, what a lousy trailer. Boring.

 

A buddy of mine was just telling me about this movie recently.... from his description, it sounds like it would be right up my alley.

 

I didn't much like this film. Maybe I'll watch it again and like it more...? I liked Ravenous more than Bone Tomahawk. I liked it's take on native American curses of the un-dead more than what Bone Tomahawk served up.

 

Bone Tomahawk is streaming on Amazon Prime. Great PQ and good 5.1.

 

Ravenous has a very funny sense of humor for being such a dark thriller in the wilderness.

Bone Tomahawk really plays more as a straight Western that veers into The Hills Have Eyes territory for its brutal ending. I think that mix may offend the usual audience for Westerns.

Bone Tomahawk Blu-ray Review - DoBlu.com »

 

no I did not, but I have to now! looks cool...

 

yes, and my wife as well...she may enjoy it more than me! she loves that stuff...

 

The cast is terrific, and the premise handled in an intelligent manner. The show stopping scene will be apparent to anyone. Pretty gruesome stuff. It's like Tombstone meets Cannibal Apocalypse, and I mean that in the best way possible!

 

I just watched it this week on blu-ray, and thought it was excellent. Some of it is pretty funny, and some is just...well, that one scene with Deputy Nick in the cave - yikes! Supposedly, no CGI was used in the film, so I don't know how on earth they filmed that scene.

And Lili Simmons as Mrs. O-Dwyer .

 

It's quite a good film but it could have been improved by better editing and pacing. I like the film and it was considered one of the best Unproduced scripts from 2005 or 6 that I recall.

It was produced on as such a low budget that it does hurt some of the better set pieces.

 

an amazing film. good to see it getting some hoffman time.

 

The movie is awful

 

I loved "Ravenous" but I also liked "Bone Tomahawk"--as you point out a completely different vibe. The problem with "Bone Tomahawk" is that the director (who wrote it) lived with it over a decade seeing going into turnaround and returned to the original script he had written when, in fact, it would work only with an enormously talented director like a Ridley Scott (Scott would have been an interesting fit particularly since he's never directed a western and, having done a number of period pieces, I'd love to see what he could bring to the genre) or someone who might--potentially be out of his element as a director--might bring to a film that is a hybrid of two different genres.

He was too in love with his own material to recognize issues of pacing but, it is an interesting film.

 

Are you sure it's that good?

 

it is a great film! a western on par to high plains drifter.