14 of 31 Horror Film I've Never Seen 2016: Bone Tomahawk (2015)

Westerns are tough for Hollywood.  Don't ask me why, but when westerns come up they're almost always avoided like the plague.  The conventional argument is that they cost too much and don't guarantee a high return.  Until quite recently it seemed you had to work on a shoestring budget in the independent world in order to even make one.  As can be expected, there is still no guarantee of a grand success (though I suppose Quentin Tarantino would disagree with that), but if anything modern Westerns still have a place in the cinema.  Since the greatest thing about Genre filmmaking is the ability to mix and match Genre's together we can finally explore all the horrific and supernatural aspects of Western mythology.  Or, as is the case with S. Craig Zahler's Bone Tomahawk, we can examine the horrifically brutal reality of the danger inherent in all beings.

This film is one of the greatest examples of the "slow burn" story.  It's like the strike of a match, it sparks suddenly and then slowly burns to the end with a magnificently brutal flourish.  After his wife and a local deputy are kidnapped by a tribe of cannibal troglodytes, a cowboy (Patrick Wilson) hunts after them with the Sheriff (Kurt Russell), a gunslinger (Matthew Fox) and an elderly deputy (Richard Jenkins).  If I say anymore it would spoil it so I'm going to leave it at that.  Like a good western, the story doesn't rush to get us to the payoff.  We experience the environment and characters who live in that environment.  Hence, the "slow burn."

This film is so detailed in it's setting that even the dialogue is period correct.  Not for one minute, does it feel anachronistic.  The floor boards creek, the light is motivated, and the horse hoofs are deep.  The journey to get to the cannibal tribe alone takes time and that time is spent showing what such a journey entails, not to the degree of boring details, but to the degree of the physical and emotional toll such a rescue mission takes upon the characters.  We see all the stubbornness that men are capable of, as well as their resilience, and their ability to act quickly.

As a horror movie, the pacing and camera work brilliantly builds tension.  When we finally get to see the troglodytes it is fast, brutal, and oh does it deliver on the gore front.  We're talking cringe worthy, look away, "Oh my god they're not going to show it... HOLY SHIT THEY'RE SHOWING IT!" kind of Gore.  They're pretty terrifying and due to the inbred nature of their tribe come complete with a creepy vocal defect that further likens them to wild beasts or monsters.  The filmmakers are very careful not to liken the tribe to other Native tribes and also quick to point out the foolhardiness of male bravado.  When the gunslinger makes a remark that he's "...killed more Indians than anyone in this room" a Native man replies "That's an ugly boast."  On one level, they're four men on a rescue mission, on another level they represent the different archetypes of thought regarding life in the west.  Together they function as a whole.  Perhaps not for those in need of constant action, but I'll be damned if this isn't one of the best recent Westerns I've seen and a damn good Horror film to boot!