4 out of 5

Directed by: S. Craig Zahler

God bless the horror Western.  Unfortunately, even if we allow that genre to cover a wide range of dates, good examples from the selection are few and far between.  Great concept, but prone to the same wonky execution as countless other horror flicks.  So a good horror movie is already notable, but a good horror Western is especially so, and we can add Bone Tomahawk to that list.  S. Craig Zahler does the bold thing of not trying to outright nail one side of that genre equation (setting, tone), but by focusing on making a quality film with quality characters and then letting the horror elements speak for themselves.  To the viewer, this effect is underlined in the same way that the characters look upon the eventual committed atrocities: not with dramatic-music-scored disgust and quick edit flashes, but with still shots and confused expressions, grisliness suddenly visited upon their otherwise straight-forward lives.  The humanity or organic-ness of what we’ve been presented is what makes it effective.

The setup, otherwise, is pretty typical: there’s an Indian attack upon a small town, and a couple of locals go missing.  The resident native recognizes a discarded weapon as belonging to a particularly savage tribe.  The sheriff – played by Kurt Russell – and his deputy (Richard Jenkins) and a small posse (Matthew Fox, Patrick Wilson) thus head out to the mountains on a rescue mission, not close to being prepared for just how savage those savages turn out to be.  And getting started on that journey is a little bumpy, as Zahler’s cold open upon the scene that triggers the attack feels disconnected from the subsequent introductions to our key players, which feel equally disconnected from one another.  This added to a couple of rough low budget shots keep the film from being seamless, but those few minutes set aside, all of the elements – script, acting, production – are solid.  The humanity of the script already being highlighted, Zahler wrings amazing performances from an impressive cast, who mostly play characters just South of their general types: Russell is stoic, Jenkins is submissive, Fox is actually badass, and Wilson gets to show some emotional depth beyond his usual Average Joe role, delivering what honestly felt like one of his best performances.  And Jenkins especially nails a difficult balance between simple-minded and trustworthy.

For a low budget movie, Zahler takes ample advantage of wonderful scenery to make the movie seem much larger than its dollars may have afforded.  The costumes and gore are effective, save that low budget moment, but more importantly, when dramatic things happen, they’re rolled out with a sudden viciousness that hits harder due to its ephemeral nature.

Bone Tomahawk will especially appeal to slow burn horror fans, but there’s so much goodness in the characters and the telling of the tale that the reach should be able to cross over to fans of the actors or those in search of quality modern day Westerns.