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#22 - Bone Tomahawk
S. Craig Zahler, 2015
A sheriff musters a posse to go after a tribe of inbred cannibals who have abducted some of his townsfolk.
Considering how rare the cinematic combination of horror and Western tends to be, Bone Tomahawk naturally makes for quite the curious film both in concept and execution. The plot concerns the sheriff (Kurt Russell) of a small town whose generally affable demeanour around his fellow townsfolk is off-set by his rather strict attitude towards enforcing the law, as evidenced by his decision to non-fatally shoot a suspiciously skittish drifter (David Arquette) who was trying to run from him. While Arquette is being treated, he, the nurse (Lili Simmons) who is treating him, and the deputy (Evan Jonigkeit) assigned to supervise are all kidnapped in the middle of the night. It is soon revealed that the responsible party is a tribe of feral cannibals referred to only as "troglodytes" (which are emphatically described as being nothing like the average Native American). Russell naturally sets about launching a rescue mission with only three men to accompany him; his doddering old back-up deputy (Richard Jenkins), a sharply-dressed gunslinger (Matthew Fox), and Simmons' husband (Patrick Wilson), who insists on going despite being in the process of recovering from a broken leg.
Bone Tomahawk sticks to a pretty clear three-act structure, but each act is handled well. The first act does a solid job of introducing and developing the characters before the plot kicks in around the forty-minute mark, while the second act condenses matters down to the main four characters as they make their way through hostile territory. All four members of the group prove good in some admittedly archetypal roles. The ever-charismatic Russell makes for a good fit as the sheriff who is likeable, plus his flaws serve to humanise him rather than completely undermine his genial nature. Wilson gets quite the role as the badly injured but incredibly determined husband who is willing to literally risk life and limb to get his wife back; though his character's struggle to move around threatens to drag the movie down, he's more than capable of compensating for it. Fox takes what could have been a real love-to-hate character and manages to make him work underneath his snide, dapper surface. In this company, Jenkins is something of a weak link as a real Walter Brennan kind of character, but he's capable of holding his own just fine. At least Simmons has sufficient development to compensate for her being relegated to damsel status for a good chunk of her screen-time. Though the film shrugs off its small-town setting long before the halfway mark, it still takes the time to set up a fairly well-realised town full of characters that involve a few recognisable actors making the most of bit parts.
Aside from its performers, Bone Tomahawk stands out because of its rather unusual pacing. It shows off enough of the atavistic antagonists to give the rest of the film an appropriate amount of dread as our heroes come closer and closer to their lair; that dread is amply rewarded when the film does resort to showing scenes of graphic gore and violence (with one scene in particular that is sure to stick in viewers' memories). I definitely respect Bone Tomahawk for not descending into trite horror clichés and managing to build a generally competent film that pulls off an unusual genre-blending exercise with aplomb. The film-makers seem to be aware of how reductive the film's premise might be and do everything possible to avoid a problematic approach to the material, granting the film a very distinctive personality in the process. The dialogue may seem a little overwritten and it doesn't totally justify running for over two hours, but it works by emphasising the character-based drama to the point where the film's inevitable transition into visceral horror is not a jarring tonal shift but instead feels like a natural progression. Having a collection of competent actors to lend the characters weight certainly doesn't hurt either, making Bone Tomahawk a prime example of a film that can make a potentially misguided premise work.
S. Craig Zahler, 2015
A sheriff musters a posse to go after a tribe of inbred cannibals who have abducted some of his townsfolk.
Considering how rare the cinematic combination of horror and Western tends to be, Bone Tomahawk naturally makes for quite the curious film both in concept and execution. The plot concerns the sheriff (Kurt Russell) of a small town whose generally affable demeanour around his fellow townsfolk is off-set by his rather strict attitude towards enforcing the law, as evidenced by his decision to non-fatally shoot a suspiciously skittish drifter (David Arquette) who was trying to run from him. While Arquette is being treated, he, the nurse (Lili Simmons) who is treating him, and the deputy (Evan Jonigkeit) assigned to supervise are all kidnapped in the middle of the night. It is soon revealed that the responsible party is a tribe of feral cannibals referred to only as "troglodytes" (which are emphatically described as being nothing like the average Native American). Russell naturally sets about launching a rescue mission with only three men to accompany him; his doddering old back-up deputy (Richard Jenkins), a sharply-dressed gunslinger (Matthew Fox), and Simmons' husband (Patrick Wilson), who insists on going despite being in the process of recovering from a broken leg.
Bone Tomahawk sticks to a pretty clear three-act structure, but each act is handled well. The first act does a solid job of introducing and developing the characters before the plot kicks in around the forty-minute mark, while the second act condenses matters down to the main four characters as they make their way through hostile territory. All four members of the group prove good in some admittedly archetypal roles. The ever-charismatic Russell makes for a good fit as the sheriff who is likeable, plus his flaws serve to humanise him rather than completely undermine his genial nature. Wilson gets quite the role as the badly injured but incredibly determined husband who is willing to literally risk life and limb to get his wife back; though his character's struggle to move around threatens to drag the movie down, he's more than capable of compensating for it. Fox takes what could have been a real love-to-hate character and manages to make him work underneath his snide, dapper surface. In this company, Jenkins is something of a weak link as a real Walter Brennan kind of character, but he's capable of holding his own just fine. At least Simmons has sufficient development to compensate for her being relegated to damsel status for a good chunk of her screen-time. Though the film shrugs off its small-town setting long before the halfway mark, it still takes the time to set up a fairly well-realised town full of characters that involve a few recognisable actors making the most of bit parts.
Aside from its performers, Bone Tomahawk stands out because of its rather unusual pacing. It shows off enough of the atavistic antagonists to give the rest of the film an appropriate amount of dread as our heroes come closer and closer to their lair; that dread is amply rewarded when the film does resort to showing scenes of graphic gore and violence (with one scene in particular that is sure to stick in viewers' memories). I definitely respect Bone Tomahawk for not descending into trite horror clichés and managing to build a generally competent film that pulls off an unusual genre-blending exercise with aplomb. The film-makers seem to be aware of how reductive the film's premise might be and do everything possible to avoid a problematic approach to the material, granting the film a very distinctive personality in the process. The dialogue may seem a little overwritten and it doesn't totally justify running for over two hours, but it works by emphasising the character-based drama to the point where the film's inevitable transition into visceral horror is not a jarring tonal shift but instead feels like a natural progression. Having a collection of competent actors to lend the characters weight certainly doesn't hurt either, making Bone Tomahawk a prime example of a film that can make a potentially misguided premise work.