“Bone Tomahawk”
I want to start with a few thoughts about film distribution.
The
advent of new technology makes it more and more difficult for
distributors to actually make any money on the distribution of a film-
the costs associated with the production, marketing, and shipping costs
alone are problematic but when you throw in the added damage from
on-line piracy, some films will just not receive the sort of
distribution we once saw for smaller releases. The way things work right
now, there are two types of films- the big budget spectacles and the
micro-budget “art-house” and exploitation film. The days of a moderately
budgeted “working” film are all but dead and we now live in a feast or
famine environment in film.
I
mention all of this because “Bone Tomahawk” may be a firm example of
how the failures of distribution, marketing, and shipping are a direct
reflection of the problems currently haunting cinephiles such as myself.
Because my guess is that not too many of my Faceless Readers have ever
even heard of the movie I’m going to be reviewing. I barely heard about
it myself and all credit goes to the “Horror Movie Podcast” for
reviewing and recommending this film as one of the best of 2015. Without
this word of mouth, “Bone Tomahawk” finds itself doomed to a Walmart
bargain shelf and the vague hope that someone finds a little interest in
seeing Kurt Russell in a western. And that’s a damned shame, because it
may actually be one of the years best films I had a chance to see- and
it missed my “Best of List” by merely a few days.
Kurt
Russell stars as a frontier sheriff. He’s abrupt, quick to decide, and
ultimately good hearted man who wants to serve the community and do
what’s right. He arrests and wounds a drifter, not knowing the man is
being hunted for the desecration of “sacred land” a small distance away.
During the night, the drifter, deputy, and an attending Nurse are
kidnapped by an obscure tribe of mountain cannibals that the other
tribes fear. The Sheriff gathers up a small posse of men to follow after
and hopefully rescue the kidnapped townsfolk- a local veteran in
fighting Indians(Matthew Fox, “Lost”), an aging deputy grieving over the
loss of his own wife(Richard Jenkins, “Cabin in the Woods”, and the
nurses’ wounded husband (Patrick Wilson, “Insidious”).
It’s
a straightforward film about four men on a journey. This is about their
interaction with one another and why each man feels compelled to make
the trek, what they plan to do when they get there, and the obstacles
standing in their way. It’s a gritty film and there’s very little joy to
be found in the rocky crags and near-desert emptiness of the mountain
region- there’s little hope for success and slighter hope in even
finding their charges alive. And the film just ramps up the intensity
with small squabbles, well-paced dialogue, and moments of sacrifice long
before they finally manage to track down and confront the “Troglodyte”
tribe responsible.
You’ll
notice earlier in that I said I heard about this film through the
“Horror Movie Podcast”, and make no mistake- this film gets downright
horrific. It’s a moody, dark, gritty, violent, and horrifying little
film but that “horror” classification only accounts for a small tenth of
the run-time. This movie is a dramatic western long before it’s a
traditional horror, but it definitely deserves it’s spot on the “Horror”
wall with one act that is so brutal and monstrous that I nearly turned
my head from the gruesomeness.
5 out of 5.
“Cheerleaders Must Die”
I
didn’t expect it from this film. I mean, I should have sort of expected
something. This is a collaborative effort from directors Lucky McKee
(“The Woman”) and Chris Sivertson (“The Lost”) and is currently
streaming on Netflix. And I should’ve known that a film directed by two
men who have repeatedly adapted material from Jack Ketchum wouldn’t just
come on straight for a horror comedy, but that was what I was
expecting. A couple of giggles, a couple of laughs, a couple of dark
moments, and a big twist at the end to reveal that Sidney herself would
be the killer. In other words, I was expecting this movie to be another
“I Know What You Did… “ knock off and I was genuinely surprised when the
film took a sudden turn midway through and became something far
different.
This is
basically “Heathers” meets “The Craft” by way of “Lifeforce”- a
rebellious teen joins the High School Cheerleader squad in order to get
some measure of revenge on the Football Captain and school star. Her
plans lead to some unfortunate events that result in the squad and
herself being resurrected from death as vampiric creatures of some sort.
Despite the cheesy sounding plot, the film packs a hell of a cruel
punch as characters reveal themselves to be much more than the
caricatures they portray much earlier in the film.
3.5 out of 5 for this highly entertaining flick.
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