Bone Tomahawk
I spit on your caves…
This is why frontier life is so difficult. Not because of the Indians or the elements, but because of the idiots!” cries damsel in distress Samantha at the climax of S. Craig Zahler’s off-kilter western. She has, it’s fair to say, a point. Stubborn hubby Arthur (Patrick Wilson) broke his leg falling off the roof. The residents of Bright Hope, the one-horse town they inhabit, bicker, drink and shoot each other. And most of the film’s running time concerns Arthur, Sheriff Hunt (Kurt Russell), deputy Chicory (Richard Jenkins) and wild-card Brooder (Matthew Fox) mounting a not-especially-promising rescue mission when Samantha’s stolen in the night by cave-dwelling natives.
On paper, Zahler’s debut as writer/ director may not sound especially promising either. As a western-comedy-horror it’s pretty much in a category of one (although 2007’s Undead Or Alive comes close). It also turns sharply – and not entirely successfully – to splatter towards the end (and features, believe it or not, an actual bone tomahawk). The similarly strange Slow West may have been slow, but at least it didn’t hobble its hero.
Zahler isn’t playing quite the same game, but he still has some aces up his sleeve. There’s a great cast relishing their rounded characters – we’d pay good money to see a prequel with Hunt and Chicory patrolling Bright Hope as younger men – plus cameos from genre favourites Sid Haig ( House Of 1,000 Corpses) and David Arquette ( Scream).
The witty dialogue feels like it’s spoken rather than scripted: “Why are you in my breakfast?” barks Hunt to Chicory, although we know he loves him. Even the names are great. Brooder (“bruder” is German for brother) hides a tale of sibling sadness; Chicory is, indeed, weedy, if persistent and perennial. Although Zahler doesn’t quite pull off the genre gear-shift, he doesn’t pull his punches either, and after a few minutes in the company of these men you’d follow them to hell and back, idiots or not.
THE VERDICT Zahler’s dialogue takes us effortlessly back to the Old West, the cast are excellent, and – a few stumbles aside – this is best campfire movie for some time.
› Certificate 18 Director S. Craig Zahler Starring Kurt Russell, Richard Jenkins, Patrick Wilson, Matthew Fox, Lili Simmons Screenplay S. Craig Zahler Distributor The Works Running time 133 mins