Bone Tomahawk Steelbook [Blu-ray]

Well-made if rather violent gory horror western, it almost felt like two entirely different movies merged together, though instead of a smooth blend it was Frankenstein’s monster type surgery of unrelated body parts, jaggedly cut from other bodies and crudely sewn together. Mind you, this is not saying this is a bad thing or a bad movie, I really enjoyed it, but the juxtaposition of a folksy Western with witty dialogue married with almost slasher horror was an odd if very interesting fit. One moment it was a witty, somewhat humorous western with some very well written and acted out dialogue, some great almost but not quite meta reminiscing on the challenges of facing a changing world and growing old, just top notch with some well developed and sympathetic characters, the next moment it was scary cannibalistic slasher horror with someone being butchered for food.The story is basically about a posse lead by the sheriff of the small town of Bright Hope, Sheriff Franklin Hunt (played wonderfully Kurt Russell), going into the desert and hills to rescue two people kidnapped at his jail from a band of cannibalistic Native Americans thought of as monstrous and savage even by the one local Native American in town (called The Professor, played by Zahn McClarnon). Joining the sheriff are the “backup deputy” Chicory (played charmingly by Richard Jenkins, a great character actor), the injured but determined husband of one of those kidnapped, a doctor (the husband Arthur O’Dwyer, played by Patrick Wilson and his wife, the doctor, Samantha, played by Lili Simmons), and the man who brought the doctor to the jail to treat a prisoner and who feels responsible for her subsequent kidnapping (and has some history with Arthur and Samantha), one John Brooder (played by Matthew Fox). There is another person kidnapped, the deputy Nick (played by Evan Jonigkeit).The movie can enjoyed in several ways. There is some snappy and witty dialogue, particularly from Sheriff Hunt and Chicory, at times quite funny. The characters were well done; as the movie progressed I realized that Chicory wasn’t just comic relief but a surprisingly deep character who just used humor to keep people at ease. I really loved their back and forth with Arthur being a straight man and John being rather overly self-assured if not downright arrogant.There was some exciting and very gritty and realistic violence (people got hurt and fights were often quite short, definitely not cinematic), exciting to watch if rather brutal. There were also some scenes of outright horror, seeing what the band of cannibals was capable of and the fate of the captives.I enjoyed the film, it was buoyed a lot by the great dialogue, excellent cast, and fast pace. The bad guys might not have been completely realistic but they were scary and there were elements to them that were unique. I think the capabilities of Kurt Russell’s character seemed well in line with what a man of his age could accomplish, I appreciated that. Always good to see him in a western, he always to me seemed one of those actors well suited to being such films.

From the beginning you know real bad things are going to happen. Stumbling into an Indian graveyard results in bad things. We've all seen it in western movies. Stumble into an Indian troglodyte graveyard, see your buddy get slaughtered, travel on foot for a week, get shot by the sheriff in a small frontier town and get thrown in jail is nothing compared to getting eaten by Indian troglodytes who followed and kidnapped him, as well as taking the local female doctor who was tending to his wounds, and the deputy. The doctor's husband with a broken leg, the sheriff, his over the hill deputy, and a self professed Indian killer were the posse that went to save the doctor and deputy. Half of the movie was their multi-day trek to rescue these people with the kind of talk you might expect from a frontier cowboy, a gunslinger, and sheriff and his aging deputy on a camping trip with a mission such as this. One such conversation was when they were bedding down for the night and the deputy asked the sheriff if he ever reads while taking a bath. The sheriff takes his time to formulate and answer and says he doesn't read in the bathtub. The deputy says he tried it a few times but the book gets wet from his fingers turning the pages and sometimes he drops it in the water and ruins the book. After a rather lengthy pause, the sheriff suggests he get a music stand to put the book on, close to the tub. You can order one from the local store if they don't have one. You should have a towel on the side of the tub to dry your fingers to turn the pages. This was a satisfactory solution for the deputy and they went to sleep. That whole camping trip was filled with little quips like that mixed with the kind of conversation you might expect from a mix of people like that. It was slow paced for a number of reasons. For one, it turned out to be an interesting character study, a genre seldom used in modern movies because of the time it takes for proper character development. Two, it gave a sense of authenticity. These are small town frontier folks who never experience anything more raucous than rowdy cowboys or the occasional drifter, who the sheriff shoots in the leg if they try to get away, which seems to be what the lady doctor fixes most. Three, this slow pace sets you up for the extreme horror these guys get to experience that they are totally unprepared for. It lulls you into a sense that these guys might actually have a chance to kills some Indians and save the girl. You, as the audience, know better because you saw lots of horror movies and you know what Jason or Leatherface can do. Let me tell ya, Jason is a punk compared to these Indian troglodytes and they'd have Leatherface for dinner, literally. I mean, these guys walk into a real horror show they never expected. The execution scene is particularly cringe-worthy and forced me to reevaluate my least favorite way to die. I gave it five stars because it felt like Zane Grey on some really bad acid.