Bone Tomahawk

Dialogue as if from a contemporary Manhattan conversational movie, theatrical performances, an atmosphere that is anything but western, amateurish cinematographic work with space and, in the end, a hole in the logic that makes it look like the filmmakers are mocking their audience. Bone Tomahawk reminded me of some festival bizarreness from the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival awarded the Ecumenical Jury prize. But I watched it to the end, because to see such cruel and brutal scenes in a western with a cast of A-listers is even rarer than the painfully bad direction. (30.11.2016)

It’s nice to come across a genre film that takes its time, lets the shots fade out and, instead of quickly satisfying viewers, slowly builds the atmosphere and the depiction of the characters. Thanks also to the patient and precise work with the mise-en-scène and the old-school linear narrative, it’s easy in the first hour to fall under the impression that you’re watching a classic western. In fact, Bone Tomahawk is a post-classic western combined with a cannibal horror movie (at the same time, the second half of the film can be seen as a subverted variation on hixploitation). Conducting themselves with the straightforwardness of cowboys, the men, one of whom is a cripple and the other a purblind widower, are branded as idiots by the self-sufficient female protagonist, while the ignorant attitude towards native culture has bloody consequences, and the theory of the frontier (between wilderness and civilisation) is not only taken to hellish extremes, but can also be related to the genre bipolarity of the film, which quite thought-provokingly explores the overlaps of horror movies and westerns (fear of strangers, the arrogance of the powerful white man). Though the ending doesn’t provide the satisfaction that I would have expected based on the care taken in the preceding two hours, Bone Tomahawk is still, together with The Hateful Eight, the best western updated for the troubled times in which we live, and by drawing from the exploitation tradition, it is far wittier and honest than The Revenant. (22.10.2017)

I think that, when it comes to film quality, there has never been a better horror movie with aboriginal cannibals. A week ago I complained that in Roth's Green Inferno hardly anything happens for half of the film. Here, the proportion between “introduction” and “action” is even more sober, but it doesn’t matter at all when you can see the difference in talent between Roth and the first-time director S. Craig Zahler. Ninety minutes are dedicated to introducing characters stubbornly determined to rescue the abducted inhabitants of a village. That’s enough time to sincerely start rooting for them, which also helped by the superb performances. The extremely brutal final half-hour then feels like a sucker punch, because the tribe of cannibals don’t fool around. It is very clear for everyone that these nice characters have walked into a place where they should have never been at all. I never imagined that the horror genre could blend so smoothly with the western. But Bone Tomahawk is both a really good western and really good horror. Very close to perfection. (25.10.2015)

The genre of horror western is definitely a term that deserves further study from the point of view of filmmaking. In this one, the director and screenwriter S. Craig Zahler didn’t overthink things and came up with the simplest story there might be. He placed a tribe of cannibalistic Indians into the Wild West – nobody has ever heard of them at all – and he also put together a rescue party that will try to rescue a chick from the tennets of these disgusting savages. End of story. But what’s important is what’s happening in the film. For instance, in the first half of the film, barely anything happens. Only the atmosphere keeps slowly but intensely building up, presenting a version of the Wild West involving a wild tribe that emits inhumane shrieks like giant sperm whales in mating season. But once our rescue party meets the tribe in a close encounter, that’s when the real suspense starts, and every now and then you get a proper piece of gore, which I am not going to discuss here any further so that I wouldn’t spoil the fun for you. That’s actually the only reason why the film is worth seeing. Well that and also there’s Kurt Russell, who fits into the charcter of the sheriff perfectly. But what role doesn’t he fit into perfectly… (30.01.2017)

Rough, raw, brutal and uncompromising and yet based mainly on the characters. And what will disappoint you even more is the unstyled and rushed ending, which lacks a proper finale and which turns away from those characters. The ending is simply too brief and quick considering how slow was in the first three quarters. (18.12.2015)

Bone Tomahawk is broadly discussed and written about as a horror movie in a western setting or, conversely, a western that turns into a horror movie at the climax. This is a one-dimensional view, however, as S. Craig Zahler created an inventive revisionist western in his exceptionally polished debut. The new concept in his interpretation does not mean dirt, nihilism and rejection of heroism, which deconstructionist films like Unforgiven fall back on by default. Zahler brings forth a much more inventive, well-developed and original grasp of the iconic genre. The masterfully written film re-establishes the western for today’s cynical and enlightened times in that it conceives its iconic attributes with a sophisticated perspective, while concurrently updating its basic narrative formulas and ethos. Therefore, the Indians here are not savages, but rather in the figure of a professor they become a biting personification of the wrongs committed by white men, which goes beyond the cowboys not only in being familiar with nature and its wonders, but also with the breadth of knowledge, wit and intelligence. Similarly, the protagonist’s wife can be sarcastic, rational and intelligent, while adhering to the role of object and trophy. Heroism inevitably becomes synonymous with limitations, ignorance and stubbornness. The film’s most essential roles are played by troglodytes as anonymous monsters who defy rationality, returning danger, mystery and, mainly, an element of the strange to life on the edge of civilisation. Those are the ideal erratic, bestial savages like the Indians in the tales of the Wild West, before their traditional depiction took on the foul taste of genocide. As a result, Bone Tomahawk can place in the main female character’s mouth a memorable and eloquent line that provides scathing commentary on the machismo of the film’s men and, at the same time, serves as a heroic celebration of their tenacity and determination. (12.07.2016)

A garbage story filmed at a meandering, and therefore boring, pace that doesn't bother with logic and heads towards a dumb ending. The brutal opening and the first 20 minutes or so look very promising and seem to set up an atmospheric, gritty film that deviates from established norms. However, from the robbery and kidnapping in the deserted town onwards, it starts losing its grip and relentlessly gets worse and worse. The peculiar anachronistic dialogues are more of a nuisance as if Zahler was lightly inspired by Tarantino. The biggest mystery to me is why I still gave it two stars when I genuinely suffered in the second half. Maybe I was influenced by those enthusiastic comments and high ratings from my favorites. Well, we'll meet again and when I remove it from my memory slowly and painfully, they will explain to me what the cleverness and entertainment of the film consisted of. Overall impression: 30%. I remember a cannibal western that, in my opinion, reliably outperformed Zahler. That film was Ravenous from 1999, even though Bird wasn't a leading directorial figure. (05.04.2021)

A slow journey movie with excellently played characters. Kurt Russel was just made for this western, Fox is a convincing as the arrogant bastard and Wilson is a regular guy with a wife holed up in a cave full of Indian cannibals. The action is swift and when the action eventually comes toward the ending, it’s naturalistic and good and bloody. The butchery in the cave is unarguably the zenith of the movie. (08.12.2015)

A mix of proper western atmosphere (the sounds of the prairie, the small town, the sets) with an uncompromising carnage that is so explicit you see it in mainstream films only every 5 years or so (last time in The Hills Have Eyes 2), because it goes far beyond the normal. S. Craig Zahler focuses mostly on the characters, their symbiosis with the wildlife and their interaction with each other. The script is utterly unpredictable until just before the finale, when it turns out to be a slaughter. Cut or speed up the first half, stretch out the second half and it would probably be a bit more entertaining. (24.04.2016)

Kurt Russell did not shave after filming The Hateful Eight - he let his beard grow a little more and embarked on another western. Only he left the vast snow plains and replaced them with sun-hot dusty rocks, perhaps to warm his bones (and actually his scalp). I would have wished it on him even if he hadn't made a great film, but he did. A brilliantly narrated film with interesting characters that you really get attached to, which all the time just knocks, hints, deliberately doesn't show everything and relies mainly on dialogue, only to literally tear off at the end and sink the poor viewer chained to the sofa into it even more. A boldly original film. If you know The Stalking Moon and you liked it, do not hesitate to watch this one. (16.10.2016)

I don’t think it could be any better. Zahler has not only written a very good screenplay that manages, alongside the expected cannibalistic premise, to fully introduce the characters and pay tribute to the Wild West as such, but he also shoots like an experienced and patient veteran. The opening scene is excellent in its minimalist execution and dense atmosphere, while the first two acts are a methodical, nerve-wracking build-up with great actors, and everything running like clockwork until the premature climax in the form of the first physical contact with the savages. Until they were seen, the bad guys were paradoxically much more frightening, and I enjoyed the acoustic hints of their presence or the first-person camera in the case of the perpetually injured Patrick Wilson, thanks to which I almost felt his pain myself and enjoyed how the director was slowly preparing me for the final push. It didn't happen and the rescue mission was handled too shallowly and in a rush, but the story still kept its dignified face and proudly applied for a nomination for the most interesting horror film of the last few years – and I’m not gonna lie, I might even vote for it... 80% (01.03.2022)

I was definitely expecting something other than just getting from point A to point B while constantly blabbering. Maybe it’s because I like Tarantino films, which are also chatty, or because of Richard Jenkins' performance, but I wasn't bored for a moment. Matthew Fox surprised me the most out of the four leads. Brooder was the first role I liked him in. I'd never thought much of him as an actor before. Anyway, 90 minutes in, the plot really gets going and all hell breaks loose, which is a real treat for many a romantic soul. A quiet western road movie suddenly turns into a brutal bloodbath with everything that goes with it. (02.08.2016)

So yes, I finally saw a horror western - it's actually more western than horror, but that's good - which is really good and I can currently put it on a pedestal of this strange subgenre, which could work but there are very few creators who are capable of actually achieving it. "Bone Tomahawk" is an excellent example that it is possible and that it can be done properly brutally. (15.12.2015)

Brilliant characters, a gradual building of tension, a minimalist soundtrack, and a unique genre crossover. Few films of late have had me on tenterhooks about the next plot development. That is to say, of course we all know what's inevitably bound to happen, but the bolting on of tension here is so evocative that at times I was as seriously as tense as a Prague cafe before the second vote of confidence in the Babiš government. I probably could have made do with a lower dose of brutality (I'm talking strictly about Bone Tomahawk, to be clear), but above all I have to salute S. Craig Zahler for his perfectly chosen cast and above all for his absolutely sumptuously written characters. *SPOILER ALERT*– unfortunately, here the old truth applies that the biggest badass with a peculiarly likable face is the first to bite the dust *END SPOILER*. In the end, all that's missing for an absolutorium is some bigger and bloodier final showdown with the Troglodytes, because I just didn't feel the right sense of satisfaction at the end. For a directorial debut, though, this is hellish in the best sense of the word. (24.07.2018)