Review #201: Bone Tomahawk (2015)

This review was originally written in 2022.

Gabe's 100 Bucket List Horror Films Review #56: Bone Tomahawk (2015)

First things first, the obligatory "But is this really a horror movie?" discussion. This is a Western. It's a posse film. It's a revenge movie. It's a period drama about life on the frontier. The last thirty minutes fit as horror, sure, but this is a long film (2 hours 15) and so much of it simply isn't horror. That's not to say it isn't good- I think this is a fantastic film. Just, if you're going to watch it for the first time, know that you're going in for a movie about a bunch of men traveling through the Old West and dealing with bandits and gangrene, with a segment near the end that's truly horrific.

I've basically already said what the plot of this movie is: A bandit attracts the attention of some sort of half-human/half-caveman Native Americans, who in turn kidnap a couple people from a frontier town. So the sheriff rounds up a posse to trek across the desert to rescue the civilians, and encounter a number of struggles along the way.

I don't feel like I did the movie justice by that explanation but that's really what it's about. Since I don't think the plot is anything special, I'll say that the true value of this film comes from the characters. There's so much character in these characters, if that makes any sense- I already said that the first hour and a half is basically just some guys traveling across the desert, but when I say that, you should know that I meant that in a GOOD way. I'd have watched another hour of these characters if I could, because they were all such fully-realized people and I really cared about their struggle. I'd have been 100% fine if this posse traveled across the Old West, found their kidnapped townsfolk, brought them back home without issue and the movie ended with them having a party. Sure it wouldn't have been a horror movie in the slightest, and there wouldn't really have been much tension or stakes or whatever, but I enjoyed the characters so much that I wouldn't have minded one bit. That's how well these characters are written and portrayed by their various actors! Kurt Russell does a fantastic job, Patrick Wilson is amazing as always, Matthew Fox plays his character so well, and Richard Jenkins was an utter delight! Great cast given such a great script, I wanted more of it.

The confrontation with the "troglodytes" was certainly entertaining too, I just didn't enjoy it as much as the rest of the film. I kind of wish the movie had either focused on it more (have it take up more than 20% of the film) or cut it down even further, for reasons I mentioned earlier. Because as it was, it just felt like a horror segment tacked onto an otherwise non-horror film.

I feel like it sounds like I didn't like this movie, which is absolutely not true. I thought it was great! I just wish the balance were a bit different. I keep hearing nothing but praise for this film so when I started this viewing (which I forgot to mention, I'd seen this before and even reviewed it several years ago, though I didn't remember much) I went in with higher expectations than I thought was warranted, but it definitely met my expectations in most ways. So if you're reading this, check it out!

(Oh, and one more note: This was the last movie on the Bucket List that I've seen before. From here on out, the remaining 44 films will all be new to me!)

Overall Rating: 9/10 Fingers of Tincture

Movie Connection: The cave set where the final confrontation takes place, is the same cave set where Tony Stark was imprisoned in Iron Man!