Bone Tomahawk is a god damn underrated film as is Mr Russell's acting. He sells this film like whiskey and opium to a wounded cowboy. It also features one of the most gruesome ways I've seen a man die in film.
Kurt Russell is a great actor. This movie is awesome on the locations and character development and only dives into the gore when it's necessary and then when it does it delivers it without a bunch of hype or ridiculous music as a backdrop. I predict it will be a cult classic for it's simplicity and story telling
I just watched it.What a fantastic surprise.Hadn't heard of it til yesterday,was intrigued what I read about it so sat down and watched it.Absolutely brilliant movie. Not one thing in it's entirety could I find to dislike.Acting,direction,cinematography,cast,and most importantly,storyline were all incredibly top notch.Defo watch it again in a month or two.Well done to all concerned.
The last act of the film with the troglodytes was frightening because of the use of empty sound scape. There wasn't much ost when they appeared, just there silently.
Full Metal Hobbit Oh yeah, really can't stand James Kings. Its funny though, Kermode always seems to be on holiday when a film comes out that you really want him to review.
Not your typical western movie. This one is brutal and gut wrenching. This one totally flew under my radar because I thought it's just the usual western spaghetti movie and to my surprise it's something entirely different. I suspect it's the same reason with other horror buffs, they wouldn't touch this because they thought it's not a real horror movie. I think that explained why this movie is so underrated. I'm just glad I gave it a try. Folks there is more horror in this than your typical horror movies. Give it a try.
You guys are a great combo! Loved the film; aesthetically, it was just so different to anything that's come along in a long while. Very deliberate, very honest, and very provocative filmmaking.
If you liked this film aesthetically I can recommend a couple that I caught a similar vibe from: Z for Zachariah and Stake Land - both great films in my view.
+LarryPokeTrainer Bone Tomahawk isn't unnecessarily stretched to three hours and have all the characters sound the same(as in sounding like Tarantino).
Hill_D0gs Hairy_pusss Don't understand what you mean by that. For one, it's only about 20 minutes shorter, and has far less going on. It's mostly just four dudes camping in the wasteland.
Craig Zaher is a novelist and musician but he should commit to directing films full time because he made 3 films that were all very different yet they were all amazing.
I'd hate to see him stop writing novels tho! I haven't read his science-fiction stuff but his western novels and contemporary crime novels are TOP tier! I highly recommend them to any fan of horror because... yes... even his crime novels have a terrible feeling of dread looming over them throughout the story
watched this the other night. Very good film, but this guy basically tells you the whole film whereas Kermode gives you more of his opinion on the film and not much in the way of spoilers.
It reminded me of the story of Sawney Bean. Every actor was great, but it just really dragged for me and I love slow films. Collin seemed to get some more out of than I did and it has great reviews so I may give it another shot on disc at some point. I'm still trying to wipe 'that' scene out of my mind though.
A masterpiece of modern Western filmmaking - the third act alone is as gripping as any horror movie I can remember. No jump scares - just sheer terror. As the good lady doctor laments, “We are in hell.”
Twice in the film, Russell’s character says he’s going because he has no choice. It’s the honorable thing to do, even if it leads to their deaths. “Manifest destiny” and all that you said, doesn’t enter into it. Anyway, Samantha was proven wrong in the end, even about her husband’s stupidity.
Yeah, if you go into this movie and go along for 95% until the end thinking it's a clear western....then at the end you get treated to some gut wrenching scenes that you really don't expect from a western movie.
Did those freak like cannibal Indians (or something similar and not as brutal) actually exist at some point many moons ago? What was the basis on the development of those characters? Where they just made up or was it based on some history.
There is significant evidence that cannibalism was practised by many Native American cultures, and that torture as brutal as depicted in Bone Tomahawk was common and that even the children would participate. And that's just the established historical tribes, so you can only imagine what the outcast freaks might get up to. I felt that the scream/roar of the troglodytes was just a fantasy element when I watched the movie, but search TH-cam for the 'AZTEC DEATH WHISTLE' and you'll see that this element is actually not so far-fetched.
The wife not being absolutely terrified in the troglodyte's cell is the only bad thing about this flick. Makes no sense! It's a solid flick. Funny and suspenseful and brutal but not gore porn. Rewatchable!
Red headed giants were supposed to have fought the tribes and lived on in their legends the premise of the film was good but we needed more explanation. It reminded me of the 13 th warrior but not as epic.
The director is a huge fan of micro budget indie horror films. Films made by Toetag Productions as well as Morbid Vision Films (as I am a proud member of, having appeared in 4 films).
Just finished watching this movie, and it was great. I couldn't really identify any racist character. There's Brooder, who killed over a hundred natives, including women (and possibly children too), so perhaps he was somewhat racist, but his hatred for Indians was rooted in his past experiences: his family had been slaughtered by natives, and so he resents most of them. He isn't particularly hostile towards the civilized Indian who points the gang in the right direction, and when he tells that man that he has killed many Indians, the man asks him why he's boasting about it. But Brooder says it's not a boast, just a fact. So he doesn't seem overly emotional, and since he probably is the most intelligent person among them, his hatred really is circumstantial. He has no problem gunning down any white or Mexican person, should they form any kind of threat, so I don't think Brooder's your typical racist. Racisme is making a distinction between a good person and a bad person based on irrational or irrelevant criteria. Instead of looking at the individual, and judging a person's intentions, words and actions, racists make such a moral judgement based on skin color or some other, usually physical, trait. So it's inherently unintelligent, but Brooder isn't a dummy, and I think that he would've liked or hated Indians just as much as white folks, had his family not been killed by natives. The other characters in the movie aren't racist either. Chicory even asks Brooder why he hates Indians so much; implying that he rejects such blatant hatred. He only accepts it when Brooder explains it to him. When a young black servant dies in the beginning of the movie, Sheriff Hunt tells someone to properly bury the boy, because he has no kin in the town. It's not racist. The Indian who informs them of the Troglodytes seems to have somewhat of a status in the town; being knowledgeable, and his opinions are sought and adhered to. So if this movie was in any way racist, then I didn't catch it.. at all. The Troglodytes are monsters. They're prehistoric in their savagery. They don't represent any group of people, they're just there to fulfill the role of monsters. Whether or not some of their behavior is grounded in some kind of historical reality, I don't know, but I don't think you're supposed to take them very seriously. They are in all regards, just monsters, there isn't a single reason given in the film to view them as anything less than that, with one possible exception. Arthur at one point shoots one of the Troglodytes out in the open. The savage isn't dead yet, but he can be seen lying in the dirt, gasping for breath, just staring up at the sky. Arthur seems to very briefly see some humanity in the person, he seems to show a hint of empathy, before he puts him out of his misery. But that's the closest the movie comes to showing the Troglodytes as somewhat human. In all other scenes, we see that they are truly and completely bat-shit crazy. Since they're so fantastically cruel and wonderfully fictitious, only an imbecile would think the movie's being racist towards.. Troglodytes.
Brooder calls Mexicans "Greasers", a derogatory term for Mexicans that is now antiquated, not to mention he stated " I didn't kill enough" when asked about how many American Indians he killed. Also, the other characters call him bigoted and ignorant multiple times. The character was written to be a racist. He is, however, obviously racist due to a traumatic experience with a specific tribe as you stated. But he overgeneralizes all American Indians, he does not care about naming the tribe, he does not care about naming the men who wronged him, he only cares that they all have the same skin tone and they're all American Indians. He's racist, quit pretending.
How did crippled Patrick Wilson’s character make it up to the cave that was 100 feet up a cliff face and only accessible by ropes dropped down by the natives?
Who cares if is racist? They were different races involved in the movie. Loved the accuracy in the portrayal. Read up on the barbarity of the Indians, as some were cannibals.
I think the script sadly floundered when it comes to explaining the nature of the savages. I get that the idea was to make something similar to how e.g. Antonia Bird's Ravenous interpreted the Wendigo myth as a spectre of white colonialism, in this case putting the settlers face-to-face with the incarnate horrors of their pompous campfire tales. But in execution it just doesn't work.
As a euro, the reviewer show his stunning ignorance, his ideological blindness and his complete lack of understanding of the real world. How pitiful. I used to mourn the approaching end of European civilization - at least in the western part of it. Now I'm looking forward to it finally disappearing. Current western euros are utterly unworthy of their inheritance.
Your comment is old, but it wasn't drawn out, and it wasn't a gore flick. The slow pacing of the middle portion of the film is dedicated to atmosphere and character building. By the time we get to the film's climax we are intimately familiar with and care about what happens to all 4 of the main characters, and have shared in their arduous journey.The shocking moments of gore are well-earned and serve to elevate everything that happens after, thus are entirely necessary for the film to be effective. Compare this film to say Hostel to illustrate my point. In Hostel torture and mutilation and horrifying gore happens for no reason other than to "shock" the audience, and none of it carries any weight due to the complete lack of characterization or plot.
Mostly stock fair for a Western that's plodded through by its cast. That that isn't rehashed is just laughably ludicrous. A very silly film indeed that mildly entertains. 2/5
Bone Tomahawk is a god damn underrated film as is Mr Russell's acting. He sells this film like whiskey and opium to a wounded cowboy. It also features one of the most gruesome ways I've seen a man die in film.
Pretty demented if you ask me. lol
The violence just shows how gritty this world really is. The story and dialogue were fantastic.
This is probably closest we'll ever get to a Blood Meridian adaption.
@@masterofallgoons Thanks for the deets, I love Cormac McCarthy and the Proposition which as far as I know was written by Nick Cave.
Absolutely loved this movie, although that one scene he refers to actually made me feel like I was going to vomit.
Me too!
I watched this after watching The Green Inferno. It was like eating a 5 star meal after eating McDonald's.
L Pendergast To be fair didn't Eli Roth do The Green Inferno? Which explains the lack of nutrition.
I don't think you know how a five star meal tastes , lol
Eli Roth is a decent actor but my god his filmography is washed with crap
@@therobulus i don’t think you know how an exaggerated comparison works, lol
You gave a bit too much away there.
"The cavalry is coming Nick"
*vomits*
It absolutely is a "mash up" of styles, western and horror... BUT it is the best kind of horror, the POSSIBLE not the "super natural".
Kurt Russell is a great actor. This movie is awesome on the locations and character development and only dives into the gore when it's necessary and then when it does it delivers it without a bunch of hype or ridiculous music as a backdrop. I predict it will be a cult classic for it's simplicity and story telling
I just watched it.What a fantastic surprise.Hadn't heard of it til yesterday,was intrigued what I read about it so sat down and watched it.Absolutely brilliant movie. Not one thing in it's entirety could I find to dislike.Acting,direction,cinematography,cast,and most importantly,storyline were all incredibly top notch.Defo watch it again in a month or two.Well done to all concerned.
The last act of the film with the troglodytes was frightening because of the use of empty sound scape. There wasn't much ost when they appeared, just there silently.
Bone Tomahawk was an absolute home run of a film, so good. A real genuine surprise to knock across.
And Kurt Russell, a total legend in the film.
RICHARD JENKINS makes everything better. I will watch this.
I really wanted Mark to review this!
Full Metal Hobbit Oh yeah, really can't stand James Kings. Its funny though, Kermode always seems to be on holiday when a film comes out that you really want him to review.
+Terry Silvester This isn't James King
Henry Bohun Yes I know... I never said it was...
+Terry Silvester Oops sorry, FMH's reply doesn't show up for me I thought you were just saying you didn't like James King out of the blue
Terry Silvester, I just watched the movie and I came here for the same...
Not your typical western movie. This one is brutal and gut wrenching. This one totally flew under my radar because I thought it's just the usual western spaghetti movie and to my surprise it's something entirely different. I suspect it's the same reason with other horror buffs, they wouldn't touch this because they thought it's not a real horror movie. I think that explained why this movie is so underrated. I'm just glad I gave it a try. Folks there is more horror in this than your typical horror movies. Give it a try.
This movie has the types of scares and visuals that really stick with you. A far departure from films like Annabelle
You guys are a great combo! Loved the film; aesthetically, it was just so different to anything that's come along in a long while. Very deliberate, very honest, and very provocative filmmaking.
If you liked this film aesthetically I can recommend a couple that I caught a similar vibe from: Z for Zachariah and Stake Land - both great films in my view.
"Brooder." Perfect name for the mysterious gunslinging dandy.
Holy hell....Patrick Wilson looked a lot like a young Charlton Heston here - did a double-take!
A truly brilliant film. Every time I watch it I get something new from it. Extraordinary.
That line about grimacing on the bus is so true. I think we all know the scene in particular...
This is a fantastic film.... A unique western cannibal horror that must be seen. Western Fans in particular will not be disappointed...
Ravenous
Bone Tomahawk was freaking awesome, much better than the snoozefest that was The Hateful Eight
+BilboB I loved both. Seriously don't understand though how you could love Bone Tomahawk and not like Hateful 8. Bone Tomahawk is so much slower.
+BilboB I agree it is better than Hateful Eight
+LarryPokeTrainer Bone Tomahawk isn't unnecessarily stretched to three hours and have all the characters sound the same(as in sounding like Tarantino).
+LarryPokeTrainer Wow that's weird considering Bone Tomahawk is *the shorter film*
Hill_D0gs Hairy_pusss Don't understand what you mean by that. For one, it's only about 20 minutes shorter, and has far less going on. It's mostly just four dudes camping in the wasteland.
Loved this movie! It's a slow burn but I felt it was one of the best from last year!
Craig Zaher is a novelist and musician but he should commit to directing films full time because he made 3 films that were all very different yet they were all amazing.
I'd hate to see him stop writing novels tho! I haven't read his science-fiction stuff but his western novels and contemporary crime novels are TOP tier! I highly recommend them to any fan of horror because... yes... even his crime novels have a terrible feeling of dread looming over them throughout the story
watched this the other night. Very good film, but this guy basically tells you the whole film whereas Kermode gives you more of his opinion on the film and not much in the way of spoilers.
the silent and brutal action scenes were incredible, im really glad they didnt add in a bunch of pointless music.
It reminded me of the story of Sawney Bean. Every actor was great, but it just really dragged for me and I love slow films. Collin seemed to get some more out of than I did and it has great reviews so I may give it another shot on disc at some point. I'm still trying to wipe 'that' scene out of my mind though.
4:50 what a poetic way of discribing the lingering effects a week later on the bus 🙉
You mean THE David Morrissey? Is he moonlighting on the radio?
What did the good doctor K think of it.?
A masterpiece of modern Western filmmaking - the third act alone is as gripping as any horror movie I can remember. No jump scares - just sheer terror. As the good lady doctor laments, “We are in hell.”
Twice in the film, Russell’s character says he’s going because he has no choice. It’s the honorable thing to do, even if it leads to their deaths. “Manifest destiny” and all that you said, doesn’t enter into it. Anyway, Samantha was proven wrong in the end, even about her husband’s stupidity.
solverson and hanzee, together at last :D
quite surprising at the end. some scenes are really ... wow
what was so surprising ???
Great film. Proper 'slow burner' with a stomach turning pay off. I'll say no more.....
Yeah, if you go into this movie and go along for 95% until the end thinking it's a clear western....then at the end you get treated to some gut wrenching scenes that you really don't expect from a western movie.
Did those freak like cannibal Indians (or something similar and not as brutal) actually exist at some point many moons ago? What was the basis on the development of those characters? Where they just made up or was it based on some history.
There is significant evidence that cannibalism was practised by many Native American cultures, and that torture as brutal as depicted in Bone Tomahawk was common and that even the children would participate. And that's just the established historical tribes, so you can only imagine what the outcast freaks might get up to.
I felt that the scream/roar of the troglodytes was just a fantasy element when I watched the movie, but search TH-cam for the 'AZTEC DEATH WHISTLE' and you'll see that this element is actually not so far-fetched.
I thought this just looked cooler than it actually would be.Now I think I'll go and see this.
The wife not being absolutely terrified in the troglodyte's cell is the only bad thing about this flick. Makes no sense! It's a solid flick. Funny and suspenseful and brutal but not gore porn. Rewatchable!
Red headed giants were supposed to have fought the tribes and lived on in their legends the premise of the film was good but we needed more explanation. It reminded me of the 13 th warrior but not as epic.
I enjoyed this review but at the start i found my self skipping ahead and thinking 'i dont want to here this many details on how the film starts'
Is it on Netflix ?
No Amazon
If only this movie went a little bit more like "Kill List"
The director is a huge fan of micro budget indie horror films. Films made by Toetag Productions as well as Morbid Vision Films (as I am a proud member of, having appeared in 4 films).
After politics, GW Bush apparently did a stint in the movies as Kurt's sidekick.
People always compare this with hateful 8 but it is way more impactful and an all round superior movie.
Even as a massive Tarantino fan, I have to agree. Hateful Eight was decent, but this movie is a goddam masterpiece.
Just finished watching this movie, and it was great. I couldn't really identify any racist character.
There's Brooder, who killed over a hundred natives, including women (and possibly children too), so perhaps he was somewhat racist, but his hatred for Indians was rooted in his past experiences: his family had been slaughtered by natives, and so he resents most of them. He isn't particularly hostile towards the civilized Indian who points the gang in the right direction, and when he tells that man that he has killed many Indians, the man asks him why he's boasting about it. But Brooder says it's not a boast, just a fact. So he doesn't seem overly emotional, and since he probably is the most intelligent person among them, his hatred really is circumstantial. He has no problem gunning down any white or Mexican person, should they form any kind of threat, so I don't think Brooder's your typical racist. Racisme is making a distinction between a good person and a bad person based on irrational or irrelevant criteria. Instead of looking at the individual, and judging a person's intentions, words and actions, racists make such a moral judgement based on skin color or some other, usually physical, trait. So it's inherently unintelligent, but Brooder isn't a dummy, and I think that he would've liked or hated Indians just as much as white folks, had his family not been killed by natives.
The other characters in the movie aren't racist either. Chicory even asks Brooder why he hates Indians so much; implying that he rejects such blatant hatred. He only accepts it when Brooder explains it to him. When a young black servant dies in the beginning of the movie, Sheriff Hunt tells someone to properly bury the boy, because he has no kin in the town. It's not racist. The Indian who informs them of the Troglodytes seems to have somewhat of a status in the town; being knowledgeable, and his opinions are sought and adhered to. So if this movie was in any way racist, then I didn't catch it.. at all.
The Troglodytes are monsters. They're prehistoric in their savagery. They don't represent any group of people, they're just there to fulfill the role of monsters. Whether or not some of their behavior is grounded in some kind of historical reality, I don't know, but I don't think you're supposed to take them very seriously. They are in all regards, just monsters, there isn't a single reason given in the film to view them as anything less than that, with one possible exception. Arthur at one point shoots one of the Troglodytes out in the open. The savage isn't dead yet, but he can be seen lying in the dirt, gasping for breath, just staring up at the sky. Arthur seems to very briefly see some humanity in the person, he seems to show a hint of empathy, before he puts him out of his misery. But that's the closest the movie comes to showing the Troglodytes as somewhat human. In all other scenes, we see that they are truly and completely bat-shit crazy. Since they're so fantastically cruel and wonderfully fictitious, only an imbecile would think the movie's being racist towards.. Troglodytes.
Brooder calls Mexicans "Greasers", a derogatory term for Mexicans that is now antiquated, not to mention he stated " I didn't kill enough" when asked about how many American Indians he killed. Also, the other characters call him bigoted and ignorant multiple times. The character was written to be a racist.
He is, however, obviously racist due to a traumatic experience with a specific tribe as you stated. But he overgeneralizes all American Indians, he does not care about naming the tribe, he does not care about naming the men who wronged him, he only cares that they all have the same skin tone and they're all American Indians. He's racist, quit pretending.
You're making diegetic excuses against a non-diegetic argument.
To hear Robbie Collins call Native Americans ‘injuns,’ as opposed to ‘indians,’ and ‘savages’-even in the context of the movie-rubs a bit.
How did crippled Patrick Wilson’s character make it up to the cave that was 100 feet up a cliff face and only accessible by ropes dropped down by the natives?
Because he used the throat piece he cut out to call for the ropes, you heard the call during a cave scene shortly before the gun shots.
@@shrekanddonkey9629 how was he supposed to climb up a rope ladder that high with one working leg?
@@ntube7 Well I'm guessing he used his 2 working arms to pull himself up the ropes, It wasn't a rope ladder just a rope.
How many Goddamn computer monitors do you need? Little overkill fellas.
Thoroughly enjoyed this film.
Cameron Hunter it was good!
Weird watching these two struggle to get along.
The big scene in the cave is one of the most repulsive things I’ve ever seen in a movie
We used to call your birth “the big scene in the cave” and yeah it was a bit messy really you lil tyke
U told the whole movie!
I need to see this. Heard many times its really good.
What a droll review for a stunning film.
Who cares if is racist? They were different races involved in the movie. Loved the accuracy in the portrayal. Read up on the barbarity of the Indians, as some were cannibals.
Awesome movie..!
I can't believe you actually contemplated if the movie or the character portrayals were racist or not. That's just so 2020 it's sad.
I think the script sadly floundered when it comes to explaining the nature of the savages. I get that the idea was to make something similar to how e.g. Antonia Bird's Ravenous interpreted the Wendigo myth as a spectre of white colonialism, in this case putting the settlers face-to-face with the incarnate horrors of their pompous campfire tales. But in execution it just doesn't work.
a very great movie
Almost had to look away at the deputy dismemberment scene... Disgusting & ruined my day.
You’re not allowed to decide if a film is racist or not when you continue to use terms such as Savage, Injuns, Etc.
This film looked like a b movie.
Too many spoilers. Had to dislike.
Problably the most realistic film depiction of Native Americans that we'll ever get
Who the hell brought up racism discussion in relation to this movie?
BTW, which character exactly was a racist?
Mushy Pork the whole idea of the film is racist, the guy in the white who claims to have killed more Indians than anyone is a racist
just watched it, well made.. but it was totally racist, and the more I think about it the more I think.. yeh that was racist
Oh so accusing primitive people of being cannibals is now Wacist ? Ooooo but who knew ?
Isn't this just a remake? Watched it a while back and thought it fairly boring and then fairly boring and grim.
You're NOT Kermode. GO AWAY.
As a euro, the reviewer show his stunning ignorance, his ideological blindness and his complete lack of understanding of the real world. How pitiful.
I used to mourn the approaching end of European civilization - at least in the western part of it. Now I'm looking forward to it finally disappearing. Current western euros are utterly unworthy of their inheritance.
Very drawn out western horror-gore flick. 4/10
Your comment is old, but it wasn't drawn out, and it wasn't a gore flick. The slow pacing of the middle portion of the film is dedicated to atmosphere and character building. By the time we get to the film's climax we are intimately familiar with and care about what happens to all 4 of the main characters, and have shared in their arduous journey.The shocking moments of gore are well-earned and serve to elevate everything that happens after, thus are entirely necessary for the film to be effective.
Compare this film to say Hostel to illustrate my point. In Hostel torture and mutilation and horrifying gore happens for no reason other than to "shock" the audience, and none of it carries any weight due to the complete lack of characterization or plot.
You have terrible taste
@@martinlatour9311 Thank you
It was boring and predictable.. end of story. A classic western setting/ theme in a modern age.
Mostly stock fair for a Western that's plodded through by its cast. That that isn't rehashed is just laughably ludicrous. A very silly film indeed that mildly entertains. 2/5
You people who rave about this movie do not know what a good film is.