Bone Tomahawk, the stunning debut directorial outing of novelist S. Craig Zahler, marks the bloody return of Kurt Russell to a genre whose modern age he helped define with 1993’s Tombstone. Bone Tomahawk is, at its simplest, a posse-rides-out rescue mission a la The Searchers, wherein a motley assemblage of townsfolk embark on a desperate crusade to save two of their own from a cave-dwelling clan of degenerate cannibals.
The posse is an ensemble of archetypal Westerners: Russell stars as the no-nonsense Franklin Hunt, the posse’s leader and sheriff of the small town of Bright Hope. Arthur O’Dwyer (Patrick Wilson) is an earnest, god-fearing cowboy whose love for his wife, Samantha (Lili Simmons), the town’s doctor, spurs him beyond all frontiers. Matthew Fox’s John Brooder is a white-suited dandy, ladies’ man, and a seething killer whose bastardy is tempered by his loyalty to the venture. The film’s heart comes in the person of Chicory (Richard Jenkins), a widower, Civil War veteran, and erstwhile back-up deputy whose folksy musings hint at director Zahler’s background as a novelist. Horror stalwarts Sid Haig (House of 1000 Corpses, The Devil’s Rejects) and David Arquette (Scream, Ravenous) make strong appearances as well.
Of the men and women who populate his film Zahler remarks, “If it works for you in the right way, you will have affection for these characters and their journey….this is a western set at the pace of the Old West, and it’s really about these characters and their adventure on the frontier.” The dialog is formal and proper without ever being stilted and was, in fact, what first drew Russell to the project. “The dialog is part of the appeal of doing this sort of adventure story, and certainly a good part of what attracted this cast, because it certainly wasn’t the paycheck,” Zahler only partially jokes.
Contrary to popular “horror” branding, and while “the dark sequences are very, very dark,” Zahler considers Bone Tomahawk a straightforward Western. While gruesome violence occasionally and suddenly spatters the film, it is treated with the same objective dispassion as are the beautifully-scripted interactions between the eminently human denizens of Bright Hope. We are neutral observers, watching as the characters react to darkness and light.
When I asked how he balances these brutally graphic elements in a traditional western setting, Zahler offered a well-reasoned answer that will be immediately obvious upon watching: “Whether it’s two men sitting around talking about corn chowder or about how to read in the bathtub, it’s [shot in] the same style as when one man watches hideous things happen to another.” The director respects his audience enough to eschew cheap visual and audio cues to alert a shift in tone (“I don’t feel the need to sell the audience on ideas”); the story reels out with an almost documentary impartiality. On handling the horrific in the same fashion as the more mundane bits: “I’m not making a change, and the movie doesn’t suddenly become a Lucio Fulci movie–and I adore his work–that’s just not the style of this movie. Really having a consistent style through all of these events is one of the things that make [the movie] flow.”
The movie was filmed on the vast and fabled Paramount Ranch, setting for many of the great westerns of this century and the last. In fact, a young Kurt Russell appeared in TV’s “Gunsmoke”, filmed at the ranch, in 1964. Zahler muses, “You really get a sense for the continuity of Western movie history when you’re there with somebody who, half a century earlier, shot a piece of that same genre in that same exact space.”
Bone Tomahawk is visually immersive, its dusty earth tones and meticulously-crafted scenes are far more luxe than its $1.8M price tag would suggest. Much of the film is shot from an over-the-shoulder perspective, which is extremely effective at drawing the viewer into this bleak and poignant world. Mr. Zahler suggests–and this writer agrees–watching on the biggest screen to which you have access. The acting is superb, the cinematography gorgeous and detailed, and the violence abrupt and appalling. The pacing carries through a deeply satisfying conclusion, and the movie bows at the perfect moment. To watch on your iPad–or, godforbid, your phone–is to do yourself a great disservice
Watch Bone Tomahawk October 23rd on VOD and in theaters. For more in the vein of Bone Tomahawk from director S. Craig Zahler, his dark western novels Wraiths of the Broken Land and A Congregation of Jackals are currently widely available.
Thanks to Mr. Zahler for sharing his time and insight for this article.
