If you were to ask my wife what type of movies I like, she'd tell you I'm a fanatic for horror flicks and Westerns.
As is the case with being a busy dad, though, I never seem to find enough time in my schedule to kick back on the couch and enjoy either. How amazing would it be to queue up a double feature at home to feed my need for scares and outlaw justice? Very, is the answer. The reality of the situation, though, finds me sharing a house with a spouse who despises scary movies and a six-year-old who's prone to nightmares. So, I must keep things family-friendly -- most of the time, anyway.
That said, there have been a number of opportunities recently where I have had the place to myself. Hallelujah! However, I have found my capacity to sit through four hours of movie madness waning. What if there were one movie that could bring me the sinister scares and cowboy goodness I crave?
Wait a tick. There absolutely is; it's one of the best horror Westerns I've ever seen. The movie I'm talking about is Bone Tomahawk, and the good news is that it's streaming on Netflix right now.
Bone Tomahawk follows four men as they venture into the desert to rescue some townspeople who were kidnapped after a surprise attack. This is no ordinary rescue mission, though. It's revealed early on in the film that a group of savage, cave-dwelling (and potentially supernatural) cannibals is the guilty party. Defeating them will be no easy feat.
To that point, the eventual confrontation between the men and these attackers is one of the most grizzly, violent displays I've ever seen in a Western.
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Kurt Russell plays Sheriff Hunt alongside Richard Jenkins, who plays Deputy Chicory, in the horror-Western movie, Bone Tomahawk. RLJ Entertainment
The first and probably biggest draw here is the movie's stellar cast. Kurt Russell leads the charge as Sheriff Franklin Hunt, alongside Patrick Wilson as Arthur O'Dwyer, Richard Jenkins (the Oscar-nominated actor for The Shape of Water) as Deputy Chicory and Lost alum Matthew Fox as John Brooder. Supporting players include Lili Simmons, Zahn McLarnon, David Arquette, horror icon Sid Haig, Fred Malamed, Michael Paré and Sean Young.
Tombstone is hands down one of my favorite westerns, and seeing Russell get back on the horse, so to speak, to lead another western (The Hateful Eight, which he also stars in, hit theaters the same year) is reason in and of itself to watch this movie. As wonderful as he is in the role of Sheriff Hunt, the movie gives enough scenery to chew for Wilson, Jenkins, and Fox -- each actor delivers nuanced performances that keep things grounded, even as the stakes are steadily raised.
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