Review of Bone Tomahawk (2015) by Jamie J — 15 Sep 2016

Let's get it out of the way shall we? Bone Tomahawk is not your ordinary western. Despite rather a large amount of time devoted to character building, scene setting and four men essentially going on a mountain hike, the film eventually descends into what I can only describe as horror. Despite being billed as a traditional western, Bone Tomahawk is probably one of the most effective horror films I've seen in recent years.

While The Hateful Eight brought Tarantino's unique style and OTT flair to the genre, Tomahawk instead prefers to be gritty, and utterly uncompromising in its savagery. While such scenes aren't very many, the intensity of one such moment will most likely leave viewers feeling a tad queasy, when you see just what cannibals actually get up to when left alone for years. It isn't just the visuals either, the sound of the film will stick with you long after, most notably the bizarre windpipe modifications the tribe adorn themselves with, disgusting on one hand, and horrific, resonating sounds on the other.

It shows how good a film is when I don't even mention the stellar cast till the end, Kurt Russell is on fine form, and Matthew Fox seems to be ageing backwards, Patrick Wilson does his usual appearance in an indie horror movie also. So that's all bases covered really. Go watch it, but bring a sick bag just in case.