Horror western starring Kurt Russell and another appearance by his Hateful 8 moustache as the sheriff of a town that is infiltrated by a local cannibalistic neanderthal Indian tribe. So he musters up a small posse to get back the deputy and local wife that have been kidnapped as a food source. Still a movie you’d watch? Okay, read on so.

This is essentially a classic three act film, part one is the exposition and build up, the kidnapping of some locals, the town expert advising what they are up against and thus, the plan for retrieval.

Part two is the classic John Ford style character building road trip of the four man rescue posse and while this section is a little overlong, the dialogue within the script keeps things interesting (credit to debutant director S.Craig Zahler for this) and does a great job of building camaraderie within the group, with some small pockets of action leading to an ominous build up to the finale.

You may be wondering where the horror comes in, that’s saved for part three when the rescue operation reaches its climax, and the movie hits its high note, as the savages come to the fore and the violence, blood and guts flow. There is one particularly eye watering murder (for lads anyway) taking place in the Indian lair that wouldn’t look out of place in the movie Hostel but the level of violence works as it never feels like it was too gratuitous and tied in well with showing the level of enemy the protagonists were up against.

This was one of the better horror movies I’ve seen in the last few years and if you like movies in this genre there’s plenty here to enjoy. If you’re a hardcore horror fan there’s probably not enough for you until the final half an hour or so but the whole build up is done very well, the four main leads (in particular Russell and Matthew Fox) all work to paint an excellent image of how honour and duty often left a man in perilous situations in the Old West and once the horror does kick in, it doesn’t hold back.

DJ Speaks Rating: 6 out of 10