BARE BONES: THE PALE DOOR (2020)

THE PALE DOOR (2020)

Horror/western has the outlaw Dalton Gang robbing a heavily armed train with youngest Dalton Jake (Devin Druid) on his first job. After a bloody shoot out, the gang secure the cash box only to find out it holds no money or gold, but a bound pretty young girl. Pearl (Natasha Bassett) begs the gang take her home and there will be a reward for their troubles. This brings them to a ghost town where the only occupants there are the women of the local brothel. Soon to their horror, they find the brothel is a coven of evil witches and the gang now must fight for their lives.

Flick is directed by Aaron B. Koontz (Camera Obscura) from his script with Cameron Burns and Keith Lansdale. It’s an entertaining little movie that doesn’t try to be more than it is. The witches are after the virginal Jake, who has also yet to kill anyone, and will decimate the gang to get to him. The make-up and gore are abundant and very well done and the witches are fearsome creatures, though seem to be easily gunned down by the dwindling numbers of the gang. There are a few moments when the action stops dead for characters to bear their souls, but otherwise this is an amusing 90+ minutes of blood and bullets. Pale Door also gets extra points for effort, with Koontz’s effective visuals and settings being impressive on a small budget. An entertaining little movie now streaming on Amazon. Also stars low budget horror vets Noah Segan and Pat Healy as Dalton Gang members.

-MonsterZero NJ

HORROR YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED: BONE TOMAHAWK (2015)

BONE TOMAHAWK (2015)

(Clicking the highlighted links brings you to corresponding reviews and articles here at The Movie Madhouse!)

Written and directed by S. Craig Zahler, this is a brooding and methodically paced western that switches gears into a full blown horror for it’s last act. The story has Sheriff Franklin Hunt (Kurt Russell), who presides over the small western town of Bright Hope, heading into hostile territory to rescue a young wife (Lili Simmons) and his own deputy (Evan Jonigkeit) from a tribe of cave dwelling cannibals, that even the local Native Americans are afraid of. Along with him are his friend and back-up Chicory (Richard Jenkins), an aristocratic gunslinger (Matthew Fox) and the woman’s crippled husband, Arthur (Patrick Wilson).

Zahler takes a good 90 minutes letting us get to know his slightly eccentric characters before throwing them into a meat grinder…almost literally…when they finally encounter the vicious tribe. A good portion of the film is the journey where the moderate pace let’s us really become familiar with Hunt and his party and it lulls us into a sort of sense of security, which we are then shocked out of when the would-be rescuers reach their grim destination. It works very well as when we finally get into the mountain lair of these brutal ‘troglodytes’, we are shocked at the gruesome brutality we are forced to witness after the more laid back 90 minutes. The last act is a bloodbath and as we know these characters so well by now, it makes us feel for them. It’s a cruel and intense and makes the long wait definitely worth the while.

There are some really intriguing characters here and the entire cast does really solid work bringing them to life. To single anyone out would be unfair, though obviously Russell is great as always.

Sure it’s a very slow burn and maybe we would have liked to know more about this ‘tribe’, but it is still a very satisfying and unique movie that is a refreshing change from a lot of the cookie cutter horror that we have seen over the last few years. It can be quite brutal at times, but Zahler gives us a well scripted thriller especially when it comes to his eclectic cast of characters and a real nail-biting finale. Recommended.

-MonsterZero NJ

3 and 1/2 guns.