10 Years Ago Today, One of the Best Horror Western Movies of All Time Released (& It’s on Streaming)

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And yet it’s rare that we get a movie that blends the Western and the horror film. The best examples are horror movies that emulate Westerns, e.g. Near Dark or Vampires. As for movies that lean Western but have horror elements, they’re rarer still. But there is at least one great one: S. Craig Zahler’s Bone Tomahawk.

What Is Bone Tomahawk About?

Like most great Westerns, Bone Tomahawk makes you believe you’re joining the residents of a small town in a day in their lives. Unfortunately, on this particular day, the residents of Bright Hope are dealing with a group of cannibals, who have come down from their mountain home and abducted a handful of the town’s residents.

Kurt Russell plays Sheriff Franklin Hunt who, along with gunslinger John Brooder (Matthew Fox), his deputy, Chicory (Richard Jenkins) and, begrudgingly, Arthur O’Dwyer (Patrick Wilson), who is restricted due to an injured leg. But O’Dwyer’s wife was one of the individuals kidnapped, so there’s no talking him out of joining.

By the end of this journey some of the kidnapped residents of Bright Hope will return home, some of the rescue party will die (brutally), and the small town will be forever changed. If you want a movie that pulls no punches, Bone Tomahawk is the one for you. Even if you typically feel no urge to watch cannibal movies (which is fair), this one is worth giving a shot.

How Did Bone Tomahawk Do with Critics & Where Is It Streaming?

When it was released, Bone Tomahawk received acclaim from critics and to this day it holds a very impressive and very deserved 91% on Rotten Tomatoes. Reviewers praised the performances of Russell, Jenkins, and Fox as well as the film’s visual aura, which accurately recaptures the classic Westerns of the 1950s, the direction, and the screenplay.

Unfortunately, it didn’t do nearly as well at the box office. To be fair, it was only given a very limited release, but it still only managed to pull in $475,846 domestically on a mercifully miniscule $1.8 million budget. The film then became profitable via home media sales.

Stream Bone Tomahawk on Hulu.

What are your thoughts on Bone Tomahawk? What did you think of Zahler’s subsequent movies, Brawl in Cell Block 99 and Dragged Across Concrete? Let us know in the comments.