Bone Tomahawk

2015 Directed by S. Craig Zahler

May the Lord have mercy and grant you a swift death

During a shootout in a saloon, Sheriff Hunt injures a suspicious stranger. One of the villagers takes care of him in prison. One day they both disappear – only the spear of a cannibal tribe is found. Hunt and a few of his men go in search of the prisoner and his nurse.

Kurt Russell Matthew Fox Patrick Wilson Richard Jenkins Lili Simmons Evan Jonigkeit David Arquette Fred Melamed Sid Haig Maestro Harrell James Tolkan Kathryn Morris Zahn McClarnon Michael Emery Jeremy Tardy Michael Paré Sean Young Jamison Newlander Erick Chavarria Omar Leyva David Midthunder Geno Segers Alex Meraz Raw Leiba Robert Allen Mukes Brandon Molale Eddie Spears Jay Tavare

Alternative Title

גרזן העצמות

horror western

132 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by nathaxnne (hiatus) ★ 928

i retired from letterboxd over bone tomahawk. i had given bone tomahawk 4.5 stars because it seemed like a knowing and meditative work on the intersection of the Italian Cannibal Cycle and The Western which it totally is. i didn't understand at the time that Bone Tomahawk was the first Trump Horror. Later when I read an interview with Zahler and an article about the production company he works with it is clear they are explicitly authoring MAGA-sploitation which is something i find interesting but ultimately cannot countenance. i no longer stand by my review but i don't want to delete it. i keep trying to write ANOTHER Bone Tomahawk review which i still might do or watch the Vince…
Review by Sean Baker 22

This was in my queue forever. Overall, I found it to be a fun, pulpy romp.
Really happy that Zahler is fighting the fight and making original modern genre cinema. Some of the most disturbing onscreen violence I've seen in quite some time.
I think speeding up the pace would greatly help. But I also have to respect that this is clearly what Zahler wants... Brawl is 132 mins and Dragged Across Concrete is 159 mins. He likes his films on the long side.
Review by SilentDawn ★★★★½ 26

89/100
Showing this amazing film to people and eagerly awaiting and soaking up their reaction to THAT scene might be my current favorite past-time.
Review by Todd Gaines ★★★★ 79

The Doctor has been kidnapped. Her husband, the injured Cowboy, is beyond grief. The Cowboy's best friend, the Gentleman, volunteers to go and bring her back. Who's leading the rescue? Well, that would be the Sheriff and the Deputy. Who kidnapped the Doctor? Let's say the kidnappers like to dress in white chalk, make funny sounding noises, shoot folks with bow and arrows, and eat dinner like they're Hannibal Lecter. Sounds yummy, right? From the opening shot, Bone Tomahawk, grabs you by the throat tight, and cuts your jugular. It's a western, with some elements of the supernatural, set in the 1890's. Led by an all star cast featuring the ageless Kurt Russell, the charming Richard Jenkins, the surprisingly awesome…
Review by katie ★★★★★ 4

bone tomahawk isn’t forgiving. its brutal, dirty, cold, but at the same time it begs you to hope for these characters, even when everything seems lost. it gives you a sliver of light in the most godless moments and then breaks your heart, and then gives you light again. it’s everything it planned to be and never isn’t perfect.
Review by nathaxnne (hiatus) ★★★★½ 16

With 'Bone Tomahawk', S. Craig Zahler answers the question: 'How do you update the Italian Cannibal Cycle of Films for a contemporary audience?' by explicitly doing the opposite of that, acknowledging their ultimate debt to a previous cycle of films about the clash of imperial expansion and indigenous peoples, the 'Cowboy & Indian' film, and sensibly making a self-aware period piece out of this hybrid/not-hybrid genre apparatus set in (probably) the early 20th Century Western United States. This is not the only Kurt Russell Western in which he fights time-sensitive cannibal terror to free hostages (that would be 'Escape From ____'), but it is certainly the most awesome one made in the 21st Century. The way-excellent cast, including a truly incredible…
Review by davidehrlich ★★½ 13

casting and flat lensing of the opening scene prompted me to expect something much more in the style of a Sy-Fy Channel original, so i was pleasantly surprised by the simple, leathery pleasures of this revenge western. it adds up to approximately nothing, and never seems to make the most of its accomplishments (the business of dealing with the bad guys is more than a little shrugged off), but 4 men — the right 4 men — shuffling through the frontier in search of god know's what... works for me. if Tarantino had taken a crack at this and decided try his hand at a Searchers of his very own... things could've gotten interesting.
you could say that my thoughts on the movie are split right down the middle.
Review by Mike D'Angelo ★★★½ 9

67/100
Was initially alarmed by the 132-minute running time, but this is a film that revels in courtliness and digressions, in no hurry to arrive at its unexpectedly grisly destination. (To be fair, the very first shot is gruesome as hell, but it's easy to forget that 90 minutes later.) Zahler does reasonably well by the genre visually, given his budget, but flavorful Old West dialogue ("You been squirtin' lemon juice in my eye since I came in here"—this in response to Kurt Russell's priceless delivery of the line "You're pretty angry for a guy named Buddy") and amusing riffs on stock characters are the main attraction here—even Matthew Fox, playing a ruthlessly self-interested dandy, is a lot of fun,…
Review by DirkH ★★★★½ 11

This has got to be one of the most impressive debut films in recent years.
It's easy to dismiss this film as a horror western drenched in all the tropes that go along with that. Had this been a film that's sole intention would be to shock or to relish in its cowboy roots (or boots) then it would be a fine film. Not special, just good.
But this is so much more than that.
Let's start with the ridiculously brilliant dialogue. Zahler proves he's not only a great director but a gifted scribe as well. The authenticity of the idiomatic choices he makes are spot on, imbuing his film with a sense of realism that accompanies the already absurd…
Review by SilentDawn ★★★★½ 5

89/100
Shrieks, moans, wails, and spurts of blood; all woven within an Artificial evocation of a savage world. A Western finally goes full on-Digital Michael Mann, and Bone Tomahawk, instead of reaching for a product of grand ambition, scales down into a work of formal beauty and foggy spaces. It's a film pattered with details, sounds, and silences after startling bursts of violence, but moment to moment, it's elegantly contemplative. Bells are only a warning for the gunshots that soon follow, and instead of lingering on a wounded horse, Zahler frames every character in a state of stoic respect. Mannequins in the Old West, soaking in their situation and trying not to lose each other in the mist.
It's undeniably…
Review by Filipe Furtado ★★★½

I find incredible amusing that back in 2015 Kurt Russell gave two wonderful John Wayne impressions on conservative neowesterns about US foundational violence. Three things that stick out on revisit:
1) Zahler direction is more at home at themore oppressive settings of his later movies, but the more external heavy western puts his usual journey towards death structure into a different pace.
2) It feels even more deliberate paced whren ones knows that is Zahler MO. Three very distincts acts (the town, the trek, the confrontation) of around 45 minutes each.
3) The use of the canibal other plays less like an abstract idea and more of a deliberate provocation even if one the film mines for some rich material.…
Review by Naughty aka Juli Norwood ★★★★ 7

Not Rated - 2 Hours 12 Minutes
Adventure - Drama - Horror - Western - Cannibal
Directed by S. Craig Zahler
Starring: Kurt Russell, Patrick Wilson, Matthew Fox
Where oh where does one even begin! First and Second Act are straight up unadulterated, saddled but unbridled Western Cinema. The third Act not so much!!!
The last 40 minutes kick into WTF territory! Be prepared to hang on to your butts and whatever you do.. don't lose your lunch! If you thought the "not for the faint of heart" opening scene of the film was beyond your endurance level be forewarned it pales in comparison to what unfolds onscreen in the grand finale!
S. Craig Zahler directorial debut packs a bonafide…

Recent reviews

Review by Eric P ★★★★½

Don't know why it took me so long to see this
Review by Andreas Prochnow ★½

Man....I was so bored watching this movie.
Review by Neil Payne ★★★★★

Absolutely Brilliant film savage brutal graphic
Just my cup of tea
Review by MPatzzz ★★★★

Jack from Lost kicks some native American ass. (what!? they were cannibals... smdh)
Review by Stefan ★★★½

This is a movie dressed as a western that is something else. Think in style something that may look like Aliens vs Cowboys or 13th Warrior without exactly be that type of movie.
A bit slow paced and its just one linear story from beginning to the end.
Interesting to watch so its worth to watch but I dont feel I need to watch it again.
Extra plus points trying to merge together a story that feels different. I like that.
Review by Filipe Furtado ★★★½

I find incredible amusing that back in 2015 Kurt Russell gave two wonderful John Wayne impressions on conservative neowesterns about US foundational violence. Three things that stick out on revisit:
1) Zahler direction is more at home at themore oppressive settings of his later movies, but the more external heavy western puts his usual journey towards death structure into a different pace.
2) It feels even more deliberate paced whren ones knows that is Zahler MO. Three very distincts acts (the town, the trek, the confrontation) of around 45 minutes each.
3) The use of the canibal other plays less like an abstract idea and more of a deliberate provocation even if one the film mines for some rich material.…
Review by TheBigWeen ★★★★★

Best western since No Country. Not sure why this isn’t talked about more.
Review by adrenaline ★★★

This one is very brutal. I was disgusted with one scene. Slow pacing kinda made this movie drag a bit. Overall it had some strong characters and some just poor characters. I'm talking to you Matthew Fox.
Review by spoomy ★★★★★

Batista'd my little dick off seeing Sid Haig and David Arquette in this.
This rules I can't think of any way I would try and improve on it aside from more Sid Haig. Richard Jenkins and Kurt Russel are amazing too. Really wish I didn't spoil the big gross violent bit for myself whilst browsing a webm thread on 4chan like five years ago but it still hits. Love this shit.
Review by PepeTesoro ★★★★

Tenía un poco de miedo de ver esta peli porque pensaba que tendría que meterme en el follón de fascinación y fascismo, pero ha sido mucho más inofensiva de lo que creía. Al final, ni es tan rancia como el western de los 50 (y la vieron probablemente el mismo número de frikis) ni tan violenta como los Vengadores (cabe preguntarse por qué un desmembramiento nos parece más violento que un edificio lleno de gente derrumbándose).
Ni es tan extrema, ni es tan buena como había oído. Pero no deja de ser un pedazo de western pulp, con momentazos de violencia y ramalazos de terror, y con un elenco dándolo todo. Y MADRE MÍA Richard Jenkins está que se sale.
Review by mills4 ★★★★★

i’m not sure if i can quite put my finger on it, but i think that the monologue about the flea circus is the key to this. in about a minute and a half of dialogue, the director comments on how we consume movies.
jenkins’s wife insists that the flea circus is all a trick, working similar to a timepiece. but he believes so strongly that it’s real, he asks her to lower her voice so as not to offend the performers.
when we watch movies, we’re looking for an escape from our world. in doing so, we enter another. we can look for ways to shatter the illusion, poke holes in the reality that we’ve entered. but is it more rewarding to let the experience envelop us? do we learn more by inhabiting them, or transcending them?
Review by Projeto Marcelo Hessel ★★★

Kurt Russell e Patrick Wilson estrelam misto de faroeste de abdução e horror de sobrevivência
Embora se coloque a serviço de uma visão de mundo reacionária, que já havia deixado de ser o discurso dominante no faroeste americano há pelo menos meio século, Bone Tomahawk (2015) faz uma fusão interessante entre o western de abdução e o horror de sobrevivência.
Na trama escrita por S. Craig Zahler (que estreia como diretor de longas), Kurt Russell interpreta o xerife Franklin Hunt, que junta um grupo de homens para tentar resgatar uma jovem sequestrada, esposa do rancheiro Arthur (Patrick Wilson), que, depois de quebrar a perna logo após ter sido promovido no trabalho, está se sentindo o fracasso em pessoa. Para o…