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This film works as both as a gritty western and as a horror movie. It moves slowly, resolutely forward, quietly gathering momentum, until it plows to its conclusion. A dark, horrifyingly violent collision. Its pacing and its characters is what makes it. It starts its journey in a small western town with a rough lawman (Kurt Russell). There is a killing, a stable boy is eviscerated, and a couple of townsfolk are abducted. The lawman and three others set out to be the heroes. It is a long trip, the film uses this time slowly bringing the characters to life and also slowly grinding them down with relentless bad luck. There is actually not a lot of violence, but what violence there is brutal and horrible. It is dark, gruesome, and vividly real. When flesh is torn, you hear it.

5 stars

Reviewed by: Maurizio Marchese on December 31, 2015