"Bone Tomahawk" (2015)

If you make it past the gruesome opening shot of “Bone Tomahawk” you might think have a hint of what you are in for, and whether you can handle it. “This is going to be a no-holds-barred, realistic, violent western,” you might think. You would be wrong. It is going to be harsher than you think.

This story starts out as an update of sorts on “The Searchers.” A town is invaded by Indians and hostages are taken. A rescue party is sent out to find them. As with the Wayne classic, some in the party are racist, Indian haters—killers. Only here, “the other” is wholly different. Even the educated, native American, “professor” clarifies. This tribe of cavemen are monsters.

What makes this film better than most of the ultra-violent horror category it falls into, is the realistic way it portrays the characters. The dialogue is realistic, often funny, and a window into who everyone is. We grow quickly to care about these people. They are not the carnage fodder that horror films typically throw at us. But they are also not the typical American cowboy hero. Yes, they are brave. They try to do the right thing. But they are not, as a result, super powered men who always manage to overcome the odds.

In fact, this bravado is mocked in the film when the kidnapped wife utters in frustration: “This is why frontier life is so difficult. Not because of the Indians or the elements but because of the idiots.” Imagine how hard life in a Hollywood western world would be, with every idiot a law unto himself!

The one real cowboy in the bunch, the husband of the kidnapped woman, is a devout, decent, man. And in a refreshing take on that sort of character, his faith and decency do not let him down in the end.

But the real reason this film is a perfect reflection of its time is that it gives us a terrifying “other” to fear, and hate. 2015 was just about the climax of fear in the American zeitgeist. When I was in the States in the summer of 2014 I was struck by the pervading fear I saw everywhere. And when 2015 gave us new terror attacks and escalating numbers of mass shootings, an immigration crisis in Europe gave us the scapegoat we needed. “The Other” is to blame. Never mind that said "Other" is just a boogeyman.

Or, this is just another gory horror film. It is increasingly hard to differentiate between entertainment and culture, between the political atmosphere and television these days.