The brutal Troglodytes inBone Tomahawkshocked me while ensuring I’d never forget the movie.Bone Tomahawk’s story is often overshadowed by its horrifying death scene, but it is one of the bestKurt Russell Western movies, even when it shifts from a Western to a horror. The movie starts as a typical Western might, with stolen loot and a mysterious arrow wound. However, the town sheriff gets a dire warning from a Native American character known as The Professor, who has identified the arrow as belonging to a dangerous cannibal tribe known as the Troglodytes.
The characters inBone Tomahawkare well-written Western tropes, including a gunslinger, an enthusiastic deputy, and a town hero - Sheriff Franklin Hunt, played by Kurt Russell. While many Westerns have historically cast Native American characters as antagonists,Bone Tomahawkveers away from this stereotype by making its Native American character an educated man and its villains almost monsters. While the movie is considered a slow burn, it suddenly changes genres and speeds up its pacing when the Troglodytes appear, makingBone Tomahawk’s endingmore suited to a horror movie.
Why Bone Tomahawk’s Troglodytes Are So Brutal & Horrifying
The Troglodytes Are More Intelligent Than It Seems (& That Makes Them More Disturbing)
Violence is a common trope for movies set in the “Wild West,” butBone Tomahawk’s Troglodytes are the most monstrous Western movie villainsI have ever seen. They are terrifying to look at, with tusks driven through their cheeks, and the camera angles make them look enormous compared to the human characters. Their way of life is horrifying, and we are only given a glimpse into their world, which makes them even more disturbing.Bone Tomahawk’s mysterious Troglodyteshave some intelligence, but cannot be reasoned with, and their interactions with the human characters make this clear.
Bone Tomahawkdirector S. Craig Zahler rarely had the camera focus on the Troglodytes, so that they appeared even more mysterious.
Though it is easy to see the Troglodytes as animalistic monsters,Bone Tomahawkmakes it clear that the Troglodytes have a degree of intelligence and culture.Still, it is an incredibly disturbing one in which humanity’s worst taboos - cannibalism and incest - are regularly practiced. The Troglodytes can communicate with each other via the whistles they make out of their neck bones, and though they may not be able to speak to the human characters, they can understand their emotions and terror, as they show in the cave scene. This makes them far more disturbing than a standard horror movie monster.
Bone Tomahawk’s Villains Result In A Death Scene That Truly Shocked Me
Bone Tomahawk’s Most Disturbing Scene Is Not The Infamous Death Scene
Bone Tomahawk’s gruesome death sceneis not only gory but sadistic in ways that I have never seen in a Western movie, even rivaling many horror movie scenes. The Troglodytes pull Hunt’s deputy, Nick, from his cell, scalp him, nail his scalp inside his mouth, then turn him upside down with his legs spread and cut him in half using a combination of the bone tomahawk and their sheer physical strength. The Troglodytes then eat Nick.Bone Tomahawk’shorrifying death scene might be one of the movie’s most memorable parts, but the most disturbing scene is yet to come at that point in the film.
We may have had a glimpse at the fate that awaited Samantha had she not been rescued.
The most disturbing scene inBone Tomahawkis not Nick’s agonizing death scene, but a short moment when the surviving characters are escaping the Troglodytes' cave. As Samantha, Arthur, and Chicory flee, they find two Troglodyte women who have been blinded, impregnated, and had their limbs amputated. It is a horrifying image with several disturbing implications. I was left unsure if the Troglodytes did this to their own women, or if this is what they did to their captured victims. If so, we may have had a glimpse at the fate that awaited Samantha had she not been rescued.
Bone Tomahawk’s Villains Set It Apart From The Western Genre
Bone Tomahawk’s Horror Element Was Key To Its Success
Westerns have been criticized for being formulaic, predictable, and occasionally offensive (in the case of older Westerns and their portrayal of Native Americans,) so the genre has been overdue an overhaul.Bone Tomahawkstill fits solidly into the Western genrewith its setting and character archetypes, but its villains set it apart from other Westerns. Combining the horror and Western genres may have initially put viewers off as the movie bombed at the box office, but it paid off in the long run, withBone Tomahawk’s unconventional approach to the Western genreearning it a 93% positive Rotten Tomatoes rating.
This 25-Year-Old Cult Horror-Western Is The Perfect Follow-up To Bone Tomahawk
Bone Tomahawk won praise for its blend of Western and horror elements – just like a cult $2 million Guy Pearce movie released in 1999.
While evenKurt Russell was shocked byBone Tomahawk’s brutality, he also acknowledged that the horror aspects had a significant role in making the movie work, thoughRussell prefers to callBone Tomahawka graphic Westernrather than a horror Western. He toldCollider,“It just comes at you in a whole different way. And I thought it worked.“While the movie had other compelling factors like a well-told story and talented actors, it would have been far less memorable and shocking ifBone Tomahawkhad not included what are, in my opinion, the most savage Western movie villains yet.
