There are works of entertainment out there that are extremely well crafted, but which are also so utterly awful in conception that they deserved to be consigned to some sort of secure wastebin for toxic culture. One example is the output of Shintaro Kago, a brilliantly imaginative manga artist whom I will never recommend because his work is festooned with what can only be described as scatological, gory child pornography. Bone Tomahawk is another such piece of work that should go in the morality bin, albeit for entirely different reasons.
To be clear, Bone Tomahawk is a well made horror Western movie. The premise is simple and familiar; Some local innocents are are abducted from their sleepy cowboy town by a gang of mysterious, fabled native Americans. A posse is gathered to rescue them. Misadventure ensues. The plot is tight, the characters and conflicts well realised, and we find ourselves relating to each of the four unlucky townsfolk who lead the rescue mission. Despite its hefty run time, the tension is as tight as a wire throughout. You are always on edge, waiting for something to happen. And when the horror elements do finally come, it's nothing like you could ever prepare yourself for. This is a grimy, gritty, nasty, gory movie that is not for the feint of heart.
And yet despite enjoying the movie in terms of spectacle, a voice was nagging at me the entire time in the back of my head: "this movie is racist as balls, isn't it?" At the beginning of the movie, a native American local explains what the antagonists of the movie are, patiently pointing out that they are not normal native Americans; that they're a tribe of outcast "troglodytes". Once he's done explaining this, the character disappears from the story. He only existed long enough to provide a get-out-of-jail-free card for the movie, so that it can then go on to portray one of the most openly racist depictions I have seen in a modern cinema.
The "Troglodytes" are every offensive trope of native people you can imagine. They are a tribe of monstrous, savage, merciless, inbred, naked, bone pierced, cannibal unga-bungas who torture and murder innocent, civilized white folk. The movie encourages us to keep track of how many are killed by the heroes, and feel elated whenever they are put down by white men. If this were a 70s exploitation movie, I could at least call it a product of its time. But this came out in 2015! It is the product of thoughtless malignity.
Bone Tomahawk, whatever its merits, does not deserve a recommendation. Interest in it should only be purely academic; a reference for those studying the most lurid of racist exploitation cinema.
Film Excellent Execution, Awful Taste
There are works of entertainment out there that are extremely well crafted, but which are also so utterly awful in conception that they deserved to be consigned to some sort of secure wastebin for toxic culture. One example is the output of Shintaro Kago, a brilliantly imaginative manga artist whom I will never recommend because his work is festooned with what can only be described as scatological, gory child pornography. Bone Tomahawk is another such piece of work that should go in the morality bin, albeit for entirely different reasons.
To be clear, Bone Tomahawk is a well made horror Western movie. The premise is simple and familiar; Some local innocents are are abducted from their sleepy cowboy town by a gang of mysterious, fabled native Americans. A posse is gathered to rescue them. Misadventure ensues. The plot is tight, the characters and conflicts well realised, and we find ourselves relating to each of the four unlucky townsfolk who lead the rescue mission. Despite its hefty run time, the tension is as tight as a wire throughout. You are always on edge, waiting for something to happen. And when the horror elements do finally come, it's nothing like you could ever prepare yourself for. This is a grimy, gritty, nasty, gory movie that is not for the feint of heart.
And yet despite enjoying the movie in terms of spectacle, a voice was nagging at me the entire time in the back of my head: "this movie is racist as balls, isn't it?" At the beginning of the movie, a native American local explains what the antagonists of the movie are, patiently pointing out that they are not normal native Americans; that they're a tribe of outcast "troglodytes". Once he's done explaining this, the character disappears from the story. He only existed long enough to provide a get-out-of-jail-free card for the movie, so that it can then go on to portray one of the most openly racist depictions I have seen in a modern cinema.
The "Troglodytes" are every offensive trope of native people you can imagine. They are a tribe of monstrous, savage, merciless, inbred, naked, bone pierced, cannibal unga-bungas who torture and murder innocent, civilized white folk. The movie encourages us to keep track of how many are killed by the heroes, and feel elated whenever they are put down by white men. If this were a 70s exploitation movie, I could at least call it a product of its time. But this came out in 2015! It is the product of thoughtless malignity.
Bone Tomahawk, whatever its merits, does not deserve a recommendation. Interest in it should only be purely academic; a reference for those studying the most lurid of racist exploitation cinema.