Maybe Don’t Watch The First Trailer For BONE TOMAHAWK
The good news is, S. Craig Zahler's Bone Tomahawk is a great little movie, one that closed out this year's Fantastic Fest with an emphatic bang. The film - Zahler's first! - features a pair of absolutely killer performances from Kurt Russell and Richard Jenkins, a delightfully oily turn from Matthew Fox as a smooth-talking, six-shooting bigot, and feels like a perfect blend of John Ford's The Searchers and Jack Ketchum's Off Season. It's a mean-spirited, vicious little genre affair. And while the film may burn a bit too slow for some, be aware that it really delivers in its third act, probably in ways that you're not expecting.
Which leads us to the bad news. The film's first trailer arrived online over the weekend, and it is, quite frankly, way too spoilery for its own good. Ironically, said spoilers are largely taken from the film's first two acts (most of the film's major action beats get a moment here) rather than the film's shocking finale, but for a film that builds tension so carefully - and releases it in moments punctuated by gunfire, broken bones, and other fun stuff - that's kind of a problem. A lot of these moments should be experienced in context, not in rapid-fire succession in between cards spelling out the film's tagline.
My recommendation is that you do not watch this trailer. Go into Bone Tomahawk completely cold, knowing nothing about it beyond the fact that the entire Birth.Movies.Death. team had a blast watching it (Devin's review is forthcoming!). We're going to be supporting this film a lot in the weeks ahead, and we're hoping to be very careful about not ruining the movie for you. This trailer works against that a bit, which makes it questionable. Hopefully the next trailer will be a little more withholding.
But, then again: it's your click. You make the call.
