Bone Tomahawk

On the frontier town of Bright Hope, a tense shootout at the saloon leaves the sheriff nursing a wounded stranger while his deputies scramble to contain the aftermath. A doctor's assistant, married to the local foreman, attends to the injured man and becomes entangled in the town's fragile sense of order. That night, raiders strike and both the prisoner and the foreman's wife vanish, with only a trail of blood and a single arrow pointing toward a distant wilderness. Sheriff Hunt organizes a small patrol and sets out to retrieve the missing pair, venturing into perilous countryside and a threat few locals deserve to meet. The journey tests their nerve as weather, fatigue, and doubt complicate their mission. The journey tests their nerve as weather, fatigue, and doubt complicate their mission.

Released in 2015 and directed by S. Craig Zahler, Bone Tomahawk comes from an original screenplay by the filmmaker. The production was modest, run on a budget of about 1.8 million dollars, and features a tight, suspense driven crew.

The film has earned a cult following among fans who appreciate genre mashups that mix Western grit with unsettling horror. Its stark visuals and deliberate pacing, along with standout performances, especially Kurt Russell, have sparked discussions about how brutality and frontier mythologies intersect in cinema.

Critics were divided but many praised the atmosphere and Russell's lead turn, while some found the violence excessive. The story probes civilization versus savagery, law and mercy, and ordinary people forced to make hard choices when order breaks down amid a brutal frontier.