Years ago the Western used to be the most popular film genre, you couldn’t move in cinemas for hundreds of films, but some time over the last couple of decades its popularity waned. The reason was potentially because many thought that everything that could be done, had been done, within the genre parameters. In recent years however, there has been somewhat of a small resurgence for the genre as a select few filmmakers have begun mixing the Western setting and aesthetic with the genre that never dies, horror. Films like Bone Tomahawk and The Wind have demonstrated that the marriage of the two can work beautifully together, and in Aaron B. Koontz’ The Pale Door, we may just have found another.
The film stars 13 Reasons Why‘s David Druid as Jake, the younger brother of the leader of an outlaw gang of cowboys. Jake and his older brother Duncan (Zachary Knighton) lost both their parents during a home invasion when Jake was really little, leaving the task of raising him to Duncan. Despite being determined to keep Jake away from the violent lifestyle he and his posse (which includes both Pat Healy and Noah Segan) lead, Duncan is left with no choice but to include his brother on a job after one of the group gets killed. The job should be a standard train robbery, but after some unexpected surprises turn-up, they find themselves hiding out in a ghost town, one inhabited by a coven of rather viscous witches.
With The Pale Door, writer and director Aaron B. Koontz spends a good chunk of the first half of the film focused on the Western portion of the story. Here he crafts a fairly standard tale dealing with themes of brotherhood, obligation, and salvation. He takes time world building, which does help the story feel much larger than it is. The same care and consideration has been taken with the setting and costumes, but unfortunately it’s still clear on occasion that the set pieces are modern and man made. The costumes appear a little too ‘new’, lacking that worn-in look that clothes in Westerns typically have. It is when the switch into the horror aesthetic occurs that the production and make-up design shine though. The work on the witches is fantastic, the revelation of their true visage is like something out of Roald Dahl’s The Witches. Only here, they are all charred black; the markings of their fiery deaths, as a result of the Salem Witch Trials, on full display.
Once the horror elements appear, the film morphs into a siege movie, as our band of outlaws find themselves trapped and surrounded. It’s during this part of the film that things get really gory as the witches have one or two tricks up their sleeves to try and smoke the men out. It’s a compelling battle of wits and the sexes, and one that keeps the viewer on the edge of their seats. What makes the film truly shine though, is the story of these two brothers whom will both do anything to save the other – think Sam and Dean Winchester – which results in some tugging of the heart-strings during the finale.
Proof that there’s still life in the Western genre, The Pale Door is yet another inventive and exciting chapter in the burgeoning horror Western hybrid genre.
The Pale Door is available on Digital HD and select cinemas on Friday 21st August 2020.
The Pale Door
Summary
Come for the gunslingers and stay for the spell casters, The Pale Door is a great example of the potential of the marriage of the Western and horror genres.
