By Kevin Scott, MoreHorror.com
Wesley Snipes is back baby! If I seem excited, I kinda am. I made peace with guilty pleasures a long time ago so I can speak frankly about being a fan. I love Blade in the comics and thought Snipes was a perfect choice for the big screen incarnations. If
Wesley Snipes did nothing more for his entire career except sign Blade posters at horror cons, I would be there. Guess what though, he’s been working pretty consistently since his IRS woes, and although it may not be as quite the high profile gigs he may have been used to, he’s doing alright.
When I noticed Gallowwalkers was streaming on Netflix, the only thing that could have made me the slightest bit apprehensive was if it had been a musical. No, I’m not anti-musical by the way, but if film were food, musicals would be the tofu. It’s healthy, and I’ll be glad later, but it’s challenging to get it to go down. “Gallowwalkers” is a horror/western hybrid, not the first in stable, but still a rare breed. This one is not bad. It’s not quite what you think, but I’ll elaborate on that.
Mr. Snipes is a stranger that was an illegitimate child born to a woman that was taken in to a special sect of sisters who guard the gates of Hell. When it’s time for him to leave and find his own way, he finds stability with a woman who runs a slaughterhouse and her daughter. When a band of outlaws take everything from him, he seeks revenge and kills them all. There’s only one catch. He’s cursed and everyone he shoots, comes back from the dead. Here’s where a little clarification may be helpful. A synopsis may indicate zombies here. I don’t want to get anyone’s hopes up. No lumbering decaying animated flesh eating corpses, not even any fast running decaying flesh eating corpses. Think more like Uncle Frank from “Hellraiser”. Remember how Uncle Frank looked like he had been skinned and had a flesh fetish because, well because he didn’t have any and needed some skin. It’s like that.
The outlaws decimate a settlement and cut everyone’s faces off to use as their own. The only thing I noticed was almost everyone in the village was fair haired and pale skinned. So fair haired that they may have been envious of the ginger people’s settlement further down the trail. The outlaw leader goes from being dark skinned with long black hair in the beginning of the film to looking like a young Edgar Winter, which requires some paying attention, but it’s a nice touch.
Kevin Howarth is good as the leader who is creepy and slimy as all get out. First as a low class, trail worn, alpha male douchebag, and then as a cold, calculating, purple coat wearing, almost androgynous and unrecognizable douchebag. When Snipes killed them with the magic bullets that brought them back, it was too late for his son, who hung himself first. He’s desperate try to bring him back, and carries him around as a mummy. There are also some great henchman with some helmets that don’t belong in a western and look like a cross between the “League of Extraordinary Gentlemen”and Slipknot. Oh yeah, and a deadly and merciless female sidekick, which always spices things up.
Some big negatives are some plot points that never really pay off like they should. A young sidekick for Wesley that isn’t utilized near enough, and a kid that is the son of the outlaw leader’s son he’s trying to bring back. Seems with my horror sensibilities that he would be the object of possession, sacrifice, or both.
There is a distinct “Blade” vibe in the foreground. The avenger with ties to the supernatural, who like those he hunts is cursed as well. That’s fine with me. I like this film, but it could have been a little more than what it was. A recommend from me, but I’m disappointed that the ending was a bit lackluster. With a horror/western crossover, Wesley Snipes, a skeezy villain who takes advantage of the dark power that allowed him to cheat death, and some cool revolver gunplay, I wonder what else could have been done. Anyway, glad to see you killing other worldly scum again Wesley.