Amid vast, unforgiving landscapes, these horror films turn the eerie stillness of the range into a chilling stage for terror and survival.
We often see horror howling through the urban jungle like Candyman or terrorizing the quaint suburbs like Halloween; it’s not often, though, that we see it on the range.
A surprisingly appropriate canvas in the dusty plains, I’ve rounded up five outstanding horror features set in Western or rural style settings that rattle the bones in a totally different tenor. The long emptiness that lies beyond the farm, the indifference of nature to our survival, and the countless threats that make the plains their home all add to the already crushing drive for survival that is making a life in the country. We have anything here in this small collection from cannibalistic tribesmen, animal-human hybrids, pure evil seeking a fresh soul, and zombies…Western zombies.
Each carrying its own weight and standing out of the bunch with this very particular subgenre, these five films offer something less streamlined and settled, opting for one of the wildest places to live. Presenting: Horror on the Range.
1. The Wind (2018)
I first watched The Wind a couple of years back, and it admittedly got to me.
The story is told out of order. Thus, I will give you the briefest account of things. Lizzy Macklin (Caitlin Gerard) and her husband Isaac (Ashley Zukerman) arrive in an unpopulated area of New Mexico, hoping to lay down roots and make a settlement. They live a solitary existence until another couple, Emma (Julia Goldani Telles) and Gideon Harper (Dylan McTee), arrive. It seems that Emma and Gideon’s marriage is turbulent, and later, we see that Emma is expecting. A shocking turn of events that leaves Lizzy to fend for herself leads her to believe it’s not just the wolves or the wind trying to knock down her door… Emma claims to feel the same dark presence.
The film untangles its knots nicely, laying the groundwork for a stunning conclusion. The scenery, sound effects, and performances all sang, convincing you that something evil may be coming on the wind straight for you.
A subdued and haunting Western story, The Wind could cut right through you.
2. Gallowwalkers (2012)
Less widely acclaimed than the rest of these films, Gallowwalkers is a unique zombie flick that sometimes takes too much thinking.
Aman (Wesley Snipes) is a cursed man. After we begin with a classic shootout on the railroad, we see that Aman is not your average gunslinger. Son to a nun who broke her covenant in exchange for her son’s life, she and Aman are both cursed, and Aman’s enemies will also be granted a second chance to walk the earth as the undead. Though its story is often flimsy, and the performances and effects may not make you think this was made in 2012, Gallowwalkers is charming in its own right, with a cursed gunslinger and plenty of the riled-up undead who are dying for a rematch.
A cursed Western zombie feature? Despite its flaws, it’s undoubtedly an interesting concept.
3. Bone Tomahawk (2015)
Perhaps the most well-known feature on the list, Bone Tomahawk takes a stunning lead cast and sends them into the country to find their kin before the worst can happen.
It’s the 1890s in a settlement in the west, and the Sheriff (Kurt Russel) has just been alerted to some strange folk that have come through town. Wounding the stranger as he tries to flee, the Sheriff calls for a doctor but gets the doctor’s daughter instead. The next morning, after the slaying of a stable boy, the sheriff is alerted and takes the only clue left at the site—an arrow—to The Professor (Zahn McClarnon), a well-educated Native American man. He informs the group that the arrow is linked to a tribe of inbred savages he refers to as “Troglodytes.”
With not much time to get ready and not much time to make it to the lair where at least three hostages are held, the sheriff and a small group of mostly able-bodied men head off to find the townsfolk. Battered, tense, and sometimes intensely brutal, Bone Tomahawk brings all the vibes of cowboys and Indians on an adult scale. Though perhaps a dark portrayal of native people, the film leans into its premise and doesn’t apologize for one of most guy-churning executions I’ve seen.
Brush a layer of dust off this classic and try it if you’re looking for a perfect execution of this genre mash-up.
4. The Dark and the Wicked (2020)
The Dark and the Wicked takes place close to home here, on a Texas farm that is being tormented by an unseen evil. Brother and sister Louise (Marin Ireland) and Michael (Michael Abbott Jr.) return to the family farm as their father’s illness is reaching its final stages, and their mother (Julie Oliver-Touchstone) seems to be coming unwound. After wishing her children to leave, later that night, she severs her own fingers and hangs herself in the barn (though seemingly helped by another force).
As time passes after her death, Louise and Michael begin to work at what is happening in their home, hearing their father’s nurse say their mother would whisper at night but seemingly wasn’t talking to her husband. Michael finds their mother’s diary, detailing a harrowing presence oppressing them.
In the badlands of Texas, struggling with a dying farm and signs of evil, this supernatural Western worked to drive its characters mad. As things go from bad to worse, the farm reflects the growing darkness.
From the dying cattle to the restless winds, The Dark and the Wicked likely won’t disappoint—save a pointed ending that might polarize some viewers.
5. Lamb (2021)
Moving far off to Iceland, we join a farm of startled horses, scared by an unknown entity.
After this, farmer María (Noomi Rapace) and her husband Ingvar are shocked when one of their pregnant sheep births a human/sheep hybrid. The creature is mostly a human body with a lamb’s head and right arm. The pair take the infant hybrid and raise it as their own, even naming it after María’s deceased daughter, Ada. As the Ewe that birthed Ada gets anxious for her baby, it pesters the couple and loiters outside the house. After Ada goes missing and is found with the ewe, María shoots the ewe and buries it in a shallow, unmarked grave.
As this story progresses, we are introduced to a frightening type of human mania and more hybrids. Opening up the door that there are other creatures that are partially human, this turned a farm story into the story of a new mother adoring her unorthodox child no matter how unnatural it might be or how frightening others might find it.
Lamb is the strangest rural tale I have to offer, and it might not be up everyone’s alley.
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