PLACE OF BONES (2023)

3 stars

Signature Entertainment. Digital Platforms. Available Now

It is 1876 – God fearing widow Pandora (Heather Graham) and her daughter Hester (Brielle Robillard) live in a remote homestead away from civilisation.

Visiting the grave of her father, which is up the hill from their house, Hester discovers a body which they drag into their house. He is badly injured especially his leg. There is also a bag of money. When he wakes up, they learn he is Calhoun (Corin Nemec) and is a thief who has killed several men before escaping.

They fix him up as best they can. He tries to be intimidating – though he’s not really in much of a position to be a threat. Pandora has the measure of him and keeps him in his place. He slips in and out of consciousness – one time, when he awakens, he discovers she has cuts his lower leg off as the wound has gone bad –you wouldn’t mess with Pandora!

Calhoun tells them they are in danger as during the shoot out after the bank robbery, he shot and killed the brother of one Bear John (Tom Hopper), who will no doubt be on his way with his posse to seek revenge.

Much of the first two thirds is drawn out and dialogue driven. Performances are just about the right side of believable. In the final third, things liven up, as they must defend themselves from the gang. Gunfire ensues. Will they survive?

This is being tagged as a horror western – not sure why. I kept waiting for that to turn up. In the final minutes there is an inference of horror, which was kind of hinted at earlier in the film. I won’t spoil it here but I guess it sort of qualifies it – as it stands, it’s an okay western with a good central performance by Heather Graham. If you are fan of westerns then you may enjoy this – if you are a horror fan you will feel shortchanged.

Steve Kirkham