In the arid landscape of derivative and unoriginal horror movies, the sight of something different can act like discovering a wellspring. Saying that S. Craig Zahler’s Bone Tomahawk is a wholly original film would be disingenuous. Zahler hasn’t created something new so much as re-arranged what’s already there into a beguiling and (eventually) nasty combination. First and foremost a western, Bone Tomahawk teases its gradual turn to the sadistic and bloody with its opening sequence before settling into its own unique groove. If anything, Zahler has immediately established himself as one to watch in genre filmmaking right now by creating something no one else is doing right now.

The aforementioned opening finds murderers/thieves Purvis (David Arquette) and Buddy (Sid Haig) stumbling on (and desecrating) the burial ground of a group of cave-dwelling cannibals. Cut to 11 days later, where Purvis takes shelter in the small town of Bright Hope, only to get arrested by Sheriff Hunt (Kurt Russell) and his deputy Chicory (Richard Jenkins). But Purvis isn’t aware that the cave dwellers have been tracking him, and overnight they kidnap Purvis, Deputy Nick (Evan Jonigkeit) and town doctor Samantha (Lili Simmons). Hunt and Chicory decide to head out on a rescue mission to bring back Nick and Samantha, bringing two more townsmen with them: Samantha’s husband Arthur (Patrick Wilson), recovering from a broken leg, and Brooder (Matthew Fox), a handsome gunslinger who claims to have killed more Indians than anyone else in town.

Not that the villains in Bone Tomahawk are Indians, as Zahler is quick to point out through a Native American character who refers to them as “troglodytes.” It might be easy to label the film as a revisionist western given its realism and subversion of genre clichés but, for the most part, it feels like Zahler is just creating his own strange universe within the Wild West. This extends to Zahler’s screenplay, which revels in stylized dialogue that will have fans of Deadwood feeling nostalgic (in this film, “Can you be quiet?” becomes “Is it possible for you to close that aperture?”). Zahler, a novelist making his directorial debut here, has a great sense of humour too, giving his cast plenty of opportunities to revel in his script’s seemingly endless turns of phrase.

It also helps that Zahler has assembled a seriously impressive cast for his first feature. The presence of a familiar face like Kurt Russell as Sheriff Hunt elevates the character significantly, along with the inclusion of character actors in every other major role. Matthew Fox plays directly against type as the ruthlessly pragmatic and vain Brooder, but he sells the role perfectly, looking like he’s thriving on the chance to show off a side of himself that hasn’t really been given the opportunity to shine before. At first, Patrick Wilson looks typecast as yet another portrait of wounded masculinity (this time in a more literal sense), but his casting feels like a subversion of Wilson’s previous roles once he completes his character’s arc. It’s the best role Wilson has had in years, but if an MVP had to be selected out of the cast it would have to be Richard Jenkins. He’s almost unrecognizable as the bearded, oafish Chicory, providing both the comedic relief for the film along with its beating heart once more details emerge about his past. It’s bound to go down as one of the year’s most underrated performances.

But the most surprising thing about Bone Tomahawk isn’t its screenplay or its merging of two genres that usually stay separate; it’s the film’s breathing room that helps the film stand on its own. The 132-minute runtime is a rare sight these days for a low-budget (under $2 million to be precise, an astonishing figure given how good the movie looks) genre movie, but Zahler’s writing skills and his cast make it hard to find a single dull moment. Each scene, no matter how much it might feel like a total non-sequitur or detour from the main narrative, always keeps the focus on character. And, admittedly, this makes the final act’s sudden shift into the grotesque all the more impactful. The less said about Bone Tomahawk’s horror elements the better (it’s best to watch it unfold without knowing anything), but its drastic turn into a bloody gorefest certainly leaves an impression with one of the most brutal death scenes ever put in a film. And Zahler shows his skills as a filmmaker by having this tonal shift work, using the strength of his characters to carry along the change in circumstances. Zahler’s curious approach might not work all the time, and the meshing of two disparate genres doesn’t always come together nicely, but it makes for a fascinating and (mostly) entertaining experience.

Here is a film I should have seen at last year’s edition of TIFF. I had a ticket for it and was ready to go. It would’ve been something like my 14th or 15th film of my visit. It was to be my fifth movie of that day, premiering at midnight on my second to last day. But after two movies on Friday, four on Saturday, four on Sunday and the two I saw on Monday, I was completely worn out and needed a break. So I decided to stay in that evening and get some rest as I still had three movies on my final day.

After finally seeing the film recently, I’m actually kind of glad I didn’t stick to my itinerary. That’s not to saying the film isn’t worth watching, I’m recommending the film for sure, but it isn’t a must see by any means. Genre fans are probably going to dig the hell out of The Incident, especially John Carpenter fans. This has his name written all over it. Hell, it even takes place in the 80’s, the prime era for Carpenter when he was knocking out cult classics one after another.

The Incident introduces us to a rock group working as cooks at a mental institution. During the day they cook up meals and at night they hit the studio to record. I found some humor in four long haired tattooed covered men taking their cooking seriously. One night, one of the band members forgets to show up for a recording. This causes a rift in the guys the next morning at work. Talk of how committed some members are arises.

The head cook and leader of the band, George (Rupert Evans), is asked by the head of security at the hospital to come in early one morning to get an early start as a special order is arriving bright and early. After his pleas fall to deaf ears, he caves in and agrees to come in. The order that arrives is a messy one. A man pulls a huge pallet in with wet boxes leaking blood. George grabs one of these boxes and what falls out consists of lots and lots of blood and guts. Of what species these belonged to I’m still not sure. Some people seem to think it was that of a human corpse, but I didn’t recognize a human skull in the pile.

Later that night a massive storm floats in and knocks out all the power. No lights. No power to any doors. No way out. Now the cooks have to fight to survive. As soon as the power goes out, security and the cooks band together to put inmates back into their cells. Everything is fine until a few bad hombres start to crack. After brutally murdering pretty much all of security force, the cooks find themselves with their backs against the wall. They now must survive the night until the police arrive which turns out to be longer than they expect.

Where The Incident succeeds is in its execution. The film is only 80 or so minutes long but the filmmakers do not hesitate to spend the first 20-30 setting up its characters and their setting to us. So when everything goes wrong, we are fully invested in the characters. The final hour of the film is filled with some great stuff. A lot of scenes consist of our heroes walking through the ward in complete darkness not knowing what shadows exist just feet away. Gore hounds get a few good kills, but nothing to write home about.

The Incident would work well as maybe a midnight double feature with an old Carpenter flick. Maybe Assault on Precinct 13 or maybe even Escape from New York. The film shares a strange kinship with fellow Midnight Madness film The Raid. Those two films back to back would be a hell of a night. Grab some friends and a 12 pack. Turn out the lights, turn up the volume and sit back and enjoy. The Incident is easily worth your time.