Bone Tomahawk

Ultraviolence aside, there's plenty to admire about this innovative genre-bender.

a funny (strange and haha) western landscape where it is all too easy to get pillaged, consumed or lost.

It is mostly just an excuse for the debut director, S Craig Zahler, to whip the rug out from under you, Tarantino-style.

Cult status could beckon for this well-made, macabre and violent western-horror from cinematographer turned director S Craig Zahler.

It has a nice line in wry chatter and a pleasantly old-fashioned 'lost posse' plot with engaging, odd characters striving against the wilderness while swapping cynical frontier wisdom.

You'll be watching - at least, I was - with your hand clamped over a mouth in various states of aghast-ness. But the film's bloodiest moments, in a real turn-up for the books, are also its saddest.

Bone Tomahawk surges head first into violence with absolute courage and graphic disregard.

The thrilling performances and engaging dialogue keeps you invested up through the brutal finale, more than making up for its shortcomings in its direction.

Boasting some brutally insane practical effects, horrifying villains and a really cute old man, Bone Tomahawk is an unlikely paragon of genre-blending-gone-right.

Just go into it expecting the unexpected because that is exactly what you are going to get.