This week in the crypt we take a look at the Shudder Exclusive, The Pale Door. Available today on Shudder in the US, Canada, UK, and ANZ.
by Adam Holtzapfel
Clocking in at 96 minutes, The Pale Door ventures into a rarely explored territory, western horror.
Directed by Aaron B. Koontz (Scare Package) and written by Koontz along with Cameron Burns (Camera Obscura) and Keith Lansdale (Creepshow) viewers are treated to your not so typical dramatic horror western.
Boasting a cast featuring Zachary Knighton (Flashforward, Happy Endings), Pat Healy (Cheap Thrills, Starry Eyes), Melora Walters (Boogie Nights, The Butterfly Effect), Noah Segan (Knives Out, Scare Package), Stan Shaw (Monster Squad, Daylight), Natasha Bassett (Hail Caesar), Devin Druid (13 Reasons Why), and Bill Sage (We Are What We Are) we see a group that bring the characters to life and make them believeable.
The film kicks off with a quote of the last four lines of Edgar Allan Poe’s The Haunted Palace. From there the first 8 minutes revolve around a young Duncan and Jake Dalton as they must flee the family farm.
We fast forward 8 years into the future Jake (Druid) is working at a saloon and his brother Duncan (Knighton) has his own gang. The Dalton gang needs to lay low, so what that leads to is one last job before taking a hiatus.
They decide to pull a train heist until everything goes to shit…
From here we’re treated to a build up with music by Alex Cuervo complimenting the story and setting the mood for something no one expects.
While at times it echoes the feel of Young Guns, this stands on it’s own as something fresh in a genre that feels stale and can’t escape the remake machine at times.
While the pacing may annoy most people, I was fine with it. This is a western at heart and they tend to be slower paced, but it work for the build up of this film.
Using the standard letter grading system I’d give this horse a strong B. It’s well acted, the setting and locations work well for the film, the cast seemed to gel together to make this believable, and there was some good blood and kills.
At times it felt slow to me but again that’s just my take and it didn’t make or break the film for me. For this type of film it needs to be slowed down at times just to build it back up to keep the audiences attention. This is definitely a film that will get more than one watch from me.
Hopefully this opens the door for more filmmakers to explore the uncharted western horror genre. Pair this with Near Dark and Bone Tomahawk for a night on the range.
And remember kids, if you feel a chill…that’s not the cold. You’re in the crypt!
