Organ Trail

This was a solid western/drama/thriller and a little horror. One plus is it's filmed on location in Montana. It's a nice back drop for a dark and dreary period western.

Overall it's a bit long, some of the scenes are too extended and unnecessary. That being said the film is pretty well acted and directed. A lot of panning shots of Montana and some pretty good sfx, fire scenes and other elements.

There's also some pretty solid character build up and arcs which do take time to develop. It's definitely low budget and most of the actors are all still in their early stages of their careers.

Overall, enjoyable effort that drives some pretty good tension and the score isn't bad either 6/10.

My expectations were low. I am a huge lover of low budget films. However this was so wonky with its time frame and how historically things would have been done....its a joke. Not semi-realistic in any sense. What creates true fear is knowing it could have realistically happened. During that time period, your weapon meant everything. That means your most prized possession was your rifle. So people are going west with muzzle loaders when lever actions were all the rage as well as metallic cartridge revolver rounds? Obviously this director....nor does anyone else who has work on this know what the hell they are doing or talking about.

I thought this was a western horror. It turned out to be a poorly directed thriller drama with villains and protagonists that are comically super human-although it wasn't funny. Just annoying. The director apparently doesn't care a bit about reality. This is stuff from 80s slasher films in which bullets in the heart don't stop some people but a bullet from the sky kills someone else. Dumb, idiotic and a waste of time. It is not a horror movie. It's a brain numbing sophomoric movie with misleading trailers and miscategorized as a horror. Sadly, some of the acting was very good-hopefully the pay was good because it didn't help their reputations.

For most of its running time Organ Trail is a relatively grounded Western/thriller with some interesting moments and solid cinematography. There is a certain grittiness to the events - when faced with dangers, characters don't perform heroics but often panic and die abruptly or at least take a physical toll from their big or small mistakes.

Then, in the last act, Organ Trail turns into the pulpy horror movie which was suggested by its title, with a ridiculous invincibile cartoon villain shrugging off an absurd amount of damage.

Now, I have nothing against ridiculous invincible cartoon villains - in the appropriate venue. After the low-key first and middle act, this is just tonally off. It's like watching All Quiet on the Western Front and then suddenly one character starts performing Commando-like shenanigans.

6/10.

Why in the world would you have a fairly well known actor like Sam Trammell try to pull off an Irish accent? Good lort. It was a continual mixture of a flat American dialect, a American Southern Drawl, and a VERY BADLY DONE fake Irish accent. For the love of Pete it did nothing for the plot of the film, as all the men were to have been just recently released from their regiments in the American Civil War. So any American accent would do.

Otherwise, as a thriller or a gritty frightening western. That in itself was done well. This group of men are just what outlaws would really would have been. Old Westerns cleaned them up so much, making them have things they "wouldnt do". But TRUE horrible psychopaths and sociopaths have no invisible line that they won't cross. And that would include taking over a whole town and killing everyone in it. Or killing whole families on the Oregon Trail, pillaging their wagons, stealing the horses, and SA'ing the women. While so many stories through history tell you that wagoners on the Oregon Trail had to fear the Native American Tribes on their trek. Not much was said about our own citizenry doing much worse (and if you saw those hand made arrows, try to pin it on the Native American Tribes).

If you want something a little bit different and gritty to watch...this is a 7/10...has a little bit of "girl power" but it's not so in your face you'd be offended.

But my lort Sam Trammell. Never pretend to have an Irish accent ever again.