Gallowwalkers

"Gallowwalkers" is among the worst movies that I have seen.

The storyline is a complete mess and I was unable to write the plot summary since I did not understand anything about this horror movie in the Old West.

The characters are not developed and we just see monsters and shootings without explanation associated to very bad performances.

It is funny to say, but this flick is overrated in IMDb, with the User Rating of 3.8.

It seems that Wesley Snipes has joined the team of Steven Seagal and other decadent actors accepting to work in this trash.

My vote is one (awful).

Title (Brazil): "Caçador de Almas" ("Souls Hunter")

I decided to give this flick a shot based on the "decent" looking trailer and Wesley Snipes. This isn't the first time I've been fooled by a decent trailer, and I'm sure it isn't the last. That being said, this is my attempt at not letting anyone else get fooled by the decent trailer and the fact that Wesley Snipes is in it.

The story is absolute garbage. The cast is terrible. Dialogue is corny. The only saving graces for this movie are corsets and cleavage. If Wesley Snipes wasn't in this movie, I'd assume this was a F-grade (if that even exists) movie. Because Snipes is in it, I kindly give it an E-grade.

In a nutshell, I have no idea how this movie even got greenlit and I pray that nobody else wastes their time on this steaming pile of crap.

Synopsis: In an arid wasteland created by too many lacklustre Hollywood mash-ups, critics think they've put the final stake in Wesley Snipe's career, but surprisingly it returns from the dead and feasts on spaghetti using Leone and Joderowsky's silver spoon.

Verdict: Ambitious, imaginative and visually impressive film that warrants obvious comparison (Leone), but seems more indebted to El Topo's art direction and non-linear, Gothic, psychedelic spaghetti westerns like Matalo! and Django Kill, if You Live, Shoot! Personally, I enjoy this sort of thing, but I can see why many do not; it is brazenly uncommercial and unconventional (a brave choice at this point in Snipe's career decline), and that's part of its appeal.

Several reviews have complained about the incoherent (or completely lacking) plot, but being a fan of spaghetti westerns, I've become accustomed to going along with the film's visuals - like following a good jazz number. I found the plot to be simplistic and classic western: man seeks revenge, flashbacks ensue, he gets revenge and - here's the twist - the people he kills come back from the grave ... so man seeks young apprentice to help him kill them once again.

To some degree, I agree with the negative reviews. I did find it a frustrating and uneven watch. I couldn't help but think that a much better film was possible. Several scenes are cut in a manner that implies not enough footage was shot (made all the more infuriating by the fact that most of the film is extremely well photographed, making excellent use of the Namibian locations). There's also some reliance on rather cheap looking CGI - although the removal of heads and spinal columns was quite impressive. The voice-over narration - always problematic - sounds like a bad advert for men's cologne. The narration is made even worse by two narrators, possibly a necessity stemming from Snipe's three-year prison sentence in 2010 for failure to file income tax returns (Gallowwalkers was shot just before Snipes went to prison).

The music, so important to any spaghetti western, is also disappointing, veering from more appropriate classical to some sort of alt-rock. Lastly, the climatic journey into the "spirit world" looks like it was shot in an underground parking lot. After that, an incongruous animated credit sequence rolls by, suggesting Gallowwalkers wants to position itself with the postmodern, ironic works of Rodriguez and Tarantino. Clearly, it should have remained true to its spaghetti western DNA.

Interesting Weird West film (i.e. western horror mash-up) had potential, but instead becomes laughably bad. Wesley Snipes plays a cursed gunman who's victims come back as the undead. Snipes is solid as the strong silent gunslinger (basically Blade in a duster), and at times the film has strong visuals, with bright incongruous colors that echo Jodorowsky's "El Topo," so I'll give the filmmakers credit for trying to do something original, but overall this attempt at a genre mash-up comes off as unintentionally laughable. While this film wanted to be "Into the Badlands" it ended up being closer to the "Wild Wild West" movie remake. Overall, this film is only for hardcore Snipes fans. Patrick Bergin and professional wrestler Diamond Dallas Page also appear in this disappointment. FUN FACT! "Gallowswalkers" was originally set to be filmed back in 2005 as "The Wretched" with Chow Yun-Fat in the lead!

So many extremely harsh reviews.... I'm tempted to rate it a 10 just to try and offset some of the bad but I won't. I will go ahead and rate it as I feel it deserves. It is a simple plot when stripped to the core, however the angle they take and the creative way they give it a supernatural twist made it interesting enough to watch.

So many reviewers pick it to the bone critically for not being mind blowing detail/story wise. I think that's harsh. It was a fun little movie that is plenty enjoyable if one doesn't think to hard on it... Just taken as it is I actually liked it more than I thought I would. I have seen it around but never bothered to watch it due to all the negative reviews.

It was a friend of mine that told me I should give it a chance as he thought it was a good little watch and he is rather particularl on what he likes. He and I have very different acceptable base criteria for movies and he will not watch half the things I think are decent movies. To put it short, he only likes things with lots of action and/or really good CGI. but even he said I should give this one a shot so I did. Is it unforgettable? No.... However it was entertaining enough and better than I thought it would be.