Kill or Be Killed

A mediocre western with some gore and a 'mystery' that is never explained. The acting was fine, the pacing was good but the editing was choppy. In no way would I classify this movie as a horror other than it had a horrible ending, it was okay up until the last 20-minutes, don't waste your time.

This film won't appeal to everyone, it's more for people that watch a LOT of movies and tired of formulas.

I can't quite tell you what this film is, at best it's a Weird Western and a good one. I did not know what was going to happen next, and the villains were the protagonists so that different as well.

The strong point is the dialogue, Graves and Meeks have created a patois that is completely captivating. I don't know that it's historically accurate, but it felt like it came from another time, and it made a lot of the scenes work.

Someone else can summarize the film, and those reviews are easy to find. I think that it's more important to set the proper expectation for this film. It doesn't fit neatly into any genre and it isn't predictable. If you can live with that, you're going to like this film.

Greetings again from the darkness - from the Dallas International Film Festival 2015. Co-writers and co-directors Duane Graves (from San Antonio) and Justin Meeks manage to hit all extremes with comedy, violence and drama as they trek across some of the roughest Texas terrain. Tongue-in-cheek westerns are rare, and this one never falls into true parody, but instead uses hyper-dramatic music and dialogue delivery to balance the gun play and hardened outlaw activities.

Mr. Meeks also stars as Claude "Sweet Tooth" Barbee, who is leading his band of outlaws across Texas in an attempt to re-claim the gold from a previously botched train robbery. The character name is from a real life outlaw and the actions are loosely based on real life train robber Sam Bass. Meeks is clearly having a ball playing the type of colorful bad guy that actors dream about.

Screen veteran Pepe Serna has a brief but memorable role, and one that is crucial to story development. He too, seems to relish the chance to play a nasty guy. The rest of the cast, many of whom were present at the screening, all seem to have bought into the vision … whether their character is quickly filled with lead or manages to eke out a line or two or three. Every movie lover will quickly recognize the actor playing the Doc as Michael Berryman from The Hills Have Eyes (1972).

The ringing of a bell, a young ventriloquist, twins, prairie land nightmares, a hooker with an ulterior motive, and family revenge all play a role as this group of outlaws is hunted by more than just the Sheriff as they make their way to the coast. With unusual lines of dialogue such as "Shut that puppet up", and a misleading sign that reads "Lodgers Welcome", Graves and Meeks deliver an unusual look at the old west and those that inhabited this rugged land.

The main problem for me is that I confounded nearly all the characters, all the actors, because I know any of them. The directing and acting are not awful but really bland, flat, only the story proposes something unusual, where there is no real heroes, no villains, no separation between both. That's pretty interesting. But this western looks very like all the other ones we can see since two decades now. I mean, forget the old fashioned classic Hollywood westerns, there is no connection at all with the fifties and even sixties American westerns, even Italian spaghettis westerns. This movie is not garbage junk though, not at all, that depends of what you seek, what you look for. I love this kid of unusual plot, despite all its weaknesses. I forgive everything.

Seriously? 10 Stars? If that's not the film-makers and their buddies trying hard to get noticed, then those are clearly some retarded people.

I'm a big horror fan, and I have nothing against a good western - though it's not a favorite genre of mine, either.

If you're either a horror or a western fan, this would be worth watching - if you don't have anything better to do.

This is a low-budget production, and the film-makers have done a very good job here, considering what they're working with: no-name actors and not much money or high-end special-effects. The effects are TV quality, but the acting is decent enough. Some of the scenes and extras are a bit out of place, not up to the quality you might expect to see - like some of the house roof-tops look a little too modern for the old west. Small things like that detract from the overall effort, but it's easy enough to overlook if you're not being too picky. Decent story and plot. It can be entertaining enough, if you allow it to be. So, while it's obviously not a big-budget studio effort, that doesn't mean it doesn't have its' moments.

This movie is "okay" - definitely closer to rating this a "3" than I would be a "5." If you are not a horror or a western fan, I would try looking at something else before recommending this movie to anyone.