In honor of the release of JT Petty’s The Burrowers, I put together a list of the best, most interesting and most noteworthy films to combine the genres of horror and western, for the IFC website.
Westerns and horror films are, more than any American film genres I can think of, viscerally grounded in mortality, the vulnerability of human flesh and the primal drive of survival instinct. Whether facing wild animals or bloodthirsty monsters, cold-blooded gunfighters or psychotic madmen, roving bands of raiders or packs of zombies, the heroes of these films fight to live. “It feels like a natural connection. They’re two of the most cinematic experiences that you have watching a movie,” notes director J.T. Petty. He should know — his film “The Burrowers,” which was released on DVD yesterday, is the most recent and one of the most creative approaches to the horror western hybrid, a unsettling monster movie by way of “The Searchers.”
The complete feature, and the countdown of ten films, is at IFC.com here. And no, Billy the Kid vs. Frankenstein versus Dracula is not on the list.
Perhaps you mean “Billy the Kid versus Dracula”? Or “Jesse James Meets Frankenstein’s Daughter”? Both of equal worth. Looking forward to “The Burrowers,” in any case.