They Call Her Death

What a fun and wild western. I really had no idea where the movie was going and I loved every bit of it. The use of film makes the movie look really unpolished ( and I mean that in the best way).

This has some pacing problems, and its intensity is inconsistent, but it’s a fun watch. The story moves along with the classic mix of over-the-top splatter violence and great comic bits that make it all work. Deliberately treated to be Grindhouse-style visually, it’s a marvellous effort to pique that reminiscing. The actors are all having a great time, and the camera work and costuming help the narrative move along. Overall, a good movie that with a few tweaks could head on to very good. // The artwork on the slipcover is suitable for framing. The booklet included is informative and intriguintly illustrated.

US micro-budget indie with community theater actors does Fulci-inspired Euro-western splatter fest, and the labour of their love is infectious.

Shooting on variable batches of Kodak film over two and a half years while building forced perspective miniatures alongside whole sets in a garage and digitally augmenting almost every shot (often ingeniously) to sell their threadbare reality of the old West, They Call Her Death is not only a Grindhouse good time, but genuinely inspiring.

Euro westerns often have a great theme song and title sequence and this aces that test, getting things off to a great start. They also often feature torture scenes, and inspired by Fulci’s Four of the Apocalypse, this has one of ******** torture to outdo them all. There’s also not a single western that I can think of featuring a professional wrestler and a fight scene choreographed in kind by the spectacularly named Moonshine Mantell.

Extras are extensive and give a true behind the scenes look and feel of the production.

I wanted to like this much more than I did, on paper this grindhouse inspired horror/western is right up my alley but mediocre performances and cheap production design undermine the experience for me. It was shot on film and there is some decent effects work so it's not all bad--the film's reach simply exceeds its grasp. There is a pair of commentaries on the disc, interviews, a Q&A, storyboards and behind the scenes.

Overall just a fun flick that doesn't overstay its welcome.