The Pale Door

Director - Aaron B. Koontz (Scare Package, Camera Obscura)

Starring - Melora Walters (The Butterfly Effect, Ed Wood), Noah Segan (Knives Out, Tales of Halloween), Zachary Knighton (The Hitcher, Cherry Falls)

Release Date - 2020

Genre - Horror/Western

Tagline - "It was the perfect score, but Hell was their reward"

Format - DVD (Personal Collection) (Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     It's finally October and, though I watch horror movies every day throughout the year, I can finally watch movies centered around Halloween.  Hell, they don't even have to be horror movies.  I'll watch anything that has something to do with Halloween.  Sadly, it will be a few days before I get to dig into a Halloween flick.  I have a few movies I need to watch first for review.  After watching Nail in the Coffin: Fall and Rise of Vampiro I wanted something a little more horror to stay with the spirit.  I decided it was time to toss in a western horror flick with witches.  I want to thank RLJE and Shudder for sending over Aaron Koontz's The Pale Door for review.  I was really surprised by this one.

     The film follows an outlaw gang who plan on robbing a train but when one of them is shot during a duel the little brother of their leader steps in to help so he can get enough money to buy back their old farm.  However, they don't find any gold on the train but do find a woman chained in an old trunk.  She begs them to take her home where they would be rewarded.  They take her to her home and soon uncovers an abandoned town inhabited by burnt witches.

     Honestly, I didn't know what to suspect when I was sent this one for review.  I had seen Koontz short The El Chupugcabra from a few years ago so I was familiar in his work.  However, I was not expecting to see this man grow as a filmmaker to this degree in just seven short years.  He has really impressed me with The Pale Door and I'm now looking forward to anything else he has his hand in.  The acting in this one is very well done and the characters are very well written.  It would be so easy for a filmmaker and crew to craft some cliched and generic cowboys that just push the story along.  The cast does not do that.  Instead, we get some great performances and the characters are very enjoyable.  Even the witches have a sense of humanity about them and you almost hate to see them fail.  The film is perfectly cast.  The story for this one does start out a little on the slow side.  It doesn't waste time and fills these scenes with character and story development but the horror aspect doesn't rear it's ugly head until later in the film.  It's not a struggle to follow and the flow is rather smooth but it a slower pace.  However, once the story picks up it really does hit the spot.  Finally, the kills in this one work for the film but are not that memorable.  The effects are solid and, once again, works for the film but does not deliver unique kills that most of the gorehounds are looking for.  The make-up effects looks great as well.  I really enjoyed the look of the witches.  It's different and really sets itself apart from other witch flicks.  Overall, The Pale Door is not for everyone but fans of horror and westerns will really enjoy this bloody blend.  I really enjoyed the story and the characters are very enjoyable.  Check this one out now because you will not be disappointed.