Bounty Killer, The Witch

Bounty Killer

Two B movies I have seen recently have far different approaches and pedigrees, but point out my desire for a personal approach to filmmaking. Robert Eggers' The Witch has been praised an unusual amount for a horror movie, perhaps as much for its Merchant Ivory verisimilitude as anything else. Henry Saine's Bounty Killer is a disreputable mutt, a third rate Mad Max ripoff. Yet, I preferred Bounty Killer. 

Bounty Killer is assured within the limits of its own genre. It is a play on the Hawksian buddy movie with one of the protagonists being female, like Hildy Johnson in His Gal Friday, and more than capable of holding her own in a man's world. Mary Death and her fellow bounty hunter Drifter, aka the man with no name from the high plains, are cartoon figures drawn with affection and just the right amount of blood and mascara. They are locked in an everlasting ritual of attraction and rejection, where the idea of domestic bliss is a false chalice compared the the real romance of adventure on the road; to possible sequels.

My main thought as I watched this tawdry little spectacle was that it was much better than it had any right to be. Bounty Killer gave me the small exquisite pleasure a good genre film can give. The two leads are no more wooden than Jeffrey Hunter, Farley Granger, Alida Valli, Keanu Reeves, Gregory Peck, etc., in effect, fellows thesps who have been in genuine masterpieces. The film's Sancho Panza figure (he hurls automatic weapons to his knight cruising at eight on a Harley), Barak Hardley, is outstanding. A somewhat forgettable, yet entirely entertaining flick.

The Witch

The Witch is memorable, yet somewhat pointless. Costumes, sets, and makeup are very good. The acting is alternately wooden and hysterical, a sign that the hand on the tiller is not yet firm. The film fails ultimately because it is mechanical and without a strong directorial point of view. Is it a critique of the patriarchy, an investigation of female sexuality or a recruiting film for Satan? None of the above, I'm afraid. The Witch is a decent enough film, I suppose. However, compared to such recent horror standouts as It Follows and Oculus, I found it wanting. (5/30/16)