BRIMSTONE: DISTURBINGLY BRILLIANT

Brimstone is a psychological western horror film written and directed by Martin Koolhoven, starring Dakota Fanning, Guy Pearce, Emilia Jones, Kit Harington, and Carice van Houten. The film is about a frontiers woman who turns fugitive after she is wrongfully accused of a crime, and a vengeful reverend who relentlessly hunts her and her family through the wilderness.

Despite being a film set in the old American West, Brimstone was filmed entirely outside the United States. The film was selected to compete for the Golden Lion at the 73rd Venice International Film Festival on September 3, 2016, and caused a bit of controversy in doing so. The film premiered in the Netherlands on January 12 of the following year, where it was very well received, as it was throughout the rest of Europe, and it was finally released on March 10 in the United States, where it received mixed reviews from critics.

The film made $2 Million dollars at the box office, with a budget just shy of $13 Million dollars, which isn’t bad for an Indie Film produced abroad, but the film currently has a meager 43% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with an Audience Score of 54%, and it has a Metascore of 45 on Metacritic, but boasts a 7.0/10 on IMDB (with over 42,000 ratings).

One thing that makes this film unique is that its plot consists of four acts, presented in anachronic order. I found this film back in 2016 in the On Demand portal of my cable provider, and I’ll admit, it wasn’t the logline that drew me in, but rather, it was the fact that two of the stars of the film were currently playing recurring characters on Game of Thrones that made me take a closer look. And once I took a look at the trailer, I was sold. And what I got when I watched the film for the first time, was without a doubt, one of the best western thrillers I’ve ever seen.

Dakota Fanning was absolutely fantastic, as was Guy Pierce. And the fact that the film doesn’t proceed in chronological order keeps you on the edge of your seat, not being able to get a bead on exactly what you’ll see happen next. I will warn you that the film does have some difficult moments throughout, as it is extremely violent at times, but to Koolhoven’s credit, the narrative does not heavily focus on those moments. In conclusion, Brimstone is a film that dispels the halo of romanticism that can sometimes be associated with the Wild West, and if I’m being honest, I think that’s what makes me love this film the most.