Horror Movie Review: The Pale Door (2020)

Directed by Aaron B. Koontz and written by Cameron Burns, Keith Lansdale, and Koontz, The Pale Door is a Western-themed horror movie. One that delivers authenticity, some impressive visuals, and likable characters.

Alas, a muddled story, unremarkable villains, and a slow final third stop it being a movie well worth seeing.

The Dalton gang, led by Duncan (Zachary Knighton) are planning a big train heist. One that will see them getting their hands on a chest of gold guarded by some Pinkertons. Forced to bring his younger brother, Jake (Devin Druid) because they are a man short, Duncan leads the gang to a successful heist.

However, opening the chest, they are surprised to find a young woman named Pearl (Natasha Bassett) bound and gagged inside. Confused and annoyed, they free her, and she offers them a large reward if they take her home. Something that doesn’t sit well with some of the gang members.

Unfortunately, a Pinkerton that Jake had let live, returns and attempts to shoot Peral but hits Duncan. The rest of the gang kill her and attempt to save Duncan. Pearl insists that a doctor in her town can help him, so off they go. Finding a small town with an active brothel.

Duncan is taken away to be cared for while the rest are thanked for saving Pearl with food, booze, and sex. Only Jake is wary of this place, worried for his brother. It’s him that finds out the truth about this place and it’s a truth that will be the biggest test of the gang’s survival to date.

The Pale Door is at its best when it’s building to its big reveal. The characters interactions, the old west locales, the assault on the train, and the fun in the brothel. Owing a lot to 1996’s From Dusk Till Dawn, The Pale Door changes into a bloody and violent horror movie when the ladies of the brothel reveal themselves to be undead witches who like to feast on blood.

The initial chaos and fighting is exciting but it’s the last time The Pale Door manages to make the adrenaline spike. As the movie grinds to a halt shortly afterwards, becoming excessively slow and talky, while also not making a lick of sense. The whole concept around the witches and what they desire is flawed and uninteresting.

The movie fails to set up rules for their powers meaning the stakes never feel high because we don’t know what they are capable of. Sometimes, they seem to die via gunshots, other times they seem to be able to manipulate the mind, but churches seem to cause them a problem too. Which is odd as you think they would have found a way to tear the one in their town down by now.

It’s these niggling issues that become more and more notable as the film drags its heels to its inevitable conclusion. Even the solid cast who all play their roles with some gusto can’t make the latter part of this film interesting. It’s a shame really, as the set-up, authentic Western feel, and character building of the first half is on point. A horror movie that gets worse when it actually becomes a horror movie, it seems.