Bad Men Must Bleed (2025)

Chris Routhe is Harrison Griggs, leader of an outlaw gang on a rampage.

He’s just killed a preacher and his gang is in the middle of robbing a church when a lawman named Jacob (Chad Michael Murray) shows up.

Griggs lands behind bars. But not for long.

He bribes the sheriff, then visits Jacob’s home with his gang looking for their stolen loot.

By the time their search ends, Jacob and his wife are dead, leaving their 10-year-old daughter an orphan.

She sets out on foot looking for help and lands on the doorstep of Adam Lynch (Todd Terry), a wanted man known as “The Butcher.”

He’s torn about what to do about that, but is slowly drawn into an effort to stop Griggs.

Meanwhile, Griggs has declared himself mayor of a nearby town and has his eyes on acquiring the orphanage where Emma has landed.

As for Emma, she’s determined to help in spite of her young age. A daddy’s girl to the core, she’s also quite proficient with guns.

Todd Berry as Adam ‘The Butcher’ Lynch, staring down trouble in Bad Men Must Bleed (2025)

Chris Routhe as Harrison Griggs, warning residents of Pinemore that loyalty is demanded, defiance not allowed in Bad Man Must Bleed (2025)

Review:

Western fans will want to check this out because it’s a major step up, in terms of budget and quality, from most genre films being released in the 2020s.

Chad Michael Murray, Bruce Dern and Willie Roberts of Duck Dynasty fame get top billing in the promotion of the film.

But it’s entertaining largely because of standout performances from Chris Routhe as the villain and Todd Terry as the aging outlaw.

That said, Murray’s performance adds authenticity of an intense raid of his home early in the film. And Dern is delightful in a cameo as a railroad tycoon. Robertson has a minor role as “The Butcher’s” brother.

All that said, the film’s far from perfect. The biggest letdown is a script that keeps putting characters in illogical locations at illogical times.

That’s never truer than the final shootout. The impressive scope of the scene is overshadowed by the pure bewilderment over how so many cast members knew to show up at that precise spot at that precise moment. It was an ambush, for crying out loud!

Lexi Rabe as Emma, trying to get her way with her father in Bad Men Must Bleed (2025)

Chad Michael Murray as Jacob, rounding up thieves and murderers in Bad Men Must Bleed (2025)

Directed by:
Micah Lyons

Cast:
Todd Berry … Adam Lynch, The Butcher
Chris Routhe … Harrison Griggs
Lexi Rabe … Emma
Chad Michael Murray … Jacob
Bruce Dern … George Wells
Willie Robertson … Leon
Brad Leland … Uncle Fletch
William Mellina … Murphy
Constance Brenneman … Caroline
Holt Boggs … Bart
Tristan Riggs … Young Cole
David D. Ford … Sheriff Taylor
Melanie Martyn … Sarah Wallace
Lani Sarem … Adeline
Brooke Lyons … Emma’s mother
Ash Maure Felkner … Catherine
Isaac C. Singleton … Brighton
Keith Rushing … The Rev. Hines
Jason C. Campbell … Greggory
Cheyenne Mobbs … Clarence
Weldon Oliver … Minister
Logan Rabe … Lenny
Swayde McCoy … Levi
Gurie Sheffield … Reginald
Park Montgomery … Mrs. Tuttle
Stacie-Rowe Jones … Miss Kitty
Bridget Uhles … Scarlet
W.D. Burns … Franklin

Runtime: 111 min.

William Mellina as Murphy, the man who runs the orphanage in Bad Men Must Bleed (2025)

Constance Brenneman as Caroline, the woman who runs the orphanage, concerned about the fate of her husband in Bad Men Must Bleed (2025)

Memorable lines:

Emma’s mom: “What in heaven’s name are you doing? Why are you so enamored with guns and death?”
Emma: “I don’t know.”
Mom: “I need you to try to be a little more ladylike.”
Emma: “Can I go practice shootin’ now?”

Sheriff Taylor: “I don’t fraternize with petty thieves.”
Harrison Griggs: “Thief? Nah. I was the one who shot the minister.”
Sheriff: “Oh, well, murderer then. In that case, I got a live oak and a maple out back. Which one you prefer to swing from?”

Emma, convincing Adam “The Butcher” Lynch to help her: “You won’t regret this.”
Lynch: “I already do.”

Butcher to Murphy, the man who runs an orphanage: “I’m wanted for murder. You God wants nothing to do with me. I ain’t done one good thing in my life ‘cept marry the right woman.”

Holt Boggs as Bart, a member of the Harrison Briggs gang, trying to deliver a message in Bad Men Must Bleed (2025)

Brad Leland as Uncle Fletch, determined to get the truth out of someone prone to lying in Bad Men Must Bleed (2025)

Butcher, trying to get his friend Murphy into a poker game: “Half blind. All the way dumb.”
Card player : “Well, we can make room for him.”

Griggs to gang member Bart: “The only thing in this world more powerful than money is a promise. If you promise a man a better life, and he believes you, he’ll do anything for you. And you don’t need a lot of money. I came from nothing, and I built this empire on a promise of milk and honey.”

Harrison Griggs: “No one crosses Harrison Griggs and gets away with it.”

Bart: “Harrison Griggs is not who you think he is. He’s a snake. He didn’t care about you. He didn’t care about any of you. He lied to all of us … He used you to get rich.”

Bruce Dern as railroad tycoon George Wells, beaming in delight at a pretty secretary in Bad Men Must Bleed (2025)

Brooke Lyons as Emma’s mom, wishing her daughter would be more ladylike in Bad Men Must Bleed (2025)

David D. Ford as Sheriff Taylor, the lawman in cahoots with Harrison Griggs in Bad Men Must Bleed (2025)

Lexi Rabe as Emma, loading her gun to defend her friends in Bad Men Must Bleed (2025)

Chris Routhe as Harrison Griggs, about to kill a preacher in Bad Men Must Bleed (2025)

Todd Berry as Adam ‘The Butcher’ Lynch, facing a tricky situation in Bad Men Must Bleed (2025)