A stagecoach heads to Pine Flatts, Colorado, with five passengers –- a deputy named Jake Norman and his new wife Sarah, a former saloon owner named Marie, a preacher and a young newspaperman from England eager to bring news of the West to readers back home.
Along the way, they pick up a sixth passenger, a man named Calhoun. His response whenever asked where he’s from: “I’d tell you, but you’ve never heard of it.”
Pine Flatts is a deserted mining town with one resident — an old-timer named Charlie who mans the stage station. Only Charlie is slow to respond when the stage pulls up this time.
A search of the nearby woods reveals a grisly sight. He’s been mauled to death, his liver torn out, his body partly consumed.
Some members of the party attribute the death to a pack of wolves. Calhoun suspects differently. There’s a blood moon in the sky, and he’s aware of the Navajo legend about Skinwalkers, giant werewolf-like beasts that prey on human flesh.
Soon, the stage passengers have a more immediate concern. The Norton brothers, fresh off a bank robbery and killing in nearby Lassiter, show up looking for fresh mounts.
They gun down the preacher, the stage driver and the shotgun guard. They take everyone else prisoner, threatening a nasty fate for Sarah and Marie.
Help might be on the way in the form of Wade Norman, marshal of Lassiter, who has set out to find the bank robbers with Black Deer as his guide.
But Black Deer has the same fears as Calhoun – the Skinwalkers who are at their strongest when there’s a blood moon.
Shaun Dooley as Calhoun, introducing himself to the stagecoach passengers in Blood Moon (2015)
George Blagden as Jake Norton, finding himself in a position where he might not be able to protect his new wife in Blood Moon (2015)
Review:
Decent entry into the horror-Western sub-genre from Jeremy Woodling, who had directed just two films plus a host of TV shows prior to this outing. According to the film’s official site, it was the first Western filmed in the U.K. since 1965’s “Carry On Cowboy” and the first-ever filmed in Kent, England.
English actor Shaun Dooley is especially effective as the no-nonsense Calhoun, a professional creature killer. In a DVD special feature, Woodling suggests the character might be resurrected for a Blood Moon II.
Actually, most of the cast is impressive given that this is a low-budget independent film, though Corey Johnson overacts badly as outlaw Hank Norton.
And the dialogue seems sharp at first, but gets a little tedious when the tough-guy lines are spouted by everyone in the cast, including the supposedly innocent new bride who was really a whore, but tricked her husband into thinking otherwise.
Amber Jean Rowan as Sarah Norman, letting Hank Norton know she’s not as helpless as she seems in Blood Moon (2015)
Anna Skellern as Marie Cooper, a former saloon owner trying to fend off two lustful outlaws in Blood Moon (2015)
Directed by:
Jeremy Woodling
Cast:
Shaun Dooley .. Calhoun
George Blagden … Jake Norman
Amber Jean Rowan … Sarah Norman
Anna Skellern … Marie Cooper
Raffaello Degruttola … Jeb Norton
Corey Johnson … Hank Norton
Jack Fox … Marshal Wade Norman
Eleanor Matsuura … Black Deer
Ian Whyte … Skinwalker
Ben Warwick … Doc Taylor
Barrington De La Roche … Ahiga
Dave Fulton … Glen
Tony Law … Yancy
George Webster … Henry Lester
Kerry Shale … Father Dominic
David Sterne … Charlie Packham
Joan Walker … Joanie Loumis
Tom Cotcher … Lloyd Walker
Runtime: 90 min.
Eleanor Matsuura as Black Deer, showing Wade Norman (Jack Fox), the necklace the will protect her in Blood Moon (2015)
Jack Fox as Marshal Wade Norman, about to set out on the trail of two bank robbers in Blood Moon (2015)
Memorable lines:
Father Dominic: “Have you ever visited Lassiter?”
Marie: “It ain’t much more than a one-horse town. And they shot that horse 20 years ago.”
Jake Norman, after a stage jolt: “Hey, Yancy, you told me you had the most comfortable stages in the West.”
Yancy: “Well, we do, Jake, but this here ain’t one of ‘em.”
Yancy, to Calhoun, who’s asking for passage on the stage: “Where’s your horse?”
Calhoun: “Broke his leg. Yesterday.”
Glen, stage guard: “You shoot him?”
Calhoun: “No. I wrestled him to the ground and beat him to death.”
Black Deer, jokingly, as Wade orders up a pot of coffee to sober her up: “Navajo hate coffee. Prefer firewater. Heap good.”
Corey Johnson as outlaw Hank Norton with stern words for Jake Norman (George Blagden) in Blood Moon (2015)
Raffaello Degruttol as Jeb Norton, threatening the stage passengers in Blood Moon (2015)
Black Deer: “You got any silver bullets?”
Wade: “On my wage? Hell, no. Why?”
Black Deer: “It’s a question that needed to be asked.”
Jake, looking at Charlie’s dead body: “What in God’s name did that?”
Calhoun: “God was looking the other way when this happened.”
Hank Norton, venturing into the dusk: “If I come back and I’m tall, dark and hairy – shoot, cause it ain’t me.”
Jake: “Reckon I can get a handle on most men. But truth be told, Calhoun, you’re a solid-gold puzzle to me.”
George Webster as Henry Lester, the young newspaperman eager to write about adventures out West in Blood Moon (2015)
Kerry Shale as Father Dominic, alarmed by what he’s hearing on the stage in Blood Moon (2015)
George Blagden as Jake Norman, preparing to defend the stagecoach while wife Sarah (Amber Jean Rowan) looks on in Blood Moon (2015)
Amber Jean Rowan as Sarah Norman, former saloon owner providing a distraction in Blood Moon (2015)
Amber Jean Rowan as Sarah Norman being threatened by Raffaello Degruttola as Jeb Norton while her husband looks on in Blood Moon (2015)
Shaun Dooley as Calhoun, on the watch for trouble from the woods in Blood Moon (2015)
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