A brother and sister named Tillian and Shale turn up naked in the desert, with burns on their bodies and wounds in identical locations on their shoulder blades.
They stumble to the desolate home of a tailor named Caleb Williams, who has become something of a recluse after the death of his beloved wife Carolyn.
Caleb nurses the two strangers back to help, puzzled by the fact that they have wounds in precisely the same spots as old “torture” wounds he discovered on the back of his late wife.
That and their strange behavior has Caleb growing more and more wary.
Meanwhile, the preacher from the nearby town of Parker has been dispatched to kill the two strangers at the bidding of a mysterious man named Nathaniel, who tells him there’s “a resurrection to quell.”
The reverend’s daughter, Lizzy, and a young friend of Caleb’s, Jameson Adams, set out to stop him.
They know the reverend as a kind-hearted man, not the tortured soul who has scared away most of his parishioners with his ramblings.
Christopher Mur as Caleb Williams, confused by the strangers from the desert in Gunfight at Yuma (2012)
Kerlli Ruttle as Carolyn, the late wife Caleb misses so desperately in Gunfight at Yuma (2012)
Review:
Odd mix of Western and other-worldly and don’t look for an accurate synopsis on the DVD cover or the film’s title — there’s no mention of Yuma at any point in the film — to help sort it out.
Seems Tillian and Shale have escaped from hell and are looking for a chosen one to give them and other condemned souls a second chance in life. The chosen one has embodied Caleb’s late wife.
Nathaniel, devilish as he may seem, has been sent to stop that from happening. Since he can’t kill himself, the reverend has been chosen to do the work of the Lord.
Shame the role of the preacher isn’t performed more convincingly, because Christopher Mur as Caleb, Patrick Wenk-Wolff as Nathaniel, and Casey Austin as Shale are turn in fine performances.
Jon Equis as Tillian, desperate to find the chosen one and a second chance in Gunfight at Yuma (2012)
Casey Austin as Shale, wondering with the world would be like without hell in Gunfight at Yuma (2012)
Directed by:
Alveraz Ricardez
Cast:
Christopher Mur … Caleb Williams
Joe Estevez … Rev. Hearting
Molly Kasch … Elizabeth ‘Lizzy” Hearting
Patrick Wenk-Wolff … Nathaniel
Casey Austin … Shale
Jon Equis … Tillian
Kelli Ruttle … Carolyn
Adam Kidd … Jameson Adams
Runtime: 88 min.
Joe Estevez as the Rev. Hearting, balking at Nathaniel’s request that he take more lives in Gunfight at Yuma (2012)
Patrick Wenk-Wolff as Nathaniel, explaining what’s expected of the preacher in Gunfight at Yuma (2012)
Memorable lines:
Rev. Hearting: “You’re just a boy.”
Jameson Adams: “You’re just a broken man.”
Rev. Hearting: “It’s my destiny to kill those people.”
Jameson Adams: “It’s my destiny to stop you.”
Nathaniel to Rev. Hearting: “If these hands could kill, I assure you they would.”
Jameson Adams, upon summoning the preacher to help Tillion and Shale: “Should I fetch the doctor?”
Rev. Hearting: “How much trouble could two naked folk be?”
Shale: “What will become of the world without hell?”
Molly Kasch as Lizzy Hearting, listening to another of her father’s rants from the pulpit in Gunfight at Yuma (2012)
Adam Kidd as Jameson Adams, looking for help for the strangers in Gunfight at Yuma (2012)
Joe Estevez as the Rev. Hearting, scaring away parishioners with his fiery rhetoric in Gunfight at Yuma (2012)
Christopher Mur as Caleb Williams, trying to decide if he can trust anything Nathaniel tells him in Gunfight at Yuma (2012)
Jon Equis as Tillian and Casey Austin as his sister Shale, landing in the desert in Gunfight at Yuma (2012)
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