Two hunters stumble upon an Indian burial site and one can’t resist stealing an amulet off a female skeleton.
His partner Hugo didn’t think that was a wise idea on the part of partner Benny. Before long, both discover he was right.
The men are stricken with a curse that makes them break out in blood, is eventually fatal and then causes victims to reawaken with a thirst for the blood of others.
One of the men staggers to the farm where a man named Willard lives with his three wives, Judith, Clara and Nellie.
He’s discovered blood covered, curled in a corner of the barn, on the verge of death.
When Nellie balks at retrieving supplies from the barn, Judith scoffs, saying “dead men don’t bite.”
Oh, how wrong she is.
Before long, others will be affected by the curse as well.
They include aging lawman Bascom, who’s on the hunt for an outlaw named Dalton and has captured his woman (Eva Hamilton as Maisie) as bait. He’s taking her to Prescott Junction with the help of Deputy Nat Riggs (Cameron Kotecki).
And they include Dalton (Owen Conway) and his two remaining gang members, determined to free Maisie from the lawman’s grip.
Cameron Kotecki as Deputy Marshal Riggs, along for the hazardous trick to Prescott Junction in Skinwalker (2021)
Eva Hamilton as Maisie, humored by the turn her abduction has taken in Skinwalker (2021)
Review:
When characters start making excuses for why they can’t or shouldn’t ride horses, you know you’ve ventured into the land of low-budget Westerns.
That being said, this film offers up a bit of campy fun and you’ll likely find yourself chuckling from time to time.
Strong performances from Owen Conway as leader of the badmen, Cameron Kotecki and Dan Higgins as the lawmen and Eva Hamilton as the harlot in distress help too.
And there’s a neat ending. I just wish the cavalry patrol featured at the end of the film looked a wee bit realistic as opposed to what it was — a group of aging and overweight re-enactors.
Dalton, determined to get his lover back from the sheriff in Skinwalker (2021)
Dan Higgins as Bascom, the lawman who decides to use an outlaw’s woman as bait in Skinwalker (2021)
Directed by:
Robert Conway
Cast:
Cameron Kotecki … Nat Riggs
Dan Higgins … Bascom
Eva Hamilton … Maisie
Owen Conway … Dalton
Charlie E. Motley … Vern
Christopher Beeman … Elmer
Daniel Link … Willard
Amelia Haberman … Nellie
Becky Jo Harris … Clara
Liz Manning … Judith
Nathaniel Burns … Benny
Robert Conway … Hugo
Edward Rodriguez … The Medicine Man
Victorio Pope … Storm Talker
Jeff Yazzie … Proud Fist
Mikey Reed … James
David Staley … Amos
Runtime: 94 min.
Amelia Haberman as Nellie, Willard’s youngest wife, as a medicine man works to reverse the curse in Skinwalker (2021)
Daniel Link as Willard, finding a suffering man hiding in his barn in Skinwalker (2021)
Memorable lines:
A resident of Red Stone, a near ghost town after an epidemic: “I sure wish you wouldn’t shoot me. But, at this point, it might be a mercy killing.”
Willard: “You got blood on your shirt. Beast or man’s?”
Benny: “Bit of both, I guess.”
Sheriff Bascom to his deputy, who’s been wounded trying to keep Maisie from escaping: “Fault was in thinkin’ you were conversin’ with a lady instead of a sullied little harlot. Let that busted leg be the lesson of the day.”
Judith, when Nellie hesitates to go to their barn to retrieve supplies: “Oh, what are you afraid of? Dead men don’t bite.”
Judith as Dalton and his men approach their home: “Are you them grave robbers?”
Dalton: “Not that I’m aware of, ma’am. We have robbed some, but they were all above ground.”
Massie, after learning the deputy’s horse disappeared in the middle of the night: “This abduction just keeps getting better.”
Becky Jo Harris as Clara, baffled by what she’s witnessing in Skinwalker (2021)
Liz Manning as Judith, Willard’s oldest wife, overtaken by the curse in Skinwalker (2021)
Edward Rodriguez as the Medicine Man, explaining the origin of Skinwalker in Skinwalker (2021)
Charlie E. Motley as Vern, looking for a partner in need of a mercy killing in Skinwalker (2021)
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