Six Gun Savior (2016)

Instant Favorite.

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

Grant Dillon was treated like family by the McCraes. And how did he reward them? In 1860, he killed nearly all of them and took over their land, looking for a type of metal with a unique property. Lane McCrae made a deal with Lucifer so his brother Cody would live. It was explained to us that a person who is already dead but not yet judged can make a deal with Lucifer to come back to Earth and take revenge on the person who killed him, at which time he becomes human again, but Lucifer gets his soul. Demons have glowing red eyes when they get mad, and if they get really mad they look like characters from one of the "Star Trek" series. If they are "killed", they burst into flame but disappear quickly.Throughout the Civil War, Lane chases after Dillon but can never catch him. In 1865 he arrives in Furnace Creek, California and someone calls him "Six Gun". He is later identified as "The Savior". Lane joins up with Liz, who is beautiful but tough and cheats men at cards and was apparently his ex. Also joining him are Hawk and Muna. Muna is a shaman's daughter whose entire village was killed, and yet she has a pleasant personality, while still courageous. Lane speaks her language.Dillon wears an eye patch and is unbelievably cruel. He gives orders to a red-haired woman named Zathera who can brings others back to life, and when she has done that, he puts her back in the mine where he was holding her prisoner. Why she has to be his prisoner is not clear, because she has powers you wouldn't believe, and later on she is on her own. The dead person sees his own body, while we see him and Zathera looking very strange, making it clear they are not "real". Zathera explains the terms of the deal and he agrees to them.Lane and his group have several objectives. They have to save Cody, but Lucifer complicates the situation. A green glowing item resembling a piece of blackboard chalk gives certain people power to make others do anything. And then there is a smaller purple glowing item.Capturing Dillon and saving the world from Zathera both prove to be quite complicated.And then there is the cute little girl in what appears to be a white nightgown who proclaims the message of God's forgiveness.Not only that, but another event similar to what happened in the time of Noah could be happening. Not a flood, but we know what Zathera can do, and she and Lucifer are not on the same side.This is a little different from a typical Western. While the themes of people dressed as cowboys (it's not clear what their jobs are) riding horses and wanting revenge is fairly typical, the supernatural qualities are unique. There's not that much special here, though.Lucifer is quite a character. He is more deliciously evil than Dillon, who is just evil. While there aren't a lot of laughs here, Lucifer is sort of funny. And we do have the occasional funny line, such as when someone asks if anyone is ever going to teach Muna English.Violence is typical for a Western, but many more people die, if you count demons disappearing, and even if you don't. There is what is described as a "massacre", but it is supernatural, not bloody. It is still scary.Not my taste, but some might enjoy it.

If you would rather watch the Saturday night movie on SyFy that whichever critically acclaimed Oscar winner is playing on HBO, then you will love this movie. It is camp at its absolute best, and I loved it. Eric Roberts is my favorite Roberts and he was terrific and a far better Lucifer than Ben Kingsley was a vampire king, and if you know that reference then this is definitely your movie. Zathera (Lorraine Ziff) is creepily evil deliciousness and I rooted for her to destroy everybody. I love good bad guys and these two were great. I liked the good guys too, especially Hawk (Matthew Ziff), who hung in there just because he was loyal and brave, so I had to root for him too. All the acting was pretty good, and there was an actual story with an interesting plot that wasn't silly, which is a rarity for these kinds of movies, and it's what makes it good camp as opposed to bad. I would love to see this become a series.

No new ideas coming out of Hollywood land. I hate movies where the actors are wearing brand new cloths especially westerns. 1865 the flag should have 36 stars that one don't.The bottle holding ink in the hotel is a Levi Garrett snuff bottle. They were used 1870 until just recently in the last five year glass now plastic. The Indian girl is clearly wearing mascara. The other girl is wearing a strapless bra which wasn't invented yet. The devil wearing shaded glasses again not yet invented.Other than these few historical mistakes. The story was good to keep your attention. I been on a western kick lately and most of them are pretty bad. This one was just okay. The supernatural twist made it tolerable. There a TV show Wynonna Earp a descendant of Wyatt Earp the effects are better but the acting isn't. I give this 3.5 rating

Don't let the name of Eric Roberts at the top of the credits list have any bearing on your watching the movie. His appearances as 'The Devil' in the story are limited, and even though his impact on the story line should have maximum sway, he's not around enough to make it seem so. Funny, but that's The Devil's quote in my summary line, so for any die-hard anti-Roberts readers, I guess you'll be vindicated.I saw the film last night as it debuted at the Hoboken International Film Festival (HIFF), held oddly enough, at the Paramount Theater in Middletown, New York. The original home of the festival was impacted by Hurricane Sandy three years ago, so this venue has been it's home since then, with a possible renewal up for grabs this year. I often get a kick out of reading other reviewers mentioning their attendance at some original screening, so here I have the opportunity to do the same.The picture is something of a mystical/horror Western, as gunslinger Lane McCrae (Kaleo Griffith) commits his soul to The Devil in exchange for his life and the life of his brother Cody (Adam LeClair), both nearly fatally wounded in separate gunfights. What follows is a meandering and not entirely satisfactory film, and probably a bit longer than it needed to be to tell it's story. In fairness, I have a bit of trouble with movie dialog these days, due in part to tinnitus, so I'm not always certain whether hearing it is my problem or the picture's.One issue I did have though was story continuity in the manner of ridding already dead gunmen and desperadoes. When Lane McCrae shoots three men, five years after the story's opening scene, he states "I killed those three men before", as each of them disintegrate in an electrified/fiery vapor. Later on in the story, zombie cowboys are dispatched in a hale of black smoke or they simply disappear into the ether. For whatever reason, I like my ghost Westerns to maintain a semblance of continuity in the way demons and zombies are dispatched.Besides Roberts, the only other veteran actor one is likely to recognize in the film is Martin Kove in the role of The Mentor. Lorraine Ziff portrays an other worldly demoness named Zathera, and it surprised me to learn that in real life, she's the mother of Matthew Ziff who portrays Kyle 'Hawk' Hawkins in the story.For an independently produced film, the acting was generally adequate and the cinematography was better than expected. Some of the dialog I did hear was embarrassingly clichéd but not enough to be annoying. Action scenes were handled well enough and consistent with the genre. However I don't think there was enough here to compel me to see it again if it gets a general release. I found my attention wandering from time to time, and that's never a good thing, especially when fear and death are your main calling cards.