Cinema review: Gallowwalkers

Wesley Snipes in Gallowwalkers. Courtesy Boundless Pictures

Gallowwalkers Director: Andrew Goth Starring: Wesley Snipes, Kevin Howarth, Tanit Phoenix, Patrick Bergin

** ⋆⋆

Set in a mythical desert landscape, this pulpy hybrid of spaghetti Western and zombie horror movie has a troubled history, which may explain why it is only just being released after seven years in limbo. In the middle of shooting, Snipes flew back from Namibia to the US to face the tax fraud charges that would eventually earn him three years in jail. Snipes plays an updated version of Clint Eastwood’s classic lone gunslinger, a dreadlock-haired bounty hunter engaged in an epic showdown with an army of undead outlaws bent on revenge against him. The gun battles are enjoyably gory and the plot promisingly absurd, but somehow the writer and director Andrew Goth delivers a disjointed, listless and disappointingly routine thriller instead of the gloriously overblown guilty pleasure that Gallowwalkers should have been.