Weird West

Pale Rider and High Plains Drifter are both Clint Eastwood movies that almost fit into the Weird West category. In both movies, there aren't any visuals that would make you think they were Weird Westerns; they're both standard Clint Eastwood Westerns. Yet both movies subtly hint that Clint Eastwood's character died prior to the events of the movie and he's back as a ghost to get revenge.

So if he's a ghost, then I'd say these would qualify as Weird West. Yet there's nothing in either movie that explicitly says or shows him being a ghost. It's like these movies follow the "letter of the law" as opposed to the "spirit of the law" when it comes to my definition of Weird West. That is, they may technically be Weird Westerns by definition, but they aren't what I picture when I think of Weird Westerns. Of course, this also means these are probably the most objectively good movies out of any others mentioned on this Lemmy community.

Here's a trailer for Pale Rider and High Plains Drifter. They aren't streaming on any subscription service but you can rent them on most services.

Ritual: Crown of Horns is a fun little twin-stick shooter. You play a gunslinger who was brought back from the dead by a witch. The witch needs to perform rituals in various places and the ritual takes 5 minutes to prepare. So your only task is to keep the enemies off the witch long enough for her to complete her ritual. Which means, yes, each level lasts 5 minutes. Perfect for the Steam Deck.

I know the game only has 35 reviews on Steam and even those are Mixed, but I really enjoyed it. It might be because the game regularly goes on sale for $2 (90% off). I definitely wouldn't pay $20 for this game, but $2? It's plenty of fun for $2.

Here's a trailer. You can get it on Steam, but like I said, wait for a sale.

I don't have anything witty to say about this one, it's just Gunslinger Spawn.

He has his own series of comics but I haven't read them. I just like that you can take the Spawn character and drop him into whatever setting you want.

To be fair, I think the first half of this movie is great. There are a lot of long, slow shots which really feel reminiscent of a spaghetti western. But as it goes on, it eventually just turns into a mindless action movie with lots of quick cuts and as much CGI as they can fit on the screen. So yet another entry into the "yes, this movie is bad, but it's a Weird Western!" category.

Here's a trailer. You can currently watch it on Netflix.

Vermilion is about a ghost hunter in the 1800s who is hired to investigate rumors of a vampire running a mental asylum in the Colorado rocky mountains. So it's definitely a Weird Western and I was interested. But as the story went on, I started to notice a trend in all the characters. I'm going to give some mild spoilers in terms of the characters, but no plot points.

The main character is a 19 year old girl who dresses and acts like a boy to get a job as a ghost hunter. I figured "sure, standard Mulan scenario" and didn't think anything of it. And then on her journey, she meets a male familiar who's attracted to the male vampire. I figured "that's an interesting twist on the vampire seduction trope" and still didn't think much of it. And then the main character runs into the boy she has an unrequited crush on and the boy reveals he's actually gay and introduces the main character to his boyfriend. Sure, a gay character, that's a pretty solid reason for the crush to continue being unrequited. And then the main character reaches the mental asylum and meets a girl whose parents sent her to the asylum because she's gay and her parents wanted to "fix" her. And this point, I finally had the realization that pretty much every named character in this story is queer in some way. My "standard Mulan scenario" was probably leaning closer to trans and I just wasn't thinking of it that way.

Having queer characters doesn't affect the plot at all, but the author really seemed to go out of her way to include as many queer characters as she could. So if you're on the look-out for a queer Weird Western, maybe you'll enjoy Vermilion.

Continuing my theme of "yes, this movie is bad, but it's a Weird Western!": Jonah Hex. Of course, this is a "big budget movie with theatrical release" bad movie, not a "direct to video" bad movie. So it's not nearly as bad as GallowWalkers or Bloodrayne 2. I personally think it's a fun action movie but I won't argue with anyone who says it's dumb.

Jonah Hex has the ability to speak to the dead if he makes physical contact with them and he uses that to track down John Malkovich and Michael Fassbender's characters to get revenge. I've never read the comics the character is based on so I have no idea how closely it follows the source material.

Here's a trailer. It isn't streaming anywhere right now but if you ever get a chance to watch it, I think it's a fun movie.

Evil West is a lot of fun, but if it weren't for the modern graphics you would've thought it was made in the early 2000s. It's linear levels to reach open arenas for fighting bad guys and each level ends in a boss fight. The combat is really fun though and you get so many different weapons and moves that I legitimately forgot I had a shotgun for a good portion of the game. The boss fights were really tough for me but I thoroughly enjoyed this game.

Here's a trailer. You can get it on Steam, Xbox, or Playstation, but not Switch.

This is one of my favorite songs off my Xmas playlist. The Michael Martin Murray original is also good, but I prefer the sound of the Killers' cover, and the video only makes it weirder.

Also one of the best descriptions of American folk dancing in popular media.

The Wikipedia entry has weird west in it, so I guess so.

Such a good show. Loved Bruce in it.

Six-Gun Tarot is a good Weird Western, but the author crams a lot into this world. The sheriff is undead (possibly immortal), the deputy is possibly a werewolf, and there's a talking head in a jar. But those are just the characters. The actual plot is about the Lovecraftian Old One starting to wake up under the town.

Given how much goes on in this novel, I'm surprised it all fit together as well as it did. Although personally, I don't like cramming this many fantastical elements into a single story with no overarching reason. There is no "a portal to hell opened, so this happened" or "we've discovered a magical elixir which does ____", the author just threw whatever he wanted into it. A talking head in a jar? Sure, why not, that'll go great with this Lovecraftian horror.

I don't want to sound too critical, I did like this book, I'm just more of a "hard magic" type of person than a "soft magic" type of person. So I struggle with throwing everything into the world with no rhyme or reason. I still think this book is plenty of fun though if you can just roll with whatever happens in a story.

There are 4 books in this series, although I should admit I've only read the first one.

I think this will become a theme anytime I mention a movie here: yes, this movie is terrible, but it definitely falls into the Weird West category! It's about a half-human half-vampire hunting down Billy The Kid (who is also a vampire).

Now, you may be thinking to yourself "hold on, wasn't there already a terrible Bloodrayne movie that took place in the 18th century?" And yes, yes there was. This is the sequel. And it's worse.

Here's a trailer. You can watch it right now on YouTube, Tubi, Vudu, Plex, or Roku if you can handle bad movies.

Maybe a little lighter on the "west" side of things and a little heavier on the "weird" side of things. Nevertheless there is a lot of "western" here to justify it! This is one of my favorite graphic novels

I don't hear it talked about much. It's from the co-creators of Dishonered & Prey but has the feel of what Fallout 1 & 2 would play like if they came out today IMO.

Western setting where a new gold rush for dark stone pits gunslingers, lawmen, saloon girls, etc against tentacles, the undead, mutated gangsters, snakemen, and lost technology as they travel between worlds.

It's coop and there are different missions, most of which have randomly generated maps that are created from a deck on you explore, giving it endless replayability. Characters gain experience, skill, and gear but also can become injured or mutate (nothing the church or surgeon in town can't fix for a price).

It also has tons of expansions. While the physical games add up in cost and require a lot of organizing, you can give it a try on tabletop simulator.

There's even a Japanese themed set that can combine with the Western ones.

A “Psychedelic Western.” Surreal, meditative, and a Neil Young soundtrack. One of my favorites. Also an insane cast!

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_Man

rn on hboMAX

Atomic Robo is a comic book, mirrored on the web, about alternate history. In this arc, the eponymous hero has been sent back in time to the Old West... where he finds an old enemy who hasn't met him yet.

Not sure if a perfect fit, but a comedy western rpg with a bit of a supernatural element. If you haven't already you should check it out!

8 books, one short story, and one kids book... enveloping one weird Western tale in a world that has moved on.

I think this one is perfect for this instance. I have had it on my wishlist and tried the demo back in development. Creepy, western and fun!

West of Dead is a really fun game. It's a cover-based twin-stick shooter, so there's a top-down view and you crouch behind cover in between shooting bad guys. It's also a roguelike, so you get random weapons each run and unlock permanent perks with the currency you collect. I'm typically terrible at roguelikes but I fell in love with this one and actually beat it.

Here's a trailer. You can get it on Steam, Switch, Xbox, Playstation, wherever.

Ghoultown is an American rock band with Weird West themes in their lyrics. I wish the songs were a bit better but at least they're consistent in their theme. And this is already a niche within a niche so I can't really complain.

Typically, the Weird West genre is comprised of pulp novels and fairly mindless action movies. It's hard to take the genre too seriously when the premises are so ridiculous. But Cold As Hell does an amazing job of crafting fully-realized characters in a complex world. Yes, this is a story about an undead gunslinger trying to take down necromancers, vampires, and werewolves, but the authors treat it all with respect.

The main character is a relatively moral person who joined a gang in his youth. The gang started becoming more violent and brutal so the main character started to have doubts. And his gang murdered him for it. But an angel resurrects him and makes him a Hand of God, tasked with hunting down creatures cursed by hell.

One interesting aspect of this is his body heals extremely quickly and he feels no pain. So he can get shot multiple times and as long as his muscles and tendons are still attached, he can keep fighting. But this also means he's numb to the world. He can't get drunk, he can't feel a kiss, he can't indulge in any vices. So while he's able to continue walking the earth, he can't really do anything to make his time enjoyable. He isn't happy being a Hand of God.

Also, not every cursed creature is evil. There are werewolves who are just trying to lay low and stay out of everyone's way. And the main character doesn't like indiscriminately killing every cursed creature, which pisses off his angel handler. So the series isn't just a bunch of "go kill the bad guy" stories, there's a lot of nuance involved.

There are 2 books in the series so far, with a third planned for next year. Also, there's a 3.5-hour audible-exclusive prequel called Dead Acre which is narrated by Roger Clark (who voiced Arthur Morgan in Red Dead Redemption 2). I highly recommend the whole series.

I was so excited when I learned of the existence of GallowWalkers. Wesley Snipes playing a vampire gunslinger in the Wild West? Sounds like it could actually scratch my itch for more Darkwatch!

But no, this movie is terrible. While I definitely went in with too high of expectations, this is a bad movie even with low expectations. My primary issue is the pacing; the movie is simply boring. I can handle bad writing and bad acting but I can't handle one boring scene after another. Such a shame.

Here's a trailer. And of course, being a bad movie, it's available for streaming everywhere! Tubi, Pluto, Roku, Amazon Prime/Freevee, anywhere you want!

I'm going to kick-start this community with my favorite Weird West work. Darkwatch had everything I wanted from a Weird Western: a vampire gunslinger shooting monsters at night. Sure, the gameplay could've been better (a lot better) but the world-building was so fun I loved it anyway.

I don't know if I could handle playing the game again today; it got mediocre reviews even when it was released and the game mechanics are even more dated now. But I'll always have a soft-spot for it and would love a sequel in this world.

Here's a trailer showing just how ridiculous the game was.