As far as horror goes, the Western horror movie is in my opinion an underserved subgenre, which is odd when you take into account really good movies like Dead Birds (2004), The Burrowers (2008) and Bone Tomahawk (2015) are a part of it and if success breeds anything, it’s imitators (the “success” I’m referring to is in the execution because I don’t think any of them set the box office on fire, if they were released in theaters at all. I think Bone Tomahawk may have been though I can’t speak for the other two).

Which isn’t to say that there aren’t other horror movies that play in the Western side of the pool, though those that I’ve seen most weren’t terribly memorable.

And I can’t say that The Pale Door will buck that trend though it does have some actors I recognize, like Devin Druid (13 Reasons Why) and Stan Shaw (Jeepers Creepers 3) and apparently works with a trope that’s more commonly seen in contemporary horror like House on Willow Street (2016) and – with slight variations – action films, which is essentially a robbery that doesn’t go quite as anticipated for the thieves for reasons all the planning in the world can’t anticipate.

Thematically speaking, that makes it somewhat similar to Dead Birds – and House on Willow Street (2016) which takes the same idea though places it in a more current setting – though if that film taught us anything it’s that you can take tropes that seem threadbare and breathe new life into them.