There just aren’t enough horror westerns. There are a handful, sure, but they can more or less be counted on two hands. There are even fewer good ones: some, like Near Dark and Ravenous, are memorable and deserving of classic status. Some, like The Burrowers and Ghost Town, are a lot of fun. The rest tend to be titles like Dead in Tombstone and are best left forgotten. One of the most recent hybrids, 2015’s Bone Tomahawk, is considered “fringe” horror at best by some, not considered horror at all by others.

Director Aaron B. Koontz (Scare Package) obviously agrees with me about this lack of horror westerns, which is why his latest film The Pale Door is a terrific genre mashup that finds a traditional oater interrupted by a supernatural nightmare. Zachary Knighton plays the leader of a gang who scheme to pull off a daring train heist.