Organ Trail (2023) User Reviews

A Low Budget, Western Thriller, Which Has It's Moments...But Also A Very Misleading Title.

[meddlecore · 4/10 · 20 May 2023]

I went into this thinking it was going to be a horror flick.

But it can be more aptly described as a low budget western thriller.

There isn't really a main character in the film.

Rather, the plot centers around a string of incidents, through which three groups of people collide - a family of settlers travelling along the Oregon Trail; a gang of violent raiders, who prey on such travelers; and a couple of black homesteaders, who just so happen to have settled in the area.

The gang uses a woman they have captured as bait, to lure benevolent settlers to their death (by their hands).

After which they raid their wagons for goods and women.

The gang consists of a leader, a sociopath, a follower, and a good man trapped in a bad situation.

And, when they murder the family we are introduced to, they end up taking their daughter prisoner.

However, she ends up escaping.

After which she is taken in by the black couple.

Only to steal their horse, so as to return to the scene of the crime, so that she can bury her family.

Not knowing the gang has sent their woman to track her; while the sociopath tracks her (because she is taking too long)- just as the black homesteader sets out to get his beloved horse back.

Inevitably leading their paths to cross...in what will turn out to be an incredibly violent turn of events.

The acting is actually quite decent across the board.

And the scenery is quite stunning.

Unfortunately, the plot relies on some extremely implausible events to drive itself forward.

With a couple instances of really poor CGI effects.

On top of that...the climax is rather underwhelming...culminating with an all too abrupt ending.

Which doesn't leave you satisfied.

But it's not a bad little film.

And is entirely watchable.

With some effectively disturbing moments.

Even if it doesn't quite live up to other films based on extreme ultraviolence.

I don't really get the title, though.

Because it never has anything to do with organs.

4 out of 10.

Solid low budget effort, a bit too long

[zack_gideon · 6/10 · 14 May 2023]

This was a solid western/drama/thriller and a little horror. One plus is it's filmed on location in Montana. It's a nice back drop for a dark and dreary period western.

Overall it's a bit long, some of the scenes are too extended and unnecessary. That being said the film is pretty well acted and directed. A lot of panning shots of Montana and some pretty good sfx, fire scenes and other elements.

There's also some pretty solid character build up and arcs which do take time to develop. It's definitely low budget and most of the actors are all still in their early stages of their careers.

Overall, enjoyable effort that drives some pretty good tension and the score isn't bad either 6/10.

A Western Terminator

[SpareMeTheCrapMovies · 5/10 · 15 May 2023]

The T-800 went back in time but screwed up on the target date and ended up in the 1800s. Oh, well, might as well take out John Connoe's great great grand dad instead.

I mean seriously, who didn't see the ending coming? He's unstoppable and relentless. He has no feeling and is nothing more than a cyborg wrapped in synthetic skin.

Don't get me started on how they can all be standing on a large frozen lake and not see someone fishing off in the distance. But hey, swimming under frozen water for a long distance and magically coming up in the only fishing hole on the entire lake is...well, very very plausible.

Good acting though. But definitely a B-rated movie where you don't mind losing some brain cells for a few hours.

Cold uninteresting movie.

[vnblu · 3/10 · 4 June 2023]

I really tried to like this movie because I like westerns, but this movie could have been about hikers, campers, or just people lost in the woods. Scenery and music does not "make" a movie, and although there is some decent scenery the aggravating score does nothing to help this clinker. The story seems to drag and would have made a good 20 minuter TV show, but not a full length movie. There were too many characters to develop in the time it took to drag this movie to a conclusion. A little more actual story and a lot less unnecessary shots of people walking back and forth in the distance might have made this a better movie. The bad guys just need to be bad guys, and not spend every scene proving how bad they are. This director should learn to tell a story, and not waste film. Sad... because this story had some potential but it got lost by actors trying to be evil Clint Eastwoods. There is a great deal of stupid and unnecessary dialogue that make this movie forgettable. A better title would have been Dragging Trail. Not one of my favorites by any means.

Good scene but weak story

[wvxgjmymz · 2/10 · 4 December 2023]

Very weak narrative nothing really add to history, very cliche and confusing sequence and far from realistic concepts!

It was supposed to pave a picture of the regional history rather than random story, without connection to characters.

The film recording space was selected great and it should be a great movie if adding some connections to the starting and ending points in the story.

Not sure how people can survive is such a horrible environment, isolated and no really access to initial stuffs for the living. That is very rare example of old west culture no reflection on the society.

In general I would give 2 of 10.

Organ Trail is an uneven film with some redeeming elements preventing it from being a complete disaster

[kevin_robbins · 4/10 · 11 December 2023]

I recently viewed Organ Trail (2023) on Paramount+. The storyline follows a young lady in the 1800s Midwest with no family, friends, or means for survival but her family horse. When a ruthless band of outlaws steals her horse, leaving her for dead, she embarks on a perilous mission to recover it, putting herself and everyone who aids her at risk.

This picture is directed by Michael Patrick Jann, in his major motion picture debut, and stars Zoé De Grand Maison (Riverdale), Mather Zickel (I Love You, Man), Lisa LoCicero (Rush Hour 2) and Nicholas Logan (The Best of Enemies)

The movie is a mixed bag. The settings, attire, and props create a perfect look and feel. However, the storyline, dialogue, and acting struggle with authenticity, although Nicholas Logan's portrayal of the villain stands out, reminiscent of a young Michael Rooker. The kills are average and disappointing, but surprisingly, the ending surpassed my expectations.

In conclusion, Organ Trail is an uneven film with some redeeming elements preventing it from being a complete disaster. I would give it a 4/10 and recommend skipping it.

Film was good, some of the acting was meh

[tknmzombie · 7/10 · 10 June 2023]

Why in the world would you have a fairly well known actor like Sam Trammell try to pull off an Irish accent? Good lort. It was a continual mixture of a flat American dialect, a American Southern Drawl, and a VERY BADLY DONE fake Irish accent. For the love of Pete it did nothing for the plot of the film, as all the men were to have been just recently released from their regiments in the American Civil War. So any American accent would do.

Otherwise, as a thriller or a gritty frightening western. That in itself was done well. This group of men are just what outlaws would really would have been. Old Westerns cleaned them up so much, making them have things they "wouldnt do". But TRUE horrible psychopaths and sociopaths have no invisible line that they won't cross. And that would include taking over a whole town and killing everyone in it. Or killing whole families on the Oregon Trail, pillaging their wagons, stealing the horses, and SA'ing the women. While so many stories through history tell you that wagoners on the Oregon Trail had to fear the Native American Tribes on their trek. Not much was said about our own citizenry doing much worse (and if you saw those hand made arrows, try to pin it on the Native American Tribes).

If you want something a little bit different and gritty to watch...this is a 7/10...has a little bit of "girl power" but it's not so in your face you'd be offended.

But my lort Sam Trammell. Never pretend to have an Irish accent ever again.

Terrible, terrible movie

[jjbbkydd · 1/10 · 4 October 2023]

There was little thought or logic put into the making of this movie.

One lantern or two and a fire to light your cabin?

• No, let's make a set of lantern string lights outside to look like a back porch barbecue!

Native American attack with multiple casualties on another wagon party a mile or two away, with the attackers still out there?

• Let's play the violin and leave multiple lanterns on all night!

Prisoner escaped?

• Let's send another prisoner, one who already tried to escape, after the one who just got loose.

The scenery is beautiful, but the movie doesn't have much to do with that. I mostly thank Montana.

Honestly one of the worst movies I have ever seen. Not sure why others are giving such a high rating.

Slow Actionless Western

[Skippy318 · 6/10 · 19 June 2023]

Cinematography is great. Organ Trail (2023) captures a gritty and realistic antipastoral west. The first few minutes of the film are great, even the bloody and graphic violence is not off-putting. However, just as one grows to like the characters they are killed off. From this point on, the film stalls out. There are a lot of scenes with travelling and a stationary scene in a western ghost town. However, the language detracts from the film, as there is not a lot of interesting dialogue. Attempts at comedic relief are made about an hour into the film where four-letter profanities are passed off as humorous. As the film equivalent of a walking simulator, the film has great scenery. Its a bit slow paced but contains well received visuals. The film contains false endings and over the top action near the climax that detracts from the film. Most of the characters are flat and un-interesting, leaving little to grasp on to aside from cinematography and visuals. Well shot cinematography makes the film.

Was hoping for it to get better...nope!

[psxexperten · 1/10 · 16 May 2023]

The plot holes are massive. I mean you would have to suspend all reality of society to believe some of the things that occur to set up the "story" or "plot" or whatever this thing is.

There are other parts where you will just shake your head and ask: Why. That's the main question. This is utter nonsense. Unless you're into watching a plot that moves in ways that confuse you and make you annoyed, I would avoid this movie. Not good.

How can you get something so simple, so wrong?

I have never wanted a film to end so much in my life.

Could be useful for future film studies to be an example of how NOT to make a movie.

A western with strong women, nearly a cliché....

[searchanddestroy-1 · 1 March 2024]

Yes, since several years now, westerns starring strong women characters are galore, despite the fact that William Wellman gave us WESTWARD THE WOMEN, back in 1951, a western which opened the trail to this kind of scheme. But, I repeat, since ten years now, this is a new kind of western. This one is gritty, brutal, not as complex as the Kelly Reichardt's films, mainly westerns involving "strong" female characters, not so minimalist. The ending is however a total waste, total waste. I expected something far more terrific. No, the ending is close to Hollywood standards despite great earlier expectations.

Western showing hardships of life on the Oregon Trail especially for females

[masline · 9/10 · 29 November 2023]

Despite the negative reviews here I really liked this movie and would recommend it. Some of the comments are that it was "low budget" - I don't know why that matters. It was filmed in Montana and the scenery is actually breathtaking, in fact the beautiful scenery contrasts with the ugliness of some of the humans that exist on this trail, waiting to take advantage of innocent travellers who are crossing the Oregon Trail. I don't know why the film is called "Organ Trail" perhaps that is how it was pronounced by people back then. There are two main female characters who have to battle violent outlaws. It is through the strength of these women that carries the film, the violence is juxtaposed with the women trying to free themselves from the crazy outlaws who don't hold back from extreme violence. I would say this film was extremely absorbing, it made one think about the actual violence that people must have suffered, including native americans, who were dislocated from their lands by European settlers, and the way the remote vastness of the country attracted violent criminals to prey on the unwary.

We need the 90 minute movies back

[aronharde · 6/10 · 4 February 2024]

Organ Trail is gruesome 2023 Western Thriller that is set in the 1870s during the winter in Montana. A young woman's family is killed by gang of ruthless bandits who also kidnap her. She manages to escape and after a farmer finds her and manages to put her back on her feet, she wants to retrieve the only thing left of her family, a horse named Fable.

There are some really good performances in Organ Trail, especially Sam Trammell who did an amazing job as the gangs leader and was almost likeable even though he was a gruesome man. His performance really reminded me of Jeffrey Dean Morgan's performance as Negan in The Walking Dead as this vicious leader who you can't help but like for some reason. Also Nicholas Logan as one of the gangs members who was even more terrifying and evil had a great performance and was a scary addition for the movie. The rest of the cast also did a good job portraying their characters and the movie managed to sell the 19th century setting and the cold harsh winter.

One complaint I have is that the movie is definitely too long, this would have been a great 90-minute feature film and did not need to be almost to hours. But still I had a great time watching this movie and I think right now underrated. [5,9/10]

Promising premise to no avail.

[spookydeadstuff · 3/10 · 7 August 2023]

My expectations were low. I am a huge lover of low budget films. However this was so wonky with its time frame and how historically things would have been done....its a joke. Not semi-realistic in any sense. What creates true fear is knowing it could have realistically happened. During that time period, your weapon meant everything. That means your most prized possession was your rifle. So people are going west with muzzle loaders when lever actions were all the rage as well as metallic cartridge revolver rounds? Obviously this director....nor does anyone else who has work on this know what the hell they are doing or talking about.

Great cinematography and solid acting ruined by excruciating plot holes

[plato-42119 · 1/10 · 20 May 2023]

So many "wait... what??!?" points in this movie. Why did nobody say anything when the read the script, they really decided it was ok to go with *this?!!* Too bad because it's visually an interesting movie and the actors all seem really solid.

Maybe with any luck we'll get a rifftrack out of this movie. I'm just surprised nobody raised their hand and said "guys we have a plot hole you could drive a mack truck through, we should do something, anything differently in this part... and this part... and then this part..."

Maybe the editor could have saved the film by simply cutting out 2 mins of craziness at about 42 minutes in.

Overall this movie could have been so much better..

Oh and film classes, can we have a name for the dumb movie trope where the guy with the gun doesn't know the difference between a knife and a gun and stands 2 inches away from the person they're planning on shooting. That is not how guns work, nobody in 300 years has misunderstood that if you have a gun you do not get within stabbing range with it because it is a gun, not a knife.

Very Disappointing

[dominicrichards-27411 · 4/10 · 10 February 2024]

I thought this was a western horror. It turned out to be a poorly directed thriller drama with villains and protagonists that are comically super human-although it wasn't funny. Just annoying. The director apparently doesn't care a bit about reality. This is stuff from 80s slasher films in which bullets in the heart don't stop some people but a bullet from the sky kills someone else. Dumb, idiotic and a waste of time. It is not a horror movie. It's a brain numbing sophomoric movie with misleading trailers and miscategorized as a horror. Sadly, some of the acting was very good-hopefully the pay was good because it didn't help their reputations.

Slow paced, monotonous, and downright boring...

[paul_haakonsen · 3/10 · 30 August 2023]

Right, well I had never actually heard about this 2023 Western drama thriller titled "Organ Trail" prior to sitting down and watching it. Initially I found the movie's title interesting, and the movie's cover/poster sort of hinted at something bloody. So of course I opted to give the movie a chance.

I managed to sit through one hour of the 112 minutes that the movie ran for, then I gave up out of sheer and utter boredom. The storyline and narrative, as written by Meg Turner, was wholly and fully lacking anything to catch my interest, and it was quite a struggle to sit through the movie for that long. And believe you me when I was say that I am not returning to attempt finish watching the movie, because the characters and storyline just had no appeal to me.

The narrative was simply too slow paced, mundane and lacking anything interesting or thrilling.

I wasn't familiar with the cast ensemble in the movie, but the acting performances were actually fair enough, despite of the storyline utterly failing to entertain me.

Surely there is an audience out there for a movie such as "Organ Trail", I just happened not to be a part of that particular audience.

It should be noted, however, that the production value of the movie was good, and it was essentially that which kept me hanging on for one hour, that and the hope of it becoming a more interesting movie. Ultimately, that just never happened.

My rating of "Organ Trail", from director Michael Patrick Jann, lands on a three out of ten stars.

Amateurish Amazon

[AussieJim · 2/10 · 24 November 2023]

If this is the best that Amazon can offer Amazon Prime subscribers, other streaming services now putting movies into production can relax.

What I don't understand is why the film was streaming on Netflix. I can only assume it rated so poorly that even Amazon did not want to be associated with it.

As for the film itself, as other have noted, the acting is second rate, the action is cliched beyond belief, and the plot holes are so big you could drive a whole wagon train through it.

To be honest, I couldn't finish the film. I gave up 30 minutes into it.

Did I miss something important? For instance, I still don't know why it was called Organ Trail. Were the outlaws harvesting human body parts? Did an organ recital take place in the town church?

I don't know, and I don't care.

A muddled mess!

[djrmc24 · 3/10 · 30 August 2023]

Organ Trail is not reinventing the wheel or anything and also disrespects it's audience. The movie is uninspired and lazy. The writing and cinematography is very generic and leaves you uninterested. I am probably being to generous with my overall score but I have seen way worse. If you are looking for a movie with scares and thin plots then try channeling surfing on cable because I am pretty sure you will be able to find something better then this. This movie is not worth your time and effort. Organ Trail is nice on word play with their title but that is about it. Organ Trail gets 3 lowly stars out of 10.

Organ Trail

[IceCream-57 · 8/10 · 2 January 2024]

I really enjoyed this film. People did not give the film the credit that it deserved. It is a western that takes place in the 1800s about savage people. Some of them are actually good folks and some are just flat out psychopaths. The film starts are with a family that is stranded in the middle of the trail in brutally cold winter with very little to eat. However, they cross the paths of somewhat evil people that are also on the trail. But not all the characters are evil. Actually most aren't in this film. I would recommend thisbif you can handle a gritty film. This film has a lot of grit in it.

terrible film

[toadwriter · 1/10 · 28 March 2024]

This movie isn't about organs (neither the instrument or your innards), it's not about the Oregon Trail, and while it happens in the Old West, this isn't any kind of Western film. They say in the caption this is "inspired by one family's true story of survival", but I would be willing to bet it's drawing from nothing.

First off, it's not a family's survival, because everyone in the family is slaughtered in the beginning before the title of the film even displays. So that's not a spoiler, it's just an early fact. There's 1 girl who gets away and she has a commonality with another girl whose been under the control of a small group of losers.

There doesn't seem to be any sort of story here. They don't really go into why the guys do what they do. I thought maybe they were hoarding bodies and - based on the title of the film - selling their organs. But it seems they're just losers with no real ambition or goal. Nothing drives this story.

The further I got into this film, the more I realized there really wasn't a plot. Ya basically want this one girl to get away and when she falls into the frozen waters, well, I thought she was committing suicide. No way anyone survives that, but she did.

To top it all off, the acting isn't good.

This film is classified as horror, but I'd put it in the utter stupidity genre. Ridiculous waste of time.

2 hours I will never get back

[nycapples · 1/10 · 19 April 2024]

We were excited to watch this from the trailer. It looked like it would be fun to watch. Little did we know that was all the action in the movie. If you enjoy watching people silently walk around in the snow, occasionally arguing with each other, this is for you. I've never been more bored in my life. You'd think something interesting would happen but no, just more walking. We held out hope something would happen, alas nothing. The ending was so stupid it felt like a different movie. I don't think they wanted us to laugh at the ending, both for how it ended and that we were so glad it was over! Save yourself and say no.

Terrible movie

[maltamike · 1/10 · 18 April 2024]

First...why is it marked as a horror film? Nothing to do with horror. This is a terribly whitened, directed, and acted movie. I would hope no one made any money on this crap.

A western drama that could have been good they did a terrible job with this. I like and have watched a lot of westerns. This should be burned and never shown to anyone ever. The story drags on and on and on. The first 20 minutes of the movie should have been the start and end.

The lantern string lights...that never happened. Did these guys go to Costco. How can anyone be allowed to make such a garbage movie? If I were one of the actors, I would hate to put this on a resume.

Even if you fast forward through the entire movie it is still terrible.

Failed copycat of a Western

[imseeg · 4/10 · 28 May 2023]

It takes quite a lot to make an interesting Western movie. It takes even more to create a classic Western, because so many great Western movies have already been made.

Is this new edition worthy of a viewing? NO.

The bad: from the get go, I notice the mediocre television production look of this movie. They tried to make it look epic, without any budget or real talent, and of course they failed. It doesnt look terrible for a television movie, but it DOES look mediocre when compared to many other great Western movies form the past.

Not any good then? The acting surely aint terrible, this is definitely not some hilarious B-movie. The actors really do their best, but they have to compete with SO many great Western actors from the past, that they simply cant live up to that glorious past of American Western movies.

Not a terrible movie, but a rather mediocre copycat.

Cute movie, but the choices of who to make die and how, they ruined the film

[fabiofrost · 1/10 · 5 March 2024]

I saw this movie by taking it for rent I would have liked to buy it but the usual senseless choice of the writer to make a character of the film die that I think he didn't deserve to die, I don't say who he is but I think many will agree in it I didn't like it and So I do not intend to buy it to keep it aside and then see him again, the director made his choice and I made mine, otherwise I like the setting, I like the story, but I don't like a whole series of choices for as regards the killings during the course of the film and for the same reason that I said at the beginning there is a particular death that I consider against productive also for a whole speech that was there during a scene of the film that makes me put like 1/10 vote instead of 6/10.