DANCES WITH WEREWOLVES

EVIL WEST pits cowboys against vampires in a beefy brawler

- Jon Bailes

Jesse Rentier is your usual no-nonsense action man; a stubbled slab of beef who sees every situation in black and white. He’s the type to remind you constantly that he’s not cut out for pencil-pushing desk work, as if you couldn’t tell by looking at him that he’d struggle to even hold a pencil without snapping it in two. In other words, he’s neither refined nor imaginative, but he is solid, focused and capable of magnificent violence. A description that can be equally applied to Evil West.

In an alternate late 19th century USA, Jesse is the top field agent at the Rentier Institute, an organisation established to combat a scourge of vampires that’s been nibbling on cowboys since the founding fathers. Given the sun-fearing nature of his foes, shootouts at high noon are off the table here, so Jesse heads out on expeditions to track down the bloodsuckers, along with their pet werewolves and other abominations they’ve manufactured. There’s more to the story than that, of course, but walloping the undead is your chief concern. Besides, the plot and dialogue hardly demand attention – the aim is to evoke the vibe of macho ’80s action movies, but it’s a clumsy tribute act.