Movie Review: ‘Eminence Hill’

Review by Bradley Smith

Saddle up, partner. Eminence Hill is a violent, bloody Western with a mildly captivating story about revenge, revenge disguised as justice, and violence disguised as religion, with poignant scenes about God and the meaning of life. The title refers to what is probably the creepiest part of this film: the homestead of a religious cult that takes center stage for the latter half of the film, including for a climactic shootout. Will anyone survive Eminence Hill?

As the film begins, we find a group of outlaws in the Arizona Territory in 1887. Their leader identifies as Royce Tullis (Clint James; The Magnificent Seven) who is out for revenge against the last of twelve jurors that put a rope around his brother’s neck; the first eleven were dispatched before the film begins. The plot shifts gears quite a bit, but it is not too difficult to follow. First there is the revenge for his brother, then there is a kidnapping, then they get robbed, then they get lost, then they get “found” … and tortured; and this is just the Tullis crew. On their trails is U.S. Marshall Quincy Foster (Owen Conway; The Covenant) and former U.S. Calvary Scout Carson Garret (newcomer Charlie Motley; Krampus Origins).

And then there is the titular Eminence Hill, which everyone seems to stumble upon, but nobody can leave to protect their privacy. Led by “Noah” (Barry Corbin; War Games, 200+ other movies or tv series) and full of religious, fanatical inhabitants, Eminence Hill is just the kind of creepy cult homestead you would not want to end up in in any century, unless you are truly committed to “God” with your mind closed off to any other ideologies. If not, you better watch out for “God’s messengers”.
I am generally not fond of Westerns, but this one had my attention early and managed to hold it for much of the film. The separate stories are interesting and appropriately interwoven until they are brought together. The actors engage in their parts fittingly and the characters, while some are somewhat simplistic, are developed enough for the story at hand. There is some uncertainty and surprises, but the outcome is not too unexpected.

A word of caution though, there is a lot of violence and topless women throughout, so if you take offense to either of these, please watch something else. Just to give you an idea of the violence, there is one scene that starts with a man whose arms and legs are tied to different horses; that scene does not end well for the man and, while quick, it is graphic and still stuck in my mind.

As a side note- the advertising, or at least the main poster, is slightly misleading. On the poster, Lance Henriksen (admittedly the most recognizable person in the movie, aside from maybe Barry Corbin, who is also on the poster) is front and center, but he appears in the movie for maybe five minutes and delivers a short speech with information that most will probably already infer from Foster’s prior actions. I get that advertising is trying to get eyeballs into the theater (or to stream the movie), but Mr. Henriksen’s scene could be cut and not change the structure of the rest of the film at all. Also, on the poster buildings appear to be on fire, but there is no fire other than campfire and loads of gunfire.