Truly great Horror Westerns likely number in the single digits, and, despite his best intentions, Aaron B. Koontz’s The Pale Door is another such stringy cut of supernatural cowpokery that should be more fun than it is.

| Jul 3, 2024

The whole enterprise would be amusing if it weren't so pathetically miscalculated...There's simply nothing funny or horrific to be found here.

| Jun 5, 2021

Half revisionist western, half lurid witch thriller, 'The Pale Door' settles in a space where it is disappointingly neither.

| Mar 30, 2021

I want to live a world with more western horror movies and I want them all to be as fun and freaky as The Pale Door. Yee-haw!

| Original Score: 7/10 | Mar 1, 2021

Horror western from Aaron Koontz, exploring responsibility and what it means to be good when one's role models aren't. Slow to start, though tense as it progresses and beautifully produced.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Feb 12, 2021

There are some good effects and fans of body horror may be pleased by the inventive deaths, but in the end The Pale Door feels like a wasted premise.

| Dec 31, 2020

It's an inert, dreadfully dull mess that tries for some From Dusk Till Dawn-style "you thought it was this kind of movie, but it's really this kind of movie" shenanigans, and falls flat.

| Dec 22, 2020

The Pale Door is one of those films that becomes infinitely more interesting the more you learn about its origins, the process of creation, and the ideas which run through the film.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Oct 4, 2020

The Pale Door is a raucous ride through a different type of wild west.

| Sep 16, 2020

Co-writer/director Aaron B. Koontz's perceptiveness for the Western genre makes The Pale Door into a worthy hybrid horror.

| Original Score: 8/10 | Sep 1, 2020

Although The Pale Door stumbles a good bit it does offer a horrific look at misogyny, patriarchy, and the enduring Puritanism of America.

| Original Score: 2.5/5 | Aug 28, 2020

Call it the horror virus, one that is afflicting more and more films: overkill overshadows restraint.

| Aug 28, 2020

Koontz is no Robert Rodriguez, and his script ain't Tarantino. But like its brothel denizens, this movie has the appeal of something as frisky as it is cheap.

| Aug 28, 2020

With a promising title taken from Edgar Allan Poe's poem The Haunted Palace, the movie The Pale Door immediately squanders that promise.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Aug 27, 2020

C'mon Mickey let's put on a show. You can be an outlaw and Judy can be a witch. We can just use some falling down sets and it will all be fun. No, it isn't.

| Original Score: 2/10 | Aug 27, 2020

Koontz's film is an honest, sincere, and affectionate tribute to both genres, further proof that the world could use more horror westerns - especially when they're as good as this.

| Aug 24, 2020

Austin filmmaker Aaron B. Koontz combines Salem witches with the Old West for this gory hybrid. Should satisfy horror fans over those who fancy a good ole western.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Aug 22, 2020

Not as weird or fun as it sounds, the deliberately paced film dabbles in atmospheric eccentricities before settling for a conventionally gory payoff.

| Aug 22, 2020

Elevated by the performances, it's successful because of the heart and passion of every actor and crew member involved. While it's not the most refined project, The Pale Door is a fun ride through the Old West.

| Aug 21, 2020

One Dalton gang member perfectly sums up my reaction to this inane, inept horror/Western: "I've had enough of this strange shit."

| Original Score: 4/10 | Aug 21, 2020