Ghosts of Red Ridge

Among the thousands of TV and movie westerns I've seen, some have crossed over with sci-fi and the supernatural, like Cowboys & Aliens, Jonah Hex or a slew of totally forgettable flicks pitting cowpokes against vampires, zombies or other things that go bump in the night. This low-budget affair breaks a bit of new ground... more uniquely, perhaps, than laudably.

Red Ridge is a dusty, nowhere little town of dashed hopes, founded on the promise of a gold rush that never materialized, leaving a handful of bored residents. Even the local outlaw gang that harasses the folks can't rustle up a decent living. The sheriff (Owen Williams) and his deputy (Trent Culkin - apparently no relation to the other Culkins in the biz) seem like good guys, but hardly the stuff of which legends are made. Adding to the sheriff's sense of being overmatched are ghostly hallucinations that start driving him nuts. He sees dead people (none of whom look anything like Bruce Willis) and doesn't know why. Or handle it well.

There are a few holdups and shootings, with a couple of unlikely deaths. The gang gets smaller and the town's sparse population takes a few hits. The sheriff is more of a thinker than a doer. Oddly, his only book is about thermodynamics. But the most unusual part of this isn't the ghosties. It's the only western I can recall in which absolutely no one rides a horse! A couple pull the stagecoach in one scene. But no one's ever in a saddle, and none are even tied to hitching posts along the street. (Maybe the Equine Actors' Guild was on strike when the shoot was scheduled. As Westerns have gone out of favor, most of its members may be heavily saddled with debt, and that ain't hay. Jus' speculatin' here, folks.)

Writer Brandon Cahela and several of the credited producers filled supporting roles. Another sign of limited funding.

All in all, the film is a low-key curiosity that might work for you, now that you know not to expect much in the way of f/x or adrenaline stirring.

This was a good movie with an original story line. Worth seeing. John Mars takes the cake as a mad man and Lena Wilcox as the Crazy chick.

Locally shot and produced.

This was a good movie with an original story line. Worth seeing. John Mars takes the cake as a mad man and Lena Wilcox as the Crazy chick.

Locally shot and produced.

This was a good movie with an original story line. Worth seeing. John Mars takes the cake as a mad man and Lena Wilcox as the Crazy chick.

Locally shot and produced.

This was a good movie with an original story line. Worth seeing. John Mars takes the cake as a mad man and Lena Wilcox as the Crazy chick.

Locally shot and produced.

And if you like the genre, a bit better than that. As in, a cut above the usual alcoholic sheriff dealing with your more or less standard bad guys and ghosts in a dying jerkwater town no self respecting gopher would dig a hole alongside for fear it'd reduce his property values, flick.

With the merit of some decent to pretty fair acting, a fair amount of action, a lot of it done on an outdoor set rather than in the phony and obvious indoor confinement of a sound stage (probably because they couldn't afford one, but still a good thing in my opinion), with real horses and period tack, convincing costumes. Without a single bad hat choice on any of the principal players or extras.

To sum up, worth your hour and a half, long as you're not expecting "High Noon", and better than the usual straight to vid dreck being churned out there these days.

Although an entirely different genre.. if you saw ANY of the Paranomal Activity films you'll be aware that they were loooooooooong stretches of boring, monotonous scenes in order to lull the viewer into a pseudo coma.. then there was a sudden "punch" to try and scare.

That's this film.. but the loooooooong stretches of boring are REALLY clichéd western scenes. There's pretty much nothing original regarding the western aspect of this film.. and the "ghost" aspects, honestly, came across a more unintentionally humorous that anything else.

The leadh character (the Sheriff) walking around quoting Chaucer and Shakespeare in everyday conversation, then citing the quote assuming the person he was talking to was too ignorant to know, was.. well.. just made the character unlikable and he came across as an arrogant ass more than anything. So, there's little sympathy when the ghost stuff kicks in. Making the ghosts again, far more unintentional humorous or ridiculous than anything.

Acting was decent, which was kind of unexpected. It's not stunning for all characters, but it's passable.

No sex, no nudity, no real adult content - I don't recall any foul language, but may have missed a word or two - western violence (shootouts) but not a great deal of blood. Mostly just "thriller" type scenes interspersed with drama (forced drama really).

It was an interesting idea... but it just does not play out well at all.

----- PASS -----

When I sat down to watch the 2024 Western movie "Ghosts of Red Ridge" here in 2025, I had never heard about it. Normally, Western is not my go-to genre for entertainment, but every now and again I do sit down to watch one. And since I had the opportunity to watch this movie, without knowing what I was in for, I opted to give the movie a fair chance.

However, I have to say that writer Brandon Cahela failed to produce a script and storyline that really appealed much to me. The narrative was simply too slow paced and mundane. There just simply wasn't enough of action or anything interesting happening throughout the course of the 81 minutes that the movie ran for. And that made for a rather dull and monotonous viewing experience.

The acting performances in the movie were fair. I was not familiar with the cast ensemble in the movie, and that was actually something that spoke in favor of the movie. Though Owen Williams and John Marrs seemed somewhat familiar, I just couldn't put a finger on where and if I've seen them before.

Something that "Ghosts of Red Ridge" got right, was the presentation, because it looked like a proper era-set movie.

While I am not overly keen on Western movies in general, I have to say that "Ghosts of Red Ridge" was not a great foray into the Wild West. While I did manage to endure the movie to the end, I was not particularly entertained. "Ghosts of Red Ridge" is not a movie that I will be returning to watch a second time. But perhaps the die hard Western fans out there will find more enjoyment in the movie than I did as a casual viewer.

My rating of director Stefan Colson's 2024 Western "Ghosts of Red Ridge" lands on a generous four out of ten stars.