Brimstone

2016

148 mins

Directed by Martin Koolhoven
45%
54%
Thriller
Western

Dakota Fanning and Guy Pearce are joined by Game of Thrones's Carice Van Houten and Kit Harrington in this Western... More

Dakota Fanning and Guy Pearce are joined by Game of Thrones's Carice Van Houten and Kit Harrington in this Western thriller by Martin Koolhoven. Nominated for the Golden Lion at the 2016 Venice Film Festival.

"Liz (Fanning) has a quiet country life on a farm with her kind-hearted husband and children, but we immediately sense that things are too good to be true. One Sunday, a mysterious new reverend (Pearce) gives his inaugural sermon, and Liz fills with terror; her past has come back to haunt her. Following the service, a local woman goes into labour on the church floor. Through no fault of Liz's, the birth goes woefully wrong. When the woman's husband seeks revenge, the reverend comes to the rescue of Liz and her family — though he warns that punishment will soon befall her. The next day, the family's sheep are found slaughtered, Liz is sequestered, and her daughter is kidnapped. Thus begins a nigh-biblical sequence of events involving blood, fire, and an epic years-long odyssey spanning states and territories." (Toronto International Film Festival)

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Where to watch Brimstone

Brimstone is available to stream in New Zealand now on... More YouTube and Beamafilm and Prime Video Store.

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Brimstone | Ratings & Reviews

45_%75 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes® rating
54_%2,039 reviews
Audience score rating

"For all of Martin Koolhoven's talent, a hifalutin exploitation picture like "Brimstone" has too much - and not enough - on its mind."

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Variety

"Even when the film is horrible to look at, it's beautiful, a strange and grim portrait of an annihilating American frontier."

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Vanity Fair

"Brimstone is hampered somewhat by its ponderous, doom-laden pace, and resultant bloated running time, but remains an intriguing slant on the spaghetti western..."

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The Guardian

"[A] tastefully packaged but borderline offensive slice of revenge porn, which starts promisingly but is slowly (alas, very slowly) drowned by backstory."

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Screen Daily

"Koolhoven has painted himself into a corner because the film's unifying theme, the maltreatment of women at the hand of righteous-acting men, takes much too long to crystallise."

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