Red Hill 2010

Jeannette Catsoulis, New York Times: Like the best westerns, Red Hill is a stripped-down morality tale; like the best horror movies, its true monsters remain cloaked until the final reel. Read more

David Fear, Time Out: Patrick Hughes's bloody, brutal Australian thriller handles its B-movie premise with surprising precision, though the inclusion of several befuddling elements annoyingly puncture the suspense. Read more

Noel Murray, AV Club: Aside from splicing together a policier and a Western, there's no spin here, just a checklist of cliches... Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: A serving of True Blood's Ryan Kwanten in his native accent is the chief selling point of this picturesque, contentedly imitative Australian Western/thriller/Coen-brothers homage, the feature debut of writer-director Patrick Hughes. Read more

Peter Brunette, Hollywood Reporter: The suspense that director Patrick Hughes manages to mount remains low-grade throughout and the plot never becomes entirely plausible. Read more

V.A. Musetto, New York Post: Under writer-producer-director-editor Patrick Hughes, the suspense level is high and the action constant. Read more

Rex Reed, New York Observer: Nothing fresh or original here, but director-writer Patrick Hughes enjoys a heightened sense of detail, making the most of dark bars and the interiors of stalled vehicles. Read more

Walter V. Addiego, San Francisco Chronicle: Rehashing the cliches from several beaten-to-death movie categories doesn't add up to much. Read more

Derek Elley, Variety: As short on originality and sustained tension as it is long on striking widescreen vistas and impressive technical smarts. Read more

Nick Pinkerton, Village Voice: However arguably noble his film's intent to redress historical grievance, a poorly filmed shoot-out is never more than exactly that. Read more