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Reviews
South of Heaven, West of Hell (2000)
You Need to Watch this Movie Twice
I was intrigued (and unsettled) enough about it on my first viewing to give it a second viewing and I'm glad I did.
To begin with, this movie contains some of the best acting Vince Vaughn has done in his career. Vince is a mercurial, talented actor who is wasted in most of his formula films (Wedding Crashers, Couples Retreat). His other great acting was under Sean Penn's direction in Into the Wild. I think the fact that Dwight got such a performance out of Vince speaks volumes about Dwight's abilities as a director.
With that said, the poor editing on this movie diluted the power of some of the scenes. And because of that, I think the movie suffered.
But if you want to see a movie that visually beautiful, radical and slow in places -- but eventually quite interesting-- then this is a movie for you. Forget the formulas. This is an homage to Spaghetti Westerns, Film Noir and Classic Horror films.
Also, I can't say enough about the soundtrack. It was perfect and the soundtrack album is even better.