This Bloody Country

• Written and Directed by Craig Packard
• October 17, 2025 (US)

Enroute to establish a church outpost, a family and their guide struggle to survive against dangerous outlaws in the wilderness.

I admit it was the name that got me to watch. ‘This Bloody Country’ sounded like a good title. I hoped for at the most some mindless violence. What I got was something more substantive than that, but I had some issues while watching.

We open with a Mormon family travelling West to open a new church in a small community. Hundreds of miles they are going WITHOUT A HORSE DRAWN WAGON! They are moving their goods themselves via cart! I get that animals and a wagon cost money to rent for a shoot but not even an explanation on why they were doing this? It does put them into danger quicker for purposes of plot. Not sure how common it was for people to travel without horses but considering this was filmed in Utah they could not locate a museum or farmer with an appropriate-looking wagon and an old nag?

Costuming is not great, but good. One irritant is that some of the pants have belt loops and that was a later fashion development. Just one of those things I learned from reading enough and watching enough well-produced films. Though the Stetson was never worn in the West either, the one worn by the guide is far too new of a style to be overlooked also.

That bugged me in the opening but faded once we started getting into the story and characters. Josiah Ballard (Larry Cedar) and his family-four wives included-are being guided West by Australian expat Ned Campbell (Martin Dingle Wall).

Josiah is perhaps stuck in his ways and difficult but not completely unreasonable. His attitude toward his wives is less-than-modern with moments where he clearly looks down on them. Not a jerk but not very progressive. Ned is a hard man though more enlightened. He has a mysterious past that we never learn about that drives him West. It might be linked to a gambling incident, but he never sounds too worried there. These are two different men with two different world views but mostly are good people. Neither is completely right or completely wrong. Each puts their faith in different things. We know enough about the characters to begin and end the movie while also caring about what happens to them.

On the plus side for me is the baggage of the significant/developed characters is not overwhelmingly destructive where they should wait a few decades for Sigmund Freud to come around and develop psychotherapy. They have led hard lives.

After running afoul of some bandits looking to rob/rape, This Bloody Country becomes a struggle to survive. Josiah and Ned’s natures cause drama as they seek to save or control. Josiah comes to believe it is all an overreaction while Ned (correctly) sees them as a pursuing threat. Maybe they should have bought a wagon!

This is an emotion driven drama with an action driven climax. There is some gunplay, but not massive shootouts other than the one at the end. This is the characters interacting and learning and growing as they make hard decisions. By the end everyone finishes differently than they began.

One of the better things in this character driven film is the clear attraction between Ned and Josiah’s wife Lilith (Maggie Gwin). Her marriage was not one she went into out of love but more out of necessity. It is a love between the pair that never gets consummated in any way. Not even a kiss but it is very passionate. I expected some type of happy ending despite her diagnosis of consumption where she and Ned get to be together in a fashion. Everybody can see they have the hots for each other. Big question though: how did the disease not spread? Consumption-tuberculosis as it is better known-is contagious. Was the burial of her only child a sign it had?

This never tries to reach too far beyond its grasp in budget or in concept. This Bloody Country keeps things grounded by focusing on story. Sometimes in shots the cast can be a little too close together. I’m not expecting them to be dozens of feet apart but given all the space they have to work with sometimes they get a little too near. It’s not like they need to worry about anything really in the background.

I found this a better-than-expected film. Acting was good though not great. You don’t need to feel like they could win an award to enjoy a movie. Performers just need to do the material justice and they did it here. The assorted wives and children are all performed realistically. Each actor has enough ability to pull the script off.

Not all answers are handed to the audience. We do not know for a long time if the surviving bandit convinced the others to seek revenge. That is an assumption by Ned based on experience. An old man that may be warning the group to avoid some Indian territory could also be a member of the gang trying to trick them.

Flaws are largely rooted in budgetary limitations. That and the filmmakers are using modern technology when film stock would probably give it a slightly dirtier look which is necessary to really sell these characters who have been making a long trek through the West. But it’s minor.

This Bloody Country was a surprise to me. I found a drama about hard choices with no easy answers that was excellent from start to finish.