Surprisingly, The Hateful Eight is only Quentin Tarantino’s eighth movie release, which is either pretty convenient in terms of the title of the film, or it’s a cleverly orchestrated reference to his career tally. This time he’s taking on yet another western, and giving it his own incredibly distinct style, with Samuel L. Jackson, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen and Kurt Russell in toe, all of whom having starred in a number of his previous movies.
However, it’s not going to be the kind of dust bowl, prairie or desert dominated western film that you might be used to as it’s set in the fern tree mountains of Wyoming during a harsh winter some years after the end of the American Civil War. As a result you should expect a lot of snow, some pretty big fur coats and even a woolly scarf where Samuel L. Jackson is concerned from the look of the trailer below.
Release date
Cinema: The film had a UK release date of the 8th January 2016, making it one of the first must-see films of the New Year for us. It’s the same date as the general release in the US, although the film will be going out from the 25th December in the United States at selected cinemas that can screen it in 70mm film, which will be a fairly narrow list. It’s competition that week in the UK was pretty thing on the ground, but our bet is that Tarantino would have taken the box office crown even if there was more out alongside it.
DVD, Blu-ray and digital download: The release date for the DVD, Blu-ray and digital download will be taking place in the UK on the 9th May 2016, following up on the US release on the 29th March 2016.
Story
The Hateful Eight takes place in a cold and blizzard choked Wyoming mountain pass where eight travellers find themselves stranded when they’re overrun by the vicious weather. Holed up at Minnie’s Haberdashery, the dangerous group are thrown together under the log cabin confines of the stagecoach stopover along the mountain pass. However, everything isn’t as it seems at Minnie’s with the proprietor nowhere to be seen, replaced by a dude named Bob, who’s apparently looking after the place while she’s off visiting her mother.
It soon becomes apparent that not everyone will be making it to the town of Red Rock, where bounty hunter, John Ruth, also known as The Hangman, is planning to take his fugitive captive, Daisy Domergue, to be hanged.
Cast
Kurt Russell plays The Hangman and Jennifer Jason Leigh takes on his quiet charge, fugitive Daisy Domergue. Samuel L. Jackson (Kingsman: The Secret Service) stars as Major Marquis Warren, a former soldier and now infamous bounty hunter, Walton Goggins plays Chris Mannix, a southern renegade who professes to be Red Rock’s new Sheriff, Demian Bichir plays Bob, Tim Roth stars as Oswaldo Mobray, the hangman of Red Rock, Michael Madsen plays a cow-puncher called Joe Gage, and Bruce Dern plays Confederate General Sanford Smithers.
The film also stars Channing Tatum (Hail Caesar!), James Parks, Dana Gourrier, Zoë Bell, Gene Jones, Keith Jefferson, Lee Horsley, Craig Stark, and Belinda Owino.
DVD and Blu-ray special features
The Hateful Eight will be released for on DVD and Blu-ray with the following two special features:
- Beyond the Eight: A Behind-the-Scenes Look
- Sam Jackson’s Guide to Glorious 70mm – which will give you more information about the format and Quinten Tarantino’s decision to shoot with it
Production
Written and directed by Quintin Tarantino, it’s pretty much all him from start to finish, continuing his auteur approach to film making and delivering another of his personal creative visions to the big screen. Richard N. Gladstein, Shannon McIntosh and Stacey Sher are the film’s producers for The Weinstein Company, who have been the studio behind Tarantino’s releases since they took over on Inglorious Basterds.
The film has been given a British Board Of Film Classification of 18 and has a run time of 168 minutes.
First impressions
The Hateful Eight looks like it’s going to be another impressive outing for Tarantino, bringing in much more comedy into the mix than any of his other previous movies, but don’t let that fool you into thinking it’s going to lack bite. You’ve only got to look at the fringes of some of the more fleeting scenes in the trailer below to see that there’s as much darkness as there is humour to the film. The cast is another impressive ensemble affair for the writer and director and the fact that he’s worked with so many of them successfully in the past indicates that this is going to be another big release.
Share The Hateful Eight UK release date, trailer and DVD details with:
The Hateful Eight trailer:
Images:
Samuel L. Jackson looking a bit like a teacher at Hogwarts on the UK DVD front cover.
