Mohawk (2017 Film)
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''Mohawk'' is a 2017 American
survival Survival or survivorship, the act of surviving, is the propensity of something to continue existing, particularly when this is done despite conditions that might kill or destroy it. The concept can be applied to humans and other living things ...
action Action may refer to: * Action (philosophy), something which is done by a person * Action principles the heart of fundamental physics * Action (narrative), a literary mode * Action fiction, a type of genre fiction * Action game, a genre of video gam ...
- horror film directed by Ted Geoghegan, co-written by Geoghegan and novelist Grady Hendrix, and starring
Kaniehtiio Horn Kaniehtiio Alexandra Jessie Horn ( Batt; ; born November 8, 1986), sometimes credited as Tiio Horn, is a Canadian actress and filmmaker. She was nominated for a Gemini Award for her role in the television film '' Moccasin Flats: Redemption'' and ...
,
Ezra Buzzington Ezra Buzzington is an American character actor in film and television. A figure in underground cinema, Buzzington is also the founder of the Seattle Fringe Festival and co-founder of the New York International Fringe Festival. Career With ov ...
,
Noah Segan Noah Segan is an American actor. He is best known for his work in the films of Rian Johnson (''Looper (film), Looper'', ''Brick (film), Brick'', ''Knives Out'') as well as his appearance in ''Deadgirl''. Early life Segan is the grandson of Amer ...
, and professional wrestler Jonathan "Brodie Lee" Huber in the only feature film appearance he made before his death.


Plot

Late one night in 1814, a young Mohawk woman named Okwaho or "Oak" (
Kaniehtiio Horn Kaniehtiio Alexandra Jessie Horn ( Batt; ; born November 8, 1986), sometimes credited as Tiio Horn, is a Canadian actress and filmmaker. She was nominated for a Gemini Award for her role in the television film '' Moccasin Flats: Redemption'' and ...
) and one of her lovers, Calvin, gets into an argument with her mother Wentahawi (
Sheri Foster Sheri Foster is an American actress and registered member of the Cherokee nation from Texas. Her theatre experiences include ''The Independence of Eddie Rose'', ''Death of a Miner'', ''God of Vengeance'', and touring with the Native American Th ...
) over whether her neutral tribe, who are being violently slaughtered by new Americans, should get involved in the
War of 1812 The War of 1812 was fought by the United States and its allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom and its allies in North America. It began when the United States United States declaration of war on the Uni ...
. Her two lovers — a Mohawk warrior named Calvin ( Justin Rain) and a British soldier named Joshua ( Eamon Farren), one of whom is the father of her unborn child — push for retaliation, which ultimately leads to Calvin sneaking off later that same night to light a nearby American encampment on fire, killing 22 sleeping American soldiers. Six soldiers and their civilian translator Yancy (
Noah Segan Noah Segan is an American actor. He is best known for his work in the films of Rian Johnson (''Looper (film), Looper'', ''Brick (film), Brick'', ''Knives Out'') as well as his appearance in ''Deadgirl''. Early life Segan is the grandson of Amer ...
) escape from the fire and, seeking their own revenge, track down the trio the next morning. A skirmish occurs, which results in the death of Wentahawi and the American Commander, Colonel Charles Hawkes (Jack Gwaltney). A power-hungry and brutal subordinate, Captain Hezekiah Holt (
Ezra Buzzington Ezra Buzzington is an American character actor in film and television. A figure in underground cinema, Buzzington is also the founder of the Seattle Fringe Festival and co-founder of the New York International Fringe Festival. Career With ov ...
), takes control of the Americans and demands violent retribution. Chasing Oak and the two men, the Americans capture, torture, and kill Calvin at the cost of more Americans being killed, including Holt's son Myles (Ian Colletti). When Oak and Joshua are finally captured at a desolate French-Canadian mission (where Holt and his men have already murdered Oak's uncle and cousins), Holt kills Joshua with his
sabre A sabre or saber ( ) is a type of backsword with a curved blade associated with the light cavalry of the Early Modern warfare, early modern and Napoleonic period, Napoleonic periods. Originally associated with Central European cavalry such a ...
and shoots Oak in the chest, seemingly killing her. The remaining Americans then leave to return to their base at Fort George. Oak survives the injury, shaves her head into a bloody Mohawk, and constructs a makeshift suit of
armor Armour (Commonwealth English) or armor (American English; see American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, spelling differences) is a covering used to protect an object, individual, or vehicle from physical injury or damage, e ...
out of remains of a pregnant deer and its unborn fawn. She stalks the last three Americans (Holt, Yancy, and Private Lachlan Allsopp ( Jonathan Huber)) through the darkening forest, killing Yancy and Allsopp before revealing herself to Holt. He becomes disoriented and, through dream-like supernatural means, ends up back at his burnt-out camp. Having abandoned his pistol and sword in the forest, he and Oak fight hand to hand. She finally kills Holt by throwing him onto the burnt remains of a tree, impaling him through the heart. Oak, severely injured, walks away from his corpse and, as she leaves, is witnessed by a Mohawk family, who look upon her like a deity.


Cast

*
Kaniehtiio Horn Kaniehtiio Alexandra Jessie Horn ( Batt; ; born November 8, 1986), sometimes credited as Tiio Horn, is a Canadian actress and filmmaker. She was nominated for a Gemini Award for her role in the television film '' Moccasin Flats: Redemption'' and ...
as Okwaho ("Oak") *
Ezra Buzzington Ezra Buzzington is an American character actor in film and television. A figure in underground cinema, Buzzington is also the founder of the Seattle Fringe Festival and co-founder of the New York International Fringe Festival. Career With ov ...
as Hezekiah Holt * Eamon Farren as Joshua Pinsmail * Justin Rain as Calvin Two Rivers * Jonathan Huber as Lachlan Allsopp * Robert Longstreet as Sherwood Beal *
Noah Segan Noah Segan is an American actor. He is best known for his work in the films of Rian Johnson (''Looper (film), Looper'', ''Brick (film), Brick'', ''Knives Out'') as well as his appearance in ''Deadgirl''. Early life Segan is the grandson of Amer ...
as Yancy *
Ian Colletti Ian Colletti (born March 3, 1997) is an American actor. He is best known for his role as List_of_Preacher_characters#Arseface, Eugene "Arseface" Root in the AMC television series Preacher (TV series), Preacher. He also played the teenage son of ...
as Myles Holt *
Sheri Foster Sheri Foster is an American actress and registered member of the Cherokee nation from Texas. Her theatre experiences include ''The Independence of Eddie Rose'', ''Death of a Miner'', ''God of Vengeance'', and touring with the Native American Th ...
as Wentahawi * Jack Gwaltney as Charles Hawkes * Guy W. Gane III as Taylor


Production

The film was written by director Ted Geoghegan and novelist Grady Hendrix. In 2015, the two were announced as co-writing a film titled ''
Satanic Panic The Satanic panic is a moral panic consisting of over 12,000 unsubstantiated cases of Satanic ritual abuse (SRA, sometimes known as ritual abuse, ritualistic abuse, organized abuse, or sadistic ritual abuse) starting in North America in the 19 ...
'', which Geoghegan was then slated to direct. When ''Satanic Panic'' was put on hold, the two chose to write this project together – based on Geoghegan's desire to work on a project about marginalized people and Hendrix's encyclopedic knowledge of
The War of 1812 The War of 1812 was fought by the United States and its allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in North America. It began when the United States declared war on Britain on 18 June 1812. Although peace terms were agreed upon in the D ...
. The project was produced by Snowfort Pictures and Dark Sky Films, who had previously produced in Geoghegan's directorial debut, '' We Are Still Here''. ''Mohawk'' was shot in Upstate New York in June 2016, and filmed two days at
Syracuse Syracuse most commonly refers to: * Syracuse, Sicily, Italy; in the province of Syracuse * Syracuse, New York, USA; in the Syracuse metropolitan area Syracuse may also refer to: Places * Syracuse railway station (disambiguation) Italy * Provi ...
's Skä•noñh Great Law of Peace Center. Actress
Kaniehtiio Horn Kaniehtiio Alexandra Jessie Horn ( Batt; ; born November 8, 1986), sometimes credited as Tiio Horn, is a Canadian actress and filmmaker. She was nominated for a Gemini Award for her role in the television film '' Moccasin Flats: Redemption'' and ...
, who plays the film's lead, Oak, is a native Mohawk. Actor Guy W. Gane III, who plays Taylor, appeared in Geoghegan's directorial debut, '' We Are Still Here'' as the vengeful Civil War-era ghost Dagmar.


Release

''Mohawk'' World Premiered at
Montreal, Quebec Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...
's
Fantasia International Film Festival Fantasia International Film Festival, also known as Fantasia Fest or simply Fantasia, is a genre film festival that has been based mainly in Montreal since its founding in 1996. It focuses on fantasy, horror, sci-fi and cult genre films. Regular ...
on 15 July 2017. Its U.S. Premiere occurred at
Grauman's Egyptian Theatre Grauman's Egyptian Theatre, also known as Egyptian Hollywood and the Egyptian, is a historic movie theater located on Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. Opened in 1922, it is an early example of a lavish movie palace ...
in Los Angeles, California on 8 October 2017 as part of BeyondFest. The film was released in select cinemas and on
Video-on-Demand Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos, television shows and films digitally on request. These multimedia are accessed without a traditional video playback device and a typical static broadcasting ...
on 2 March 2018.


Soundtrack

The score to ''Mohawk'' was written and composed by Polish composer Wojciech Golczewski, who had scored director Geoghegan's previous directorial effort, ''We Are Still Here''. The album's artwork was created by Damian Bajowski, with additional mastering by Dubmood. It was released on vinyl and in digital formats on 1 February 2018.


Track listing


Reception

On
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website
Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...
, ''Mohawk'' has an approval rating of 83% based on 42 reviews, with an average rating of 6.65/10. The site's critics' consensus reads: "''Mohawk'' delivers effective period horror while skillfully weaving in sociopolitical subtext that pushes the film past genre -- and budgetary -- constraints."
Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...
gave the film a score of 71 out of 100 based on 12 critical reviews. A follow-up to Geoghegan's haunted house thriller '' We Are Still Here'', ''Mohawk''s strong socio-political undertones were embraced by the media.
RogerEbert.com ''RogerEbert.com'' is an American film review website that archives reviews written by film critic Roger Ebert for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' and also shares other critics' reviews and essays. The website, underwritten by the ''Chicago Sun-Times ...
critic Simon Abrams noted in his three-star review of the film that it "has the same political urgency as
Wes Craven Wesley Earl Craven (August 2, 1939 – August 30, 2015) was an American film director, screenwriter and producer. Amongst his Wes Craven filmography, prolific filmography, Craven worked primarily in the Horror film, horror genre, particularly sla ...
's now-classic, but rough-around-the-edges early films, like '' The Last House on the Left'' and '' The Hills Have Eyes''." ''
Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...
'' critic Noel Murray noted in his positive review that "''Mohawk'' is a gripping and despairing action picture, about how we can't seem to stop trying to destroy those we distrust — including ourselves". '' IndieWire'' stated, in a feature on the film, "While studios continue to downplay Native American experiences, Ted Geoghegan's gripping new thriller puts their brutal persecution in context."


References


External links

* {{Grady Hendrix 2017 horror thriller films 2010s historical horror films 2017 horror films 2017 films American horror thriller films American historical horror films Films about Native Americans War of 1812 films Films set in 1814 Mohawk-language films Native American action films Native American horror films 2010s English-language films 2010s American films English-language horror thriller films English-language historical films