The Hateful Eight

Director: Quentin Tarantino

2015 / 168min / 35mm

Splicing the genes of the cynical Spaghetti Western and an Agatha Christie drawing room murder mystery, Tarantino’s claustrophobic chamber piece begins as eight less-than-friendly strangers—among them Samuel L. Jackson, Kurt Russell, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Walton Goggins—are stranded by a blizzard at a stagecoach stopover in post-Civil War Wyoming, then watches them pry one another’s secrets loose as, one by one, their numbers dwindle. For all the film’s assembled talent, the most impressive presence is that of composer Ennio Morricone, whose first full Western score in 30+ years here was also his last on any film.