*Exclusive* The Legend Of Hawes (2021) Review

Directed By: Rene Perez

Starring: Emily Whitcomb, Mike Markoff and Richard Tyson

Synopsis: A mountain homestead is attacked by a raiding party made up of ravenous marauders. The lone survivor, a beautiful young woman hires a dangerous Gunman to help her track and exact revenge on the marauders. Together they trek to a forbidding mountain only to find that the savage marauders have a deadly secret.

Review: Rene Perez returns to the western genre, combining an old school shoot ’em up with elements of horror.

Emily Whitcomb plays our female lead who is out for revenge and hires a gunman by the name Hawes (Mike Markoff). At first, Hawes seems like a drunk with no skills other than finishing a bottle of whiskey, but once his pistol draws, he is a skilled lethal sharp shooter.

Markoff plays the reluctant hero with ease, his character arc starts as a man with nothing to lose only to find himself looking out for Emily Whitcombs character and finding purpose. Markoff does great playing Hawes and he’s a character you root for. The Hawes character could function in series form, from week to week having a different episode and seeing more adventures of the character. This is the first time I have seen or heard of Mike Markoff and it won’t be the last. I look forward to seeing what’s next after The Legend Of Hawes.

While Emily Whitcomb’s character has lost it all and is now on a self-destructive path of vengeance she learns to care for the Hawes character and saves his ass more than once. Whitcomb is not your typical damsel in distress, she is fiery and filled with rage which makes her a force to be reckoned with. While only being 25/26 years old Emily is only finding her footing in the industry and honing her skills as an actress. Emily possess the natural beauty of scream queens such as Jamie Lee Curtis, Danielle Harris & Emma Roberts, I look forward to seeing where her career will go.

Richard Tyson gets in on the action as a gunslinger, which is cool, as usually, he plays the villainous type role, it was good to see him now down some villains.

Most of the movie is shot at the Hawes Ranch and Perez manages to capture some beautiful scenery that is quite breathtaking. As usual, Perez delivers carnage and blood and some gory kills for the gore-hounds. Though labelled as horror, Perez holds back and doesn’t full ‘Havoc’, but what we get is quite brutal.
The finale of the movie is quite like The Hills Have Eyes and is action-packed, fans will be cheering as our lead heroes come face to face with the savage group for a massive showdown.

I enjoyed this movie and I think it was one of Perez’s best. The mixture of horror, western and action was fun and the cinematography was spectacular. Well done to all involved.