Really Surprised!

Great Film overall

Good , But It Is Overrated By Some

Expected more

Traveling across the prairie in a covered wagon, a family is attacked and the parents slain by a band of outlaws posing as renegade Indians. With the murderous deed done, the eldest of the two surviving brothers disappears hysterically laughing into the brush, never to be seen again.Years later, the outlaws are now legitimate businessmen of the town of Red Rock, being terrorized and systematically murdered by a mysterious fiend known only as the Rawhide Killer, a buck-toothed loony with a strip of rawhide across his nose!Being quite possibly the stiffest western of the 1930's, it does have a bit of charm thanks to the odd nature of the mad killer, his incredible wardrobe, and some inventive use of murder techniques.Writer-producer Victor Adamson, better known as Denver Dixon, was the father of drive-in filmmaker Al Adamson, the director of another much maligned western, Five Bloody Graves.

Rawhide Terror, The (1934) * (out of 4) Incredibly bad "B" picture that started off as a 12-chapter serial but when the money fell through the producers decided to just make a western. To bring more money in they sold the picture as the first horror/western but this film is so bad it makes both genres look bad. A killer known as "The Rawhide Killer" is strangling various members of a small town and no one seems to know why. This movie was produced and written by Victor Adamson who's son would go on to make various drive-in classics like Dracula vs. Frankenstein and Horror of the Blood Monsters.

The movie was first planned as a serial, but after a couple of chapters was finished as a feature. Therefore, while the first half 'stars' Art Mix, he mysteriously vanishes in the second half.In his opening scene, the sheriff, Edmund Cobb, says, "I'll catch The Rawhide Killer in my own way!" Then, as if by magic, in the second half of the movie he becomes the hero, defeats the villain (who turns out be his long lost brother) and kisses and wins Art Mix's girl (if she's still the same one from the first half of the movie)! This movie would get the Ed Wood Jr. absurdity award (the "Woodie"!) if it weren't so boring. Woods' 'best' films, 'Plan 9 From Outer Space' (1959) and 'Glen or Glenda' (1953) were anything but boring! This one is shot mostly outdoors with almost nothing but chase after chase after chase, retaining one actual chapter ending cliff hanger (the clichéd knocked out in the back of a horse drawn wagon going over a cliff trick) and apparently another (the dynamited cliff avalanche trick) which is cut up, as is this film.It features what was an early clichéd premise: a lone family traveling west in a covered wagon is ambushed, the parents killed, and the two young boys separated. The best of this type, in the thirties, was 'Calvacade of the West' (1936) starring Hoot Gibson and Rex Lease as the two brothers. In 'The Rawhide Terror,' however, both sons bear identifying marks on their arms so they can recognize each other "if separated." After renegades kill his parents, the older brother wanders off crazed, becoming the Rawhide Killer who seeks vengeance as an adult on the entire gang who killed his mother and father. In the final scene, Edmund Cobb discovers the mark on the Rawhide Killer as he defeats him, and we discover that Cobb is the younger son, not Art Mix.Edmund Cobb, veteran of over 625 TV shows, movies and serials -- he was the mine owner and an evil council member in 'Zorro's Fighting Legion' (1939) -- appeared mostly in small, bit parts as a sheriff, guard, henchman or uncredited walk on. The only interesting part of 'The Rawhide Terror' is in getting to see this perennial heavy become the action hero and romantic lead (probably his only 'starring' role!). Otherwise, it's a confusing, jumbled mess. So it gets a two and a half.

**CONTAINS LOTS OF SPOILERS** This has to be one of the strangest westerns I've ever watched. Not so much the plot--what there was of it--but the pure confusion of who was the hero and who wasn't. At the beginning, I thought the two boys were named Al and Tim (or Jim). Later, when we encounter the grown up "Al" (Art Mix) I assumed he was one of the birthmarked brothers. He also seemed to be the "hero," flirting with the heroine, saving the day, being nearly killed by the "rawhide terror" villain. The sheriff (Edmond Cobb) appeared sporadically and I did not catch a name given to him. Suddenly, about two-thirds through the film, Al seemed to vanish with no explanation... and the sheriff not only turned out to be one of the brothers, but got the girl. What happened to Al?I suppose the fact (mentioned in the "trivia") that this movie purportedly started out to be a serial and was turned into a regular-length movie may have something to do with the addled plot. This is on the "Creepy Cowboys" compilation DVD which I bought for the Ken Maynard movie on it, so I may have to watch Rawhide Terror again simply to see if I missed something!