I disagree with those who think it was badly cast. It was really well cast but these well chosen people could have done so much more. The story, a true one, that few have heard of, I didn't until I looked into after seeing this, is bizarre and remarkable and a true real life horror story.

And i still liked it and it held my interest but the problem is the screenplay. A lot of implication and not much delivery. The movie is just itching to break into something but it's just too understated and presented as a sort of mystical narrative of struggling postbellum days in the Midwest. Literally.

This movie took tonal lessons from the beautifully made Badlands with Sheen and Spacek from years ago. The odd poetic tone that fableizes, with narrative and a strange sound track. But that movie was artful and this is artsy.

It is still worth watching though plodding and deliberate. It is presented as a murder/horror mystery, and that is what the real events were. The "Bloody Benders" were a migrating group that were never caught, but what they left behind was certainly real enough, and by all extant accounts, the written portraits, and some photos, I came to the notion that this really was well cast.

Well, maybe it will get redone like so many things are, usually for the worse. I think I could write a better screenplay on this one. When I think of the horror/western Genre, the first thing that comes to mind is Bone Tomahawk, a rather poorly received movie I thought was excellent, if for no other reason, and compared to Bender, because it has strong dynamic acting and a straightforward story, however outlandish.

This amazing true life tale deserves a better telling. And they could even use the same actors, just let them act, and tell it more dynamically and less mystically. Serve it up straight, no chaser.

I give it a generous 6 for what it could have been with less lazy direction.

Not wasted though if some one grabs this torch and runs with it.