Here’s everything you need to know about cult Wesley Snipes horror western Gallowwalkers. Much of the modern-day comic book movie renaissance can be linked back to the success of Blade, the 1998 action movie starring Wesley Snipes as the title character. Blade told the story of a half human/half vampire who uses heavy weaponry and his martial arts skills to take down a group of vampires led by Stephen Dorff.
Blade’s fantastic action sequences, combined with Snipes' charisma and fighting skills, made it an instant hit. The movie’s success would lead to projects like X-Men and Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man getting the greenlight, and two further Blade movies would follow in 2002 and 2004 respectively. Unfortunately, Snipes movie star status was waning during this period, due to the underperformance of projects like The Art Of War. Blade: Trinity also proved to be a disappointing end to that franchise.
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Snipes signed up for genre hybrid Gallowwalkers in 2006, but the development of the movie would be a troubled one. Here’s all you need to know about zombie western Gallowwalkers.
Gallowwalkers Was Originally Going To Star Chow Yun-fat
Hong Kong screen icon Chow Yun-fat attempted to break through to Hollywood with movies like The Corrupter and Dragonball: Evolution. He was also signed on for an early version of Gallowwalkers known as The Wretched playing a character called Rellik. This name is really "Killer" spelled backward, a reference to his star-making role in John Woo’s 1989 classic The Killer. The star eventually fell out of the movie, leading to Snipes joining the cast.
The Story Of Gallowwalkers
Gallowwalkers follows Aman (Snipes), a gunslinger who takes revenge on the posse responsible for the death of his lover. The problem is that Aman was cursed by God when his mother, a nun, broke her vows by giving birth to him, and the curse means that whoever he kills comes back to life. Aman then teams up with a criminal to take down these zombie “Gallowwalkers,” who shed their skin after being dead for a week.
Gallowwalkers Poster
Gallowwalkers poster plays up the movie’s western vibe, and the tagline “Live by the gun. Die by the gun. Come back for more,” neatly sums up the premise.
Why It Took 7 Years For Gallowwalkers To Get Released
It was during production on Gallowwalkers in 2006 that Wesley Snipes’ troubles with the IRS came to light and a warrant was issued for his arrest. The star would later fly back to America to face these charges, and after being released he flew back to Africa to complete production on Gallowwalkers. Snipes was later sentenced in 2010 to serve three years in prison on tax evasion charges, eventually being released in 2013 and going on to star in movies like The Expendables 3.
Gallowwalkers was also finally released straight to DVD in 2013, nearly eight years after production wrapped. While the movie received mostly negative reviews, the fun premise, gory action, and Snipes' offbeat performance saw it become something of a cult favorite.