Inn of the Damned

**_Offbeat Western set in rural southeast Australia_** I’ve seen a few Australian Westerns, like “Quigley Down Under” and “The Proposition,” but I’ve never heard of this one, the curiously titled “Inn of the Damned,” which sounds more like a Hammer horror flick. It combines the typical bounty hunter chasing an outlaw angle with elements of “Terror at Red Wolf Inn” from a couple years earlier. There’s also some influence from “McCabe & Mrs. Miller” and Charlton Heston’s underrated “The Call of the Wild,” like the women in the hot tub. The thick accents in the opening turned me off because it was difficult to discern what the characters were saying, but I eventually warmed up to the main story involving an American bounty hunter and his sidekick (played by Alex Cord and Tony Bonner). There’s a notable sequence involving the scenic Ebor Falls. The second half goes into new territory for a Western and I found it interesting with convincing acting, such as Judith Anderson playing creepy Mrs. Straulle. It runs 1h 58m and was shot Nov-Jan 1973- 1974 in Mangrove Mountain area of southeast Australia, which is located just over an hour’s drive due north of Sydney; as well as Ebor falls, which is five hours’ drive north of there. GRADE: B-