The Dark Valley is the best Austrian western I have ever seen, although it’s true that I can’t think of any other Austrian westerns. Sam Riley (Control, 13, On the Road) stars as Grieder, a stranger who arrives on horseback in a remote Alpine mountain village just as winter is about to set in. The village is run by Old Man Brenner and his disgustingly mean sons. Grieder claims he has come to take photographs, but there’s never any question that he has a hidden agenda…we just don’t know what it is. The film follows all the classic western conventions. The bad guys are 100% bad and the oppressed villagers are 100% good.
