Or better still, Eastwood’s High Plains Drifter.
Emma Bull’s Territory certainly qualifies, although I wasn’t crazy about it. Other folks seemed to have liked it a lot, judging from the reviews.
Blood Meridian is like Cthulhu horror set in the Old West, only there’s nothing remotely supernatural or extraterrestrial in it, which just makes the alien horror so much worse.
I popped in to mention this one, too. Both The Gunslinger (with its wonderfully evocative opening sentence “The Man in Black fled across the desert and the Gunslinger followed”) and Wolves of the Calla are pretty damn westerny, but in very twisted ways.
A really, really cool setting…and the first book was very well done. The second, not as much, but still a fun read. I wish he would write a third.
Dead Man’s Gun. A Showtime series about a cursed gun which ran for two seasons. Unfortunately not available on DVD; I wish it was, because there were some pretty good episodes.
Timerider.
Another vote for these two books.
Now if you can find copies, I’d also recommned the short stories “Spud and Cochise” by Oliver LaFarge (look for a copy of The Best of All Possible Worlds, edited by Spider Robinson) and “Manifest Destiny” by Joe Haldeman (look for his short story collection Dealing in Futures).
Thanks for the recommendations. I have read a few of the mentioned ones already (for instance Six-Gun Gorilla is starting to become famous for being obscure, which makes him less obscure of course), but other people reading this are probably interested too. Keep the suggestions coming.
How about Westworld, the 1973 movie?
Haven’t seen Ravenous, very loosely based on the Donner Party tragedy, but there are those who love it: Ravenous - Wikipedia
Maybe not as far west as you have in mind, but George R.R. Martin’s novel Fevre Dream is terrific. It’s about vampires along the Mississippi before and just after the Civil War. If Bram Stoker and Mark Twain had written a novel together, this would be it. Can’t recommend it highly enough. It’d make a great movie: Fevre Dream - Wikipedia
As for Dead Man, meh. Didn’t do anything for me.
The Phantom Empire, 1935, starring Gene Autry. Read the imdb listing. You wouldn’t believe me if I tried to describe it.
It was re-made in 1979 as The Secret Empire, part of the Cliffhangers TV series.
House II: The Second Story is more “adventure” than “western”, but the villain and one of the heroes are from the Wild West, resurrected as zombies in the 20th Century.
During the late 1980s or early 1990s, DC Comics put out a couple of Johah Hex comics that had supernatural elements in a Wild West setting.
The comic book Preacher was set in the present day, but had some Western motifs. The title character was raised in east Texas, and got spiritual guidance from the ghost of John Wayne.
By Prime! I remember that!
And it was insane!
Stranger than The Valley Of Gwangi.
Ooh, I forgot about that. It does some breaking-the-fourth-wall stuff, but I’m not sure I’d call it Weird West. Fun movie, though.
I can’t believe that I am the first one two mention these two classics :
Jesse James meets Frankenstein’s daughter and Billy the Kid versus Dracula
Reviving this semi-moribund thread with news of High Plains Invaders, starring James Marsters. It’s a SciSyWhatever Channel Original Movie to air this summer.
The original title was Alien Western.
They’re making a movie now: Jonah Hex (film) - Wikipedia
Far West - A series of collected comics by Richard Moore. Our main characters are Meg, a half-breed elf bounty hunter, and her partner, Phil the bear. Sexy, ruthless, rough-and-tumble comedy.
Red Sun is a Western + Samurai film with Charles Bronson, Toshiro Mifune and Ursula Andress.
Once Upon A Time In China And America was about the 6th of the “Once Upon A Time In China” movies featuring Jet Li as Wong Fei Hung. Directed by Sammo Hung. WFH goes to the Old West. Came out in 1997, well before Jackie Chan’s “Shanghai Noon”.
The Strange Adventures of Rangergirl by Tim Pratt. Weird, funny and good.