Best New Zealand western movies

A warrior-assassin is forced to hide in a small town in the American Badlands after refusing a mission.

GOOD FOR NOTHING is an adventurous romp set in the sweeping Old West from Mike Wallis in his directorial debut. Inspired by the Spaghetti Westerns and celebrating the Western genre with an interesting twist, the film follows an odd romance and the resulting emotional confusion of an outlaw who reluctantly develops strong feelings for a woman he has kidnapped.

A digitally restored and re-edited version of the original 1983 'Utu'. It starts with the slaughter of a Maori village where almost every character seems to enter into their own personal vendetta against their enemies, turning the film into a prolonged ballad of revenge. These savage motivations mean the moral compass is effectively shattered, nobody is completely good or evil, and the stage is set for some incredibly visceral set pieces, a grim view of race relations and a black sense of humour.

An unlikely outlaw wreaks hell across the dusty dystopia of The State on a wild quest to save what is held most dear, but things aren’t always what they seem on the desolate wasteland frontier.

The short tells the story of a drunkard going through alcohol withdrawal, as personified by the Devil. Director Bob Stenhouse takes what could be a dark subject and makes it a funny madcap romp.

Amid the high country of the North Island interior, wild horse roam and breed. With the trees gone, Dan Mitchell and the Sullivan brothers, turn to the wild horses as a source of income. With rope and snare - and the help of an experienced horse catching team - Sam and Sara's example, the rough ex-loggers learn to respect a delicate balance between the wild horses and their catchers. The best stallions are left to breed and their riding horses are retired back into the wild herds.