10 Most Violent Westerns Ever Made
8. Scalps (1987)
The film is called Scalps, of COURSE it’s brutal.
A massively underseen film from genre director Bruno Mattei, Scalps is a more female centric Western starring Mapi Galán as Yari, a Native American tribe chief’s daughter out to get brutal revenge.
When the local tribe will not sell Yari to Confederate soldiers, they burn down the natives’ home and kidnap her. Yari escapes and finds herself with a young rancher named Matt Brown (Vassili Karis) who despite hating the Indians, is an ex-soldier and hates the Confederates more. Like the best mismatched couples do, the two join forces to exert revenge.
Brown hates the idea of violence and vengeance but Yari is out to take down the soldiers in any depraved, dark way that she can… and yes, she is not above scalping a man. Mattei’s late spaghetti Western is not above violent torture or decapitations and if you can find an uncut version of this film, try not to watch it whilst eating.
Scalps isn’t a great film, but it IS brutal. So if that’s what you’re looking for, scour the internet for a copy of this long lost Western.