Quentin Tarantino is kinda known for being a bit of a purist. Maybe "obsessive" is a better word. When he set out to make The Hateful Eight, he wasn't just making a movie; he was trying to save cinema from the digital "death" he kept ranting about in interviews. He chose a format that was basically extinct: Ultra Panavision 70. This wasn't just some technical jargon. It meant the movie was wider than anything you'd seen in decades. Ironically, he used that massive, sweeping frame to film people trapped in a tiny, claustrophobic cabin. It’s a weird choice. But honestly, that’s just Tarantino being Tarantino.
The whole thing almost didn't happen.
Back in early 2014, a first draft of the script leaked online. Tarantino was furious. He felt betrayed by the small circle of people he’d shared it with—names like Michael Madsen and Bruce Dern were floating around in the rumors. He actually "canceled" the movie. He told the press he was going to publish it as a novel instead and move on. Obviously, he didn't. Samuel L. Jackson and a successful live table read eventually talked him off the ledge. He rewrote the ending, tightened the screws, and headed to the freezing mountains of Telluride, Colorado.
Why The Hateful Eight is the Director's Most Divisive Work
Most people expect blood from a Tarantino flick. This one is different. It’s not the stylized, "cool" violence of Kill Bill or the cathartic revenge of Django Unchained. It’s mean. It’s cold. It’s basically a nihilistic horror movie disguised as a Western. You’ve got eight people stuck in a stagecoach stop called Minnie’s Haberdashery during a blizzard. The twist? None of them are "good" guys. Even the characters you start to like, like Major Marquis Warren (Samuel L. Jackson), end up doing things that make your stomach turn.
Critics were split. Some called it a masterpiece of tension. Others thought it was just three hours of people being racist and misogynistic to each other in a room. It’s a "bottle movie," meaning it stays in one location for almost the entire runtime. That puts a lot of pressure on the dialogue. If you don't like listening to people talk for two hours before a single gun goes off, this movie is a nightmare. But if you're into the "whodunnit" vibe of something like The Thing, it’s brilliant.
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The Ennio Morricone Connection
One of the biggest wins for this film was the score. Tarantino usually just picks old songs from his record collection. For this one, he landed the legend: Ennio Morricone. It was Morricone’s first Western score in over 30 years.
Funny enough, Morricone didn't write a "cowboy" score. He wrote a horror score. He even reused some unused themes he had written for John Carpenter’s The Thing back in 1982. This was intentional. Tarantino wanted that sense of dread. The music doesn't sound like a gallop through the prairie; it sounds like a funeral march. It eventually won Morricone his first competitive Oscar, which was a pretty big deal considering his massive career.
The Mystery of the Different Versions
If you’ve watched The Hateful Eight on Netflix, you might have seen it as a four-part miniseries. This is where things get confusing for casual fans. There are actually three main ways to experience this story, and they aren't all the same.
- The Roadshow Version: This was the "event" release in 2015. Tarantino retrofitted about 100 theaters with 70mm projectors. It featured an Overture (just music and a still image for 4 minutes) and a 12-minute intermission. It’s about 187 minutes long.
- The Theatrical/Digital Cut: This is what most people saw in multiplexes. It’s shorter (167 minutes). It’s not just "shorter" because the intermission is gone; Tarantino actually used different takes. He felt that some long, unblinking shots that looked great on a 70mm screen might be boring on a regular screen or a TV.
- The Netflix Extended Version: Released in 2019. It’s split into four episodes. While it’s technically longer (about 210 minutes total), a lot of that is just extra credits and "previously on" recaps. There is about 18-20 minutes of actual new footage here, mostly character beats and extra dialogue.
One of the best "new" scenes in the extended cut involves John Ruth (Kurt Russell) making Bob (Demián Bichir) pluck a chicken because he thinks a half-plucked chicken is bad luck. It doesn't change the plot, but it adds to that feeling of everyone being on edge.
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That Infamous Guitar Scene
There is a moment in the movie where Kurt Russell’s character grabs a guitar from Daisy Domergue (Jennifer Jason Leigh) and smashes it against a wall. If you watch that scene closely, Jennifer Jason Leigh’s reaction looks way too real.
That’s because it was.
The production had borrowed a priceless, 145-year-old Martin guitar from the Martin Guitar Museum. They were supposed to swap it out for a prop before the smashing happened. Someone forgot. Kurt Russell didn't know. He grabbed the real artifact and turned it into kindling. The museum was so mad they reportedly said they would never lend a guitar to a movie set ever again. When you see Daisy screaming in the film, she isn't acting; she's watching a piece of history get destroyed in real-time.
The Legacy of the "Hateful" Characters
The film is basically a play. It’s an exploration of post-Civil War tension. You have a Southern renegade (Walton Goggins), a Union major, a hangman, and a Mexican traveler. They’re all lying. Or most of them are.
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Tarantino uses the "Lincoln Letter"—a prized possession of Major Warren—as a major plot point. It represents the "hope" of a unified America, but even that is revealed to be a lie used for survival. It’s a pretty bleak outlook. But that’s why the movie stays in your head. It doesn't give you the easy "hero rides into the sunset" ending. It leaves you with two dying men reading a fake letter in a house full of corpses.
Actionable Insights for Your Next Rewatch
If you want to get the most out of The Hateful Eight, try these steps:
- Watch the "Extended Version" on Netflix if you want more character depth, especially for the gang members in the basement.
- Pay attention to the background. Because of the Ultra Panavision width, there is often stuff happening in the corners of the frame that you’ll miss if you only look at the person talking.
- Listen for "The Thing" references. From the casting of Kurt Russell to the snowy setting and the Morricone music, the movie is a massive homage to 1980s horror.
- Look for the "clues" in the first half. On a second watch, you’ll notice characters making eye contact or subtle gestures that reveal the "mystery" way before the big reveal in Chapter 4.
The movie is a lot to take in. It’s long, it’s loud, and it’s deeply uncomfortable. But in a world of sanitized blockbusters, there's something respectable about a director who isn't afraid to make a movie that half the audience might actually hate. It’s right there in the title, after all.
Check out the original soundtrack on vinyl if you can find it. The "L'Ultima Diligenza di Red Rock" track is arguably one of the best opening themes in modern cinema history. It sets the tone perfectly for the "White Hell" that follows.