# Seraphim Falls
**Seraphim Falls** is a 2006 American Western directed by David Von Ancken in his feature directorial debut, starring [Liam Neeson](https://www.edgepedia.org/liam-neeson) as a former Confederate colonel who hunts a former Union officer, played by [Pierce Brosnan](https://www.edgepedia.org/pierce-brosnan), across the post-Civil War American West. The film was co-written by Von Ancken and Abby Everett Jaques and received a limited theatrical release in January 2007.[1](https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/seraphim-falls-release-date-news) • [2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/seraphim_falls)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Director / writers | David Von Ancken, his feature directorial debut; co-written with Abby Everett Jaques[1](https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/seraphim-falls-release-date-news) |
| Leads | Liam Neeson as Colonel Morsman Carver, a former Confederate soldier; Pierce Brosnan as Gideon, a trapper and former Union captain[1](https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/seraphim-falls-release-date-news) |
| Setting | Nevada's Ruby Mountains in 1868, three years after the end of the American Civil War[1](https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/seraphim-falls-release-date-news) • [3](https://www.sonypictures.com/movies/seraphimfalls) |
| Filming | New Mexico (Taos, Santa Fe, Pueblo) and Oregon (water sequences)[4](https://www.chud.com/8572/exclusive-interview-david-von-ancken-seraphim-falls/) |
| Release | Limited US theatrical release January 26, 2007; distributed by Samuel Goldwyn Company; 1h 55m; rated R[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/seraphim_falls) |
| Box office | $418,296 domestic, $801,762 international, $1,220,058 worldwide[5](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0479537/) |
| Reception | 57% on the Tomatometer (86 reviews); Metascore 62 from 21 critic reviews[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/seraphim_falls) • [6](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/seraphim-falls/) |
## Spoilers
### Plot
The story opens in the snowy mountains of the American West five years after the Civil War. Gideon (Brosnan), a lone trapper sitting at a fire, is shot at by a hidden marksman with a [Henry rifle](https://www.edgepedia.org/henry-rifle), the bullet striking the snow inches from his head. He abandons everything he owns and runs, beginning a pursuit by Colonel Morsman Carver (Neeson), who is determined to kill him no matter what it takes.[3](https://www.sonypictures.com/movies/seraphimfalls)
Carver blames Gideon for a horrible war crime, though the film keeps the reason for the hunt hidden until its final act.[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/seraphim_falls) • [7](https://dennisschwartzreviews.com/seraphimfalls/) Gideon, an expert trapper, relies on survival skills to evade Carver and his four hired men: Hayes ([Michael Wincott](https://www.edgepedia.org/michael-wincott)), Parsons ([Ed Lauter](https://www.edgepedia.org/ed-lauter)), Pope (Robert Baker), and Kid ([John Robinson](https://www.edgepedia.org/john-robinson)). The chase moves from alpine mountains and desert plains toward a final confrontation between the two men.[1](https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/seraphim-falls-release-date-news) • [3](https://www.sonypictures.com/movies/seraphimfalls)
The supporting cast includes [Anjelica Huston](https://www.edgepedia.org/anjelica-huston) as Madame Louise, a stranger selling curatives who appears in the desert, [Angie Harmon](https://www.edgepedia.org/angie-harmon) as Rose, Tom Noonan as Minister Abraham, Kevin J. O'Connor as Henry, Xander Berkeley as a railcrew foreman, [Jimmi Simpson](https://www.edgepedia.org/jimmi-simpson) as Big Brother, and James Jordan as Little Brother.[1](https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/seraphim-falls-release-date-news) • [6](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/seraphim-falls/)
## Production
**Origins and development.** Von Ancken, previously a television director whose credits included *Californication*, *Salem*, and *Hell on Wheels*, wrote most of the script in his apartment in New York. He estimated the total time from the first idea in a notebook to the start of shooting at about four years, with less than a year from a finished script to filming.[1](https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/seraphim-falls-release-date-news) • [8](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2007-jan-29-et-seraphim29-story.html) Icon Entertainment International took on worldwide rights to the project; an early trade report described it as a psychological action film set during Civil War-era America starring [Richard Gere](https://www.edgepedia.org/richard-gere) and Liam Neeson, and Brosnan ultimately took the role.[9](https://www.screendaily.com/icon-falls-for-gere-neeson-action-film/4023103.article)
**Locations.** Although the story is set in Nevada's Ruby Mountains, the production filmed principally in [New Mexico](https://www.edgepedia.org/new-mexico), from Taos to Santa Fe to Pueblo, with the water sequences shot in Oregon; the Oregon Film Office lists the McKenzie River and Sahalie Falls among the locations, and production coverage also identifies Koosah Falls.[4](https://www.chud.com/8572/exclusive-interview-david-von-ancken-seraphim-falls/) • [10](https://www.documentarytube.com/blog/where-was-seraphim-falls-filmed-new-mexico-oregon-and-the-films-nevada-setting/) Reaching the top of the mountain outside Taos, at an elevation of nearly 12,000 feet, required the cast and crew to ride a ski lift, snowmobile to another ski lift, and then hike a short distance.[8](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2007-jan-29-et-seraphim29-story.html) Von Ancken treated the landscape as a third main character, saying it was what the men inhabited and part of their hardship.[4](https://www.chud.com/8572/exclusive-interview-david-von-ancken-seraphim-falls/)
**Cinematography and crew.** The film was shot by John Toll, an Oscar winner for his work on *Braveheart* and *Legends of the Fall*, whose photography gave the production what the Los Angeles Times called an [Ansel Adams](https://www.edgepedia.org/ansel-adams) sense of monumentality that made it look far richer than it actually was. [Harry Gregson-Williams](https://www.edgepedia.org/harry-gregson-williams) composed the music and Conrad Buff edited.[8](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2007-jan-29-et-seraphim29-story.html) • [7](https://dennisschwartzreviews.com/seraphimfalls/)
## Release and box office
The film went into limited release in the United States on January 26, 2007, distributed by the Samuel Goldwyn Company, with a domestic opening of $155,560 and a domestic gross of $418,296. International earnings of $801,762 brought the worldwide total to $1,220,058, with the largest international markets being the United Kingdom ($236,192), Mexico ($151,092), and Spain ($100,168).[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/seraphim_falls) • [5](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0479537/) A contemporary fan-press account noted that only one theater in town was still showing the film less than two weeks after its release.[11](https://www.spaghetti-western.net/downloads/WAI_issue68.pdf)
## Reception
On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds a 57% Tomatometer from 86 reviews and a 53% Popcornmeter score from more than 10,000 ratings; the critics consensus calls it "a brutal, slow-moving drama that unfolds among some great-looking scenery."[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/seraphim_falls) Metacritic assigned a Metascore of 62, generally favorable, based on 21 critic reviews.[6](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/seraphim-falls/)
**Critical views.** Peter Bradshaw of *The Guardian* called it a very impressive feature debut, a brutal revenge thriller with something of the fierce survival stories of [Cormac McCarthy](https://www.edgepedia.org/cormac-mccarthy), and judged it Brosnan's best performance in a long time.[12](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2007/aug/24/actionandadventure) His colleague Philip French described a stark, allegorical western with echoes running from Puccini's *The Girl of the Golden West* to Eastwood's *Unforgiven*.[13](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2007/aug/26/thriller.actionandadventure) Slant Magazine found the thematic backbone concerning reconciliation between North and South flimsier than the film's wiry, muscular action, but still called it a sturdy, straight-ahead, less-talk, more-action Western.[14](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/seraphim-falls/) Dennis Schwartz gave it a C+, calling it a wearisome revenge Western.[7](https://dennisschwartzreviews.com/seraphimfalls/) Common Sense Media's review described the film as a violently, articulately anti-war treatise disguised as a Western.[15](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/seraphim-falls)
**Genre standing.** Reviewers frequently placed the film in the lineage of older chase Westerns: the Village Voice compared its structure to "The Most Dangerous Game,"[6](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/seraphim-falls/) Slant noted it was loosely modeled on *The Outlaw Josey Wales*,[14](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/seraphim-falls/) and one fan-press review called it the first good big-screen American western since *Open Range*.[11](https://www.spaghetti-western.net/downloads/WAI_issue68.pdf) The film later found a second life on streaming, arriving on Netflix in February 2024.[1](https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/seraphim-falls-release-date-news)
Von Ancken died in 2021, and *Seraphim Falls* remained his only theatrical feature as director.[1](https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/seraphim-falls-release-date-news)
## References
1. [Seraphim Falls: Cast, Plot, and Filming Locations, Netflix Tudum (Ingrid Ostby, Feb. 13, 2024)](https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/seraphim-falls-release-date-news)
2. [Seraphim Falls, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/seraphim_falls)
3. [SERAPHIM FALLS, Sony Pictures Entertainment](https://www.sonypictures.com/movies/seraphimfalls)
4. [Exclusive Interview: David Von Ancken (Seraphim Falls), CHUD.com (Jan. 26, 2007)](https://www.chud.com/8572/exclusive-interview-david-von-ancken-seraphim-falls/)
5. [Seraphim Falls (2006), Box Office Mojo](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0479537/)
6. [Seraphim Falls Reviews, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/seraphim-falls/)
7. [SERAPHIM FALLS, Dennis Schwartz Reviews](https://dennisschwartzreviews.com/seraphimfalls/)
8. [A western? Yeah, old-school too, Los Angeles Times (Jan. 29, 2007)](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2007-jan-29-et-seraphim29-story.html)
9. [Icon Falls for Gere, Neeson action film, Screen Daily](https://www.screendaily.com/icon-falls-for-gere-neeson-action-film/4023103.article)
10. [Where Was Seraphim Falls Filmed? New Mexico and Oregon Locations, DocumentaryTube](https://www.documentarytube.com/blog/where-was-seraphim-falls-filmed-new-mexico-oregon-and-the-films-nevada-setting/)
11. [Westerns All'Italiana issue 68, spaghetti-western.net](https://www.spaghetti-western.net/downloads/WAI_issue68.pdf)
12. [Seraphim Falls review, The Guardian (Peter Bradshaw, Aug. 23, 2007)](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2007/aug/24/actionandadventure)
13. [Seraphim Falls review, The Guardian (Philip French, Aug. 26, 2007)](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2007/aug/26/thriller.actionandadventure)
14. [Review: Seraphim Falls, Slant Magazine (Nick Schager, Jan. 18, 2007)](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/seraphim-falls/)
15. [Seraphim Falls, Common Sense Media](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/seraphim-falls)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Action and adventure films (individual works) › Westerns, 1980 onward*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license