Prairie Rascals (2025)

Arkansas, 1871: When Annie Harper's homesteader husband is murdered by desperadoes on the trail of hidden gold, she sets out in search of revenge - and the money. A Western adventure from Bonehill Films, starring Rosanna Lambert, Laura Frances Martin, Mylo Sermon, Amanda Lindseth, Nicholas de Jasay, Louis John Brzozka, Xanthe Baylis and Nick Riddle.

The latest cinematic offering from author and illustrator Philip Reeve - after his 2023 Arthurian offering Gwenevere - Prairie Rascals is a delightful, thrilling 50-minute tale of desperate treasure hunters in the American West.

Trapped in a loveless marriage, Annie Harper (Rosanna Lambert) is more annoyed at being left to bury her murdered ne'er-do-well husband Frank (Louis John Brzozka) than she is saddened by his loss.

Frank robbed the Confederate Army during the Civil War and hid a chest of loot at a secret location.

The psychotic Hannigan Sisters - Cat (Laura Frances-Martin) and Belle (Amanda Lindseth) - have got wind of this and relieve him of his "treasure map" before putting several bullets in Frank and setting his cabin alight.

With the local sheriff (Arran Hawkins) being too afraid of the sisters to raise a posse and pursue them, Annie decides to take the law into her own hands, stealing the sheriff's hat, gun, and horse.

Heading after the wicked sisters, Annie meets romantic, pacifist, greenhorn Charles Doolittle (Mylo Sermon) stripped to his long johns and tied to a tree.

A dilettante from the East, on a "walking tour" of the West with his gruff guide Muldoon (Nicholas De Jasay), Charles was completely unprepared for the likes of the Hannigan Sisters and found himself robbed and trussed up.

Wanting recompense for his predicament, Charles falls in with Annie on the trail of the sisters... and the buried treasure.

As with the majority of Philip Reeve's sci-fi and fantasy novels, Prairie Rascals is dominated by strong female leads, without shying away from the Western genre's requisite gun fights, heel turns and plot twists.

Released this week to the general public via YouTube and filmed in Dartmoor National Park, in England's West Country, Prairie Rascals was written by Philip Reeve and Brian Mitchell, and directed by Philip and his wife, Sarah.

Philip even wrote the lyrics for Ballad of the Prairie Rascals, which plays over the end credits. The music was by Brian Mitchell and vocals by Glen Richardson.

A jolly country-and-western ditty, the ballad serves as a "what happened next..." for the surviving characters and really makes me want a sequel to Prairie Rascals.

With many of the actors here also having appeared in Gwenevere, it's clear that Philip is attracting a great troupe of performers to his Bonehill Films.

Long may they continue to produce such wonderful little movies.

• You can read Philip's "behind-the-scenes" insights on the production here on his blog, Station Zero.

Mortal Engines' Author Philip Reeve Takes Us Back To The Old West For His New Film

Arkansas, 1871. When her homesteader husband is murdered by outlaws seeking the gold he stole in the Civil War, homesteader Annie Harper sets out alone to beat them to the place where the treasure is hidden.

In late 2023, my favourite author, Philip Reeve - creator of the peerless Mortal Engines and Railhead books - gave us Gwenevere , a delightful short film encapsulating his love of Arthurian mythology.

This week, his production company - Bonehill Films - released the first trailer for his follow-up film, Prairie Rascals, a short Western, again shot around where he lives in Dartmoor.

In the introduction to the trailer, Philip writes that this is:

"... [a] teaser trailer for our new film Prairie Rascals, starring Rosanna Lambert, Laura Frances Martin, Mylo Sermon, Amanda Lindseth, Nicholas De Jasay, Arran Hawkins, Xanthe Baylis and Nick Riddle. Music by Nick Riddle, vocals by Rosanna Lambert.

"We hope to screen the finished film locally this summer and autumn, and upload it to the Bonehill Films channel next Christmas."

Returning from the Gwenevere cast are Rosanna Lambert taking the lead role of Annie Harper, Queen Gwenevere herself, Laura Frances Martin, as "ruthless desperado" Cat Hannigan, and former Lancelot Arran Hawkins as the cowardly sheriff.

You can read about the film shoot here on Philip's blog - Station Zero - and, last year, on Twitter (aka X), he published a selection of costume design sketches for Prairie Rascals, which you can see below: