Bones

Summary

“Dog eat dog, brother. Dog eat dog.”

The late-Nineties and early-2000s are typically regarded as some of the worst years for the horror genre. I personally have a soft spot for this era, solely because I was in Junior High and High School during that period. That meant that I saw almost all of those movies through VHS rentals from our local video store. One horror movie that slipped past me back then was the 2001 movie Bones starring Snoop Dogg. I actually had intended to see it, and I even recall taking to one friend about it, but I never got around to watching it. Like other minor films from that era, if people didn’t have it playing at their house and if I failed to rent it the first year it was out, I forgot it existed. I was happy to see that Shout!Factory had decided to give the New Line Cinema film a proper release on Blu-ray so I could see exactly what I had been missing all these years.

In 1999, two frat boys come into a bad neighborhood to score drugs. The drug dealers take their cash and tell them to grab the stuff from under a brick on the house on the corner. When the cops show up the frat boys run into the abandoned house. Inside the house a strange dog that seems to have supernatural power attacks them. The house begins to change and they run outside. The two frat boys pause on the steps outside to catch their breath. Something inside the house pulls them back in and tears them apart. A couple days later, three guys and a girl – Patrick, Maurice, Bill, and Tia – decide to buy the building and turn it into a club. They don’t realize that it is haunted by the ghost of Jimmy Bones (Snoop Dogg.) Twenty years earlier, Jimmy Bones had been one of the most powerful people on the block. He had been murdered and his body was never discovered. His story is told through flashbacks. When Tia encounters the dog in the building, she feeds the dog a hamburger and names the dog Bones. Brothers Bill and Patrick don’t realize the link the building has to a secret from their family’s past. Despite very obvious warning signs that should lead them to abandon the project including some vague warnings from a local fortune teller named Pearl (Pam Grier,) the club owners continue to work on restoring the building. It is not long before Jimmy Bones’ ghost begins to seek revenge on those who murdered him and the club owners that disturbed his rest.

Bones is by no means very good. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t have its moments, but your expectations should definitely be low before you check it out. Apparently the film was taken out of the hands of director Ernest R. Dickinson and recut by New Line Cinema. Given the way the film feels (choppy, in-cohesive) I was not surprised to hear that the film had been recut to try to sell soundtrack albums. Ernest R. Dickinson was a very capable cinematographer that worked with Spike Lee on some of his very best films (Malcolm X, Do the Right Thing,) and as a director he showed promise with the great Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight. Unfortunately, Bones finds him having trouble getting any types of believable performances out of his actors. It’s a shame because there are some good talented folks in the film including Clifton Powell, Pam Grier, and Michael T. Weiss. These actors try to give the film some help, but the main actors never really rise to the occasion. Snoop Dogg is enjoyable in the film but he definitely does not come across as menacing as he might have hoped. That said – the film still sort of works. The film tries to blend comedy and horror and in moments it succeeds. I got a good laugh out of the more over-the-top moments featuring Ricky Harris as a drug dealer named Eddie Mack. I also enjoyed watching Snoop Dogg say some funny lines of dialogue while killing folks. The problem with the film may lie in the deficiencies of the script. There are some cool ideas like the city of the dead being part of Jimmy’s house, but does it all fit together? Sometimes, it is helpful for a writer to look at something and ask if it makes sense and flows properly from each idea to another. This movie definitely has moments where the audience will be like, “is that how anyone would respond in that situation?” One thing of note – the film definitely has a unique look thanks to the efforts of cinematographer Flavio Labbiano. 

At the end of the day, Bones is not something that I would go out of my way to watch, but it manages to entertain even if it never really comes together. 

Video

Shout!Factory threw fans a bone with a great looking transfer from a new 4K scan of the original film negatives in 1080p with an MPEG-4 AVC encode in 2.35:1 aspect ratio. The cinematography by Flavio Labbiano looks good on the format and is one of the best aspects of the film. The film definitely plays with color and contrast, so it is nice to see that amplified by the format. The transfer will come as a huge improvement over previous releases.

Audio

Shout!Factory has provided a great sounding DTS-HD MA 5.1 track. The film has a lot of fun music from the time period including songs by Eminem and D12 and Snoop Dogg. The surrounds are used a good amount and the track is pretty immersive. Good stuff. 

Supplements:

• Commentary – director Ernest Dickerson, writer Adam Simon, and star Snoop Dogg sit down and discuss the film.
• “Building Bones” – Director Ernest R. Dickerson discusses the film’s production intelligently from the cinematography by Flaviano and the influence of Argento’s Suspiria, to Snoop Dogg avoiding marijuana just long enough to film a scene in a fiery stairwell. He also discusses the studio’s marketing failure for the film and how the film was recut by the studio without his help. This included revising the ending. This is a really enjoyable piece.
• “Bringing Out the Dead” – writer Adam Simon discusses how he shaped the film as a horror vehicle around Snoop Dogg’s desire to play the villain.
• “Urban Underworld” – cinematographer Flavio Labiano gives a nice overview of the techniques used to give the film its unique look and style. I particularly enjoyed his discussion of how they did a sequence using theatrical techniques for a scene involving the wall of the dead.
• “Blood ‘N’ Bones”- special effects artist Tony Gardner discusses his memories of working on the film’s demon dog, the makeup for Lupovich, the necropolis, and more. 
• “Digging Up ‘Bones'” – this 2001 featurette focuses on the making of the film.
• “Urban Gothic” – another archival feature that focuses on the influences of the film.
• Deleted Scenes – These scenes can be viewed with or without commentary by Dickerson.
• Music Videos – two videos for “Dogg Named Snoop,” by Snoop Dogg. The first one is pretty hilarious, whereas the second seems to be filmed at a concert.
• Theatrical Press Kit 
• Teaser Trailer 
• Theatrical Trailer.

Overall Scores:

Video – 4.5/5

Audio – 4.5/5

Supplements – 4.5/5

Overall – 3.5/5

Bones is an entertaining film, despite having a lot of issues. The acting is fairly stilted, the plot doesn’t quite make sense, and the film was recut by New Line Cinema which causes the film to feel choppy at times. It still has its moments where both the comedy and horror work together. Snoop Dogg is probably not correctly cast to play a scary role, but he is fun to watch onscreen anyway. Bones is not great, but Shout!Factory have given it a great looking transfer and some wonderful supplements from Michael Felsher and Red Shirt Pictures.