This past weekend was Friday the 13th, and rather than watch the series of the same name, I chose to spend my weekend watching a Kane Hodder documentary and Terror Films’ newest release The Bone Box.
If you like psychological thrillers, you’ll have to give this film a try. Here’s the official synopsis:
The film centers around Tom (Gareth Koorzen), a down-on-his-luck guy living with his Aunt (Maria Olsen). But his real troubles begin when his gambling debts catch up to him and he finds himself on the wrong side of a gun. In order to pay off the debts he enlists the help of Elodie (Michelle Krusiec), an undertaker’s daughter and recent divorcee with her own financial woes. Together they conspire to find freshly buried bodies in order to dig them up and steal whatever valuable possessions may have been buried with the recently departed. Soon after Tom has collected a box full of jewelry, strange occurrences begin taking place in the house – weird noises, moving images in paintings and hallucinations all begin to take their toll. Is it guilt? Is he crazy? Or have the dead returned to collect what’s rightfully theirs?
This is not an action-packed film. The beginning of the film (about five minutes if not more) is completely silent, and while there is never a time when Tom flat out explains his backstory, if you’re paying attention and listening to the dialogue, you’ll figure it out. This film moved pretty slowly and there is not much action until about halfway through. I also was not completely happy with the lighting. There were times where it was just too dark. I understand that the lighting couldn’t be bright, as some of the film takes place at night and the viewer is supposed to guess if they saw a ghost or if Tom is crazy, but there were times when it was just too dark.
The main character himself is not very likeable. He has issues, so that could excuse some of his behavior, but he is living with his Aunt whose husband just passed and I think he could have been a lot nicer to her. While the ending was fitting and mostly satisfying, I think Tom didn’t get all that he deserved.
The idea of the story is a creative one, and while I had my issues with the film, I did enjoy it enough to recommend it to others.
Here’s the official trailer:
The Bone Box is now available on digital platforms like Prime Video.