Bones: el ángel de la oscuridad

I was doubtful about this movie when I went to the cinema to watch it last weekend, but after having watched it I reinforce my good opinion about the products made by New Line Cinema. The film is very well done but apart from that, I think it shouldn´t disappoint any fan of horror, it has everything that a good movie of the genre must have, including great amounts of blood, a very good rhythm and effective actors such as Pam Grier(Jackie Brown), the muse of blaxploitation genre from the seventies, a genre which is paid homage in this movie as well as some classics of the genre such as "Hellraiser" or "Reanimator", although the introduction of the comic element paying homage to that movie was for me the weakest element of the whole(it broke the so tenebrous atmosphere).Finally, director Ernst. R.Dickerson who also directed the not so good but entertaining "tales from the Crypt: Evil Knight" assured that this movie had elements from Italian horror cinema, I don´t know but perhaps there is one: The warms.A homage to Lucio Fulci?, I know there is many homages here but it is the same for other movies and the cocktail is far from being so effectively combined as here.I don´t think they are going to make a sequel, but I am looking forward eagerly the next movie from this director and I wish "Resident Evil" was so satisfactory.

Yeah, like pretty much every other horror movie that hits the theaters, this one took a pretty heavy trashing both, from the critics and from the audiences who didn't understand it. However, I found "Bones" to be a highly enjoyable, entertaining, and (at times) creepy horror flick that I hope, is the birth of a new franchise. It's very refreshing to see a horror flick that can take a standard premise and make it seem fresh again. Also, I enjoyed the killer being a someone who we can sympathize with. Let me break it down a little bit.

Back in 1979, Jimmy Bones was the man of his neighborhood. Just what all he was into is never fully explained, but we do know that he runs a pretty classy little nightclub and loves to dress in full-pimp get-up. Basically, Bones is a good guy. All he wants to do is run his business and take care of his people. However, when he is propositioned to bring in crack, he refuses and is double-crossed then murdered by people he thought he could trust.

Jump twenty years into the future and we get a group of twenty-somethings who have just bought the building where Bones was murdered. Hoping to turn the place into a club, they ignore all warnings of the place's evil and pretty soon, they mess around and wake the dead. Now that Bones is back, he's upset, understandably, and wants revenge on the people who did him wrong.

That's it. Kinda sounds like Nightmare On Elm Street right? Well, it's a lot like it and a lot of others you may have seen. What set this one apart for me was the lead. Casting Snoop Dog as Jimmy Bones was perfect. I've never been a big fan of his acting, but here, he pulls it off great giving us a villain that we can sympathize with, care about, and root for. We know where he's coming from and watching him take his revenge on the dispicable villains was fun fun fun. I also enjoyed the romantic angle brought to the film by the chemistry between Snoop and Pam Grier. I don't think that it would have gone down near as well had there been a different set of actors, but it gave a real soft side to Bones and made me like him that much more.

I really loved the cinematography and having the blood look intentionally fake, was also a nice touch. Unlike some others, I really enjoyed the shifting in tones. The first 2/3 of the picture had a really dark and gothic tone to it while the latter third had a little bit of comic relief thrown in. Yes, it went WAY over the top (the severed heads, that whole "world of the dead" bit) but, for me, that added to the overall joy of the film and made it that much more. It also made it VERY hard to take it serious. It's pretty hard to find a good horror flick these days (and a mainstream one, at that) and I'm sure that I'll be adding this one to my dvd collection pretty soon. Oh, (I don't think I'm giving too much away here) the door is left open for a whole slew of sequels. I can't wait.

With a growing trend of rappers starring in their own movies, Snoop Dogg joins the pack with 'Bones'. Snoop plays Jimmy Bones, a 70s hustler, who is betrayed and murdered by some of his closest associates. Since the time of the murder, Jimmy's corpse is buried in the basement of an abandoned house in Bones' now seedy neighborhood. When a group of empty-headed teenagers buy the abandoned house, they unsurprisingly wake up Jimmy's spirit, resulting in Bones going on a bloody rampage for revenge.

What the heck are we to do with a movie like 'Bones'. Are we supposed to take it seriously as a horror movie. Or laugh at its silliness and Snoop's attempt at becoming a real-life 'Doggfather'. Whatever its intentions are, this movie doesn't have the feel of a horror movie. Rather, it feels more like one of Snoop's pot induced fantasies.

Rating: 5/10 or (2 stars)

This film starts out promising and carries that promise a fair way into the movie, but when everything falls into place we are left with illogical character developments purely so the film-makers can end the movie on time. The fact that Snoop's character is not a villain, but the script unjustly makes him one, is probably the worst thing about the movie. However, this film is still worth the watch for Snoop Dogg's interesting performance and some actually creepy moments.

This film as a whole is not a success, but for fans of B-grade horror (which admittedly I am), this has some value to it.

6.5/10

I don't know why people bitch so much about this film. Even though I didn't find it scary (nothing after The Others is anyway), I thought it was great entertaining. Sure the movie is full of plot holes, sometimes the acting is pedestrian, and the special effects can be laughable, but I don't think the makers set out to make something as scary as The Shining. This is supossed to be funny people, after all Snoop Dogg is there. Check it out lightly