The Bonesetter

I have seen this film and quite frankly the best thing going for it is the music.

There is a very weird and creepy feel to the whole movie that is accentuated by the score all along the film. Some parts are just simply backing the whole scenes and it's great.

The titles are not in the credits, but they should have been for reference.

I am also trying to contact the director to have a copy of whatever songs are on the soundtrack if one exists,

Very well worth checking out.

Firstly let me "come clean" admit that I was in the film, as an extra.

That being said the film itself is a good story, well told on a very small budget. This of course somewhat effects the look and feel of the movie but in my opinion does not detract from the story or acting.

Anne-Marie Frigon simply steals the screen whenever she appears. She gets the best "one liners" and makes the most of them. Other actors, including Sherry Thurig, do not have extensive experience in front of a camera but it doesn't stop them from giving good performances.

The attempt at a creepy atmosphere is evident and with some allowance for the lack of computer aided and expensive special effects we have become used to, the movie pulls it off.

Watching it being made I came to appreciate the talents of all involved and look forward to more work from this collection of mostly local talent.

I don't want to say this movie is bad, merely poorly classified. "The Bonesetter" is not a good horror film (Its hard to make anything good when you appear to have shot entirely on a camcorder) but if you accept it as part of the genre I like to call "Borchardts"* it becomes not only a perfect example of the form, but one of the best I have seen.

A Borchardt is a Low budget film, usually horror, that has been produced, written, directed, and (this is critical) stars the same person. This is made painfully obvious through out the film. The star is decent at acting and is often convincing; but the rest of the cast (pulled from friends 9 times out of 10) is well, cardboard. Video production and effects are crude at best, and the importance, sex appeal, and intelligence of the lead are extremely overstressed.

The Bonesetter is a great example of a Borchardt, but the full on elongated french kiss between Kelly and the female lead puts it over the top. Also note the film makes reference to Kelly being involved in a relationship with a "party girl" resulting in a child, and he is fawned over by his co-worker in the film. Extremely overstressed.

But, before we damn the film, please remember that the important thing is that despite funding and equipment and all the other tough things it takes to make a movie, Kelly at least got it done, and out there. Granted, out there in a four volume collection selling for $6, but how many of your movies are on the shelf at Best Buy?

*Named after the film "American Movie"

Usually when a movie receives a vote of one it is because someone simply dislikes it and is annoyed it doesn't have a lower rating, and so decides to drag it down as much as they can instead of just giving it a low rating. This is not the case here.

Bonesetter is a perfect example of a 0/10 film. It does nothing right and it doesn't have the chance to because it doesn't really attempt to do anything. There are strands of a bad D&D novel kind of plot which doesn't hold together and a complete lack of any kind of acting throughout. It is clear that nobody involved in this project gave it any kind of serious effort, because even a completely patently untalented persons' hard work would amount to more. A truly awful film.

This "MOVIE" adds nothing to the genre, looks horrible,is bland, slow and boring. It's not scary at all. The acting is terrible. The "effects" and makeup are blah. I give any filmmaker credit for doing the work and getting their stuff out for people to see. I've never made a movie but damn, man this is really no good. Don't waist any time or money on this. I wish my review was more enlightening and in-depth but I don't have much to work with here.

I think I got this from a Brentwood collection for like a couple of bucks, and I'm still angry that I spent money on it. I am even struggling to write more about the movie. I am at a loss.