Bonehill Road is a film I desperately want to love. In concept, this should be one of my favorite films of the year; an old school, practical effects heavy werewolf film with a highly feminist angle exploring the looming and lingering effects of abuse. Its in the execution that the movie lets me down. Bonehill Road is a shockingly poor film from a filmmaking standpoint. I can forgive the poor production values because of the low budget, but I can't excuse the film's most fundamental failures. Does that make it unenjoyable? Absolutely not. Even if Bonehill Road is the farthest thing from a good movie, that doesn't stop it from being a highly entertaining and lovable one and one of my favorite guilty pleasures of recent years.
The first thing that really stands out negatively in Bonehill Road is the acting. It ranges from bad to Ed Wood quality, but nobody gives a good performance here. Eli DeGeer seems like she has genuine acting talent, and there are certainly believable and impactful moments in her performance, (Particularly after her abduction) but subpar writing and directing make her performance come off as forced and unconvincing for the most part. Ana Rojas-Plumberg is awful in this film. As someone who suffered from similar paternal abuse to what she suffered growing up, she does a miserable job showing the anger, trauma and unease her father put into her life. Everything from her bug-eyed facial acting to the odd affectations of her vocal delivery is absolutely terrible. Her only convincing acting comes from her reactions to the Epps' mutilations of a local mailman, and later on to her mother's death. Douglas Epps plays his role of a serial killer like an edgy teenager's portrayal of The Joker. It's not scary, it's not interesting and is funny for all the wrong reasons.
To be fair to the cast, they certainly aren't helped by the stilted and awkward dialogue. Laurence Olivier would have trouble getting an ounce of believability from these overly expository and almost cartoonishly vulgar lines. If you thought Rob Zombie's use of foul language in his dialogue in his Halloween films was obnoxious, just wait till you get a taste of some of the clunkers here. I can't recall a single line of dialogue I found to be enjoyable, clever or well written. This could very well be a wonderful cast of actors led astray by a miserable script. As bad as all their performances are, they certainly all have their moments.
The sound design is also worth mentioning for its poor quality. It's not so much the film having poor audio that bothers me, it's that there was clearly no effort put into the effects. Many of them are free assets that can be downloaded right off of YouTube (And poorly implemented to boot. The sounds used for the chewing of steak sound identical to a monster crunching on bones) and some have even been blatantly taken from other films. Any werewolf movie fan worth their salt will immediately recognize the howls of the werewolves as taken directly from An American Werewolf in London. It's not similar, it's not reminiscent, it's the same sound. If this were a free fan film off of YouTube, I could understand, but the filmmakers are expecting money for this. A work of blatant plagiarism.
The story on its own merits is actually quite good. I love the idea of a mother and daughter escaping the abuse of a violent husband only to find themselves in increasingly violent situations, now having to free others from their own monsters. The characters are likable and surprisingly well developed and I definitely wanted all of them to survive. They're the kind of characters that allowed me to share in their moments of triumph and smile as they dispatched and defeated the various monsters that had haunted their lives. It's just a shame they weren't better acted, is all.
The practical effects are absolutely astounding. The werewolf effects are realistic, gorgeous, unique and, above all, scary. They kept me invested in the film and helped make me more concerned for the lives of the characters. There was no question that these creatures could do a lot of damage. These are, without a doubt, very imposing and frightening beasts and they really fit the wild, backwoods tone of the film quite well. The one exception to this is Lucy. Although the effects behind her transformation are admittedly incredible (And the transformation itself shockingly well acted), the end result looks like a furry cosplay made under $1,000. The gore effects are quite impressive as well. Bonehill Road is probably the most gruesome and violent Horror movie I've seen since Victor Crowley and the blood and gore implemented in the film is just so deliciously grotesque. It almost feels like something out of a Troma film at times.
While most of the sound design is rather poor, the music is a major exception. The musical score utilizes synth wonderfully to bring the 80s Horror vibe it's so obviously going for to glorious life. The edgier, more "rockish" parts of the score work surprisingly well too, bringing a real sense of edge and danger to the more intense moments of the film. It's not just the musical score that I enjoyed, but the songs as well. The film features some great tracks from Sea of Polaris, Mostly Autumn and I Need a Light that bring a feeling of enchantment and almost other-worldliness to the picture. Does the film earn that feeling? Probably not. Nonetheless, the whole soundtrack really is a thing of beauty.
Bonehill Road being a bad movie definitely disappointed me. Werewolf movies are my favorite genre and this one was a definite swing and a miss. But I'd rather take a fun werewolf film that doesn't quite work over no werewolf film at all.
The first thing that really stands out negatively in Bonehill Road is the acting. It ranges from bad to Ed Wood quality, but nobody gives a good performance here. Eli DeGeer seems like she has genuine acting talent, and there are certainly believable and impactful moments in her performance, (Particularly after her abduction) but subpar writing and directing make her performance come off as forced and unconvincing for the most part. Ana Rojas-Plumberg is awful in this film. As someone who suffered from similar paternal abuse to what she suffered growing up, she does a miserable job showing the anger, trauma and unease her father put into her life. Everything from her bug-eyed facial acting to the odd affectations of her vocal delivery is absolutely terrible. Her only convincing acting comes from her reactions to the Epps' mutilations of a local mailman, and later on to her mother's death. Douglas Epps plays his role of a serial killer like an edgy teenager's portrayal of The Joker. It's not scary, it's not interesting and is funny for all the wrong reasons.
To be fair to the cast, they certainly aren't helped by the stilted and awkward dialogue. Laurence Olivier would have trouble getting an ounce of believability from these overly expository and almost cartoonishly vulgar lines. If you thought Rob Zombie's use of foul language in his dialogue in his Halloween films was obnoxious, just wait till you get a taste of some of the clunkers here. I can't recall a single line of dialogue I found to be enjoyable, clever or well written. This could very well be a wonderful cast of actors led astray by a miserable script. As bad as all their performances are, they certainly all have their moments.
The sound design is also worth mentioning for its poor quality. It's not so much the film having poor audio that bothers me, it's that there was clearly no effort put into the effects. Many of them are free assets that can be downloaded right off of YouTube (And poorly implemented to boot. The sounds used for the chewing of steak sound identical to a monster crunching on bones) and some have even been blatantly taken from other films. Any werewolf movie fan worth their salt will immediately recognize the howls of the werewolves as taken directly from An American Werewolf in London. It's not similar, it's not reminiscent, it's the same sound. If this were a free fan film off of YouTube, I could understand, but the filmmakers are expecting money for this. A work of blatant plagiarism.
The story on its own merits is actually quite good. I love the idea of a mother and daughter escaping the abuse of a violent husband only to find themselves in increasingly violent situations, now having to free others from their own monsters. The characters are likable and surprisingly well developed and I definitely wanted all of them to survive. They're the kind of characters that allowed me to share in their moments of triumph and smile as they dispatched and defeated the various monsters that had haunted their lives. It's just a shame they weren't better acted, is all.
The practical effects are absolutely astounding. The werewolf effects are realistic, gorgeous, unique and, above all, scary. They kept me invested in the film and helped make me more concerned for the lives of the characters. There was no question that these creatures could do a lot of damage. These are, without a doubt, very imposing and frightening beasts and they really fit the wild, backwoods tone of the film quite well. The one exception to this is Lucy. Although the effects behind her transformation are admittedly incredible (And the transformation itself shockingly well acted), the end result looks like a furry cosplay made under $1,000. The gore effects are quite impressive as well. Bonehill Road is probably the most gruesome and violent Horror movie I've seen since Victor Crowley and the blood and gore implemented in the film is just so deliciously grotesque. It almost feels like something out of a Troma film at times.
While most of the sound design is rather poor, the music is a major exception. The musical score utilizes synth wonderfully to bring the 80s Horror vibe it's so obviously going for to glorious life. The edgier, more "rockish" parts of the score work surprisingly well too, bringing a real sense of edge and danger to the more intense moments of the film. It's not just the musical score that I enjoyed, but the songs as well. The film features some great tracks from Sea of Polaris, Mostly Autumn and I Need a Light that bring a feeling of enchantment and almost other-worldliness to the picture. Does the film earn that feeling? Probably not. Nonetheless, the whole soundtrack really is a thing of beauty.
Bonehill Road being a bad movie definitely disappointed me. Werewolf movies are my favorite genre and this one was a definite swing and a miss. But I'd rather take a fun werewolf film that doesn't quite work over no werewolf film at all.