Bone Daddy (1998)

Strong and Moving!

Excellent but underrated film

Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

This sub-standard thriller copies much of the style and substance of SEVEN in such a dull, unoriginal way that you'll be hard pressed to bother sitting through it after the first hour. Yet another example of the straight-to-video trash which fills out the shelves of Blockbuster these days, this is a lethargic, silly thriller with only a handful of good scenes to make it worthwhile. Despite having some nice chilly locales, BONE DADDY fails to build up any kind of worthwhile atmosphere due to a clichéd plot and disinterested performances from the leads.Rutger Hauer has been in some good films in the past, so it's sad to see him whiling away his weeks in colourless fodder like this. Hauer's detached performance fits in nicely with the coldly clinical feel to the film, half bought on by the medical action on screen, and half due to the certain feeling that the makers of this film were in it only for the money. Hauer has definitely been ageing of late and it's sad to see him walk around and do little, wasted again in a pointless role. The rest of the cast are awful; especially the talentless female lead who offers up absolutely NO sympathy.Mystery fans would be wise to avoid this film, as despite having a few whodunit elements, the premise is flawed as the killer turns out to be somebody who has been in the film for one scene only. Feel cheated? You should do. There's an appalling lack of characterisation meaning that the cast blur into one and you're never really sure of who the actors and actresses are meant to be and what relation they bear to the plot. I'm not sure if this was cut for television, but there is virtually no gore rendering the "disturbing" warning at the beginning of the film pointless. We get to see a few bloody cadavers and some meaty bones but that's about it. Another thing, only one person falls victim to the killer in this film. Talk about rationing, this is ridiculous! I liked a couple of the more outlandish moments: Hauer running through a morgue, pulling out all the corpses and checking them to see if the stitches match with the murder victim; plus the fun scenes which have bones being discovered in brightly-coloured parcels. Otherwise, this is a strictly middling affair: not bad enough to make you cry, just enough to make you think "why?" instead. The premise in itself isn't particularly bad, and I'm sure a good film could have been made of it. Pass it over unless you're stuck for something to watch.

Some time ago Rutger Hauer made a series of TV advertisements for Guinness. These were ten times more entertaining than 'Bone Daddy'. This movie combined a poor and formulaic plot, bad acting, ropey dalogue and unsympathetic characterisation to make a total waste of 90 minutes. By the end of this, I was wishing the killer had polished the lot of them off. Avoid. 3/10

This movie wants to be a serial killer suspense movie, but ends up being a bore. Predictable ending, flat characters, wooden acting. Nice photography of Chicago, but really not a good movie. Don't waste your time or money on this junk. Rating: 3/10

For some reason I can't explain, I keep thinking about this movie. Every time I see it while flipping channels, I have to stop and watch it. If I see it on the shelf in the video store, I have to stop and read the back of the box (even though I've read it before). I don't understand why I can't get this movie out of my head. All the elements of this film are quite ordinary. The acting, story, and direction are decent but unremarkable. Yet the total effect is something unique. It evokes a strange sensation. I don't know what it could be, but there is something about this film that makes you feel involved in a very personal way. Maybe it's the gruesome M.O. of the killer. Or maybe it's the sexy yet foreboding presence of Barbara Williams. Or maybe it's the rich and haunting imagery of Chicago's more gothic areas. It's hard to say. But something makes me think this elusive quality I'm talking about is an accident. I don't think the filmmakers did it intentionally. I could be wrong about that, but if so, why haven't the people involved in this movie achieved greater notoriety?