Bonehill Road review by Bobby Blakey
I love movies in general so willing to give just about everything a chance. This includes lower budget independent films that just don’t get the exposure that some deserve. If you add werewolves the mix then I am all in and the latest film taking on the lycanthrope genre is Bonehill Road starring Eli DeGeer, Ana Rojas-Plumberg, Millie Milan, scream queen Linnea Quigley, and legendary stuntman and The Forest star Gary Warner Kent. This film has won various awards on the festival circuit, but does it live up to the hype or will the full moon not be strong enough to make it roar?
Bonehill Road follows Emily and Eden Stevens who escape one violent situation only to stumble into another. Terrified and alone, they are stranded in the woods, hunted by a werewolf. When they find shelter in a nearby home, things only get worse. They must work together to get out alive as a family of werewolves close in for the kill. Let me start by reminding that this is an independent film so you have to look at it differently than those with the massive box office budget. Some don’t think that is relevant, but when your hands and check book are tied to a certain amount it takes more creative filmmaking to make things still work and here they did a pretty good job making it work.
The story is a bit too crowded for what they were doing in my opinion as it just felt uneven. There are actually three completely separate stories here that really didn’t need to be here, but even with the overcrowded nature of the director Todd Sheets has balanced out just enough to keep it moving along and in the end still work well enough. The performances are decent enough with some a bit overacted and others not nearly feeling enough urgency. I think a lot of this just came down to so much going on, but in the end I can’t lie this film was a lot of fun in a bizarre way made all the better with practical effects. Being a fan of Gary Kent and knowing him personally might make me biased, but I loved seeing him on screen again and despite not getting near as much screen time as I had hoped he still got in on the action which had me smiling ear to ear.
I love old school man in suit type monster flicks and here they did not disappoint with some great werewolf looks. The creative framing of the shots and use of lighting made them all the cooler, from the moment they hit the screen. It seems the majority of the budget went towards this aspect of the film and it was well spent. If I had one complaint it comes in the every film that makes gender specific werewolves. I love them all looking bestial and menacing and when they add the beauty look to some to separate it always throws me off, but that’s just a personal preference. There is some great gore here that is well executed and the most surprising being that of a full werewolf transformation that reminded me a lot of the one in An American Werewolf in London.
Is this a great film? Probably not to most, but if you just love films like me and old school horror, especially werewolf films then give this small film a shot. Not near enough of these films get the props they deserve and for the amount of work that it takes to make any film, especially one with big creatures and effects it speaks volumes to their talents and should be seen.