Marrowbone

Saw this last night! Highly recommend this film! Don't expect the scariest film you've ever seen go in with an open mind and watch. Avoid spoilers! Never thought I'd see the day a 'scary' film would affect me like it did and leave me at the end fighting back tears! A ghost story with meaning!

After watching this movie I walked around for days thinking about how moved I was for the members of this family, in particular Jack, for reasons I won't reveal. This movie was very moving and touched me deeply. It is also frightening, tense, and had me on the edge of my seat. The writers, director and actors successfully made a film which had me re thinking some of the events and feeling deep empathy for it's characters. Very well done!

If you haven't seen WHERE THE LILIES BLOOM, see it first, and follow up with MARROWBONE. The only glitch is that there was no U.S. homeschooling in 1969, when the story is set, yet homeschooling is mentioned. Other than that, this isn't a film you haven't seen before, with or without its non-Gothic predecessor mentioned above and in the title of this review, but it is a film that you won't mind seeing again. The twists are usual, but, fans of the classic slow-burn, there are NO jump scares. No, not one. And that, for me at least, is what sets the films apart from the B-flicks.

Many horror movies like using a similiar constellation. An outcast house, scenes in the dark and some kind of monster. This is also the case on this one.

But in this movie things aren't as the camera tells us. I was in fact really suprised by the plot twists this movie takes and I think they did fit well with the story.

The actors were great and so is the directing! The timing on some scenes is fantastic!

Right from the start I was reminded of the 1967 film Our Mother's House, which featured strange kids dealing with strange situations and even stranger parents. The similarities remain, but the tone of this film is much different, starting off as a slow, almost idyllic dream and veering off into a nightmare. In fact, it's almost too slow at the beginning, and deceptively so, since once the real story begins to be told, it picks up speed and never stops moving. You'll also guess the twist early on, then you'll have to guess again, and then guess again, but guessing and being wrong a couple of times is a lot better than guessing and being right the first time. The horror elements are refreshingly not slash and dash slice and dice gore galore, but more of the growing dread variety, so despite the feeling of familiarity and the slow start, this movie is worth seeing.