Place of Bones (2023): A Horror Movie Review by Mark Walker
Written by Richard Taylor
Directed by Audrey Cummings
1876. A mother and daughter, alone on a remote ranch, fight for survival against a gang of ruthless outlaws. (IMDB)
Isolated over 90 miles from the nearest town, Pandora (Heather Graham) and her daughter Hester (Brielle Robillard) live a quiet life, rudely interrupted by the appearance of badly injured bank robber, Calhoun (Corin Nemec). With Pandoras’s husband recently deceased, the two women make a difficult decision to take Calhoun in and tend to his wounds. However, as they find out more about the truth behind his injuries, they realise Calhoun is the least of their worries, as Bear John (Tom Hopper) and his vicious band of outlaws are out for revenge and will kill everyone who stands in their way retrieving the money Calhoun has stolen.
But Pandora and Hester won’t be going down without a fight.
Place of Bones has a fairly classic western set-up with ‘helpless’ frontier women under threat from the macho posturing of stereotypical bad guy cowboys. And that is usually enough for me, I quite enjoy a good western and am always up for one where the women have the upper hand. However, Place of Bones has an undertone of horror laced through it that gives it a slightly different taste than the usual fare. But only just.
IMDB marks Place of Bones as a Drama/Thriller/Western, while the press info I was sent starts with “This western horror will make you see Heather Graham in a new light.” And that’s what sealed the deal; WESTERN + HORROR = yessir pardner! (Yeah, okay, I won’t do that again…)
However, like those classifying the film on IMDB, the horror elements are easily missed. A brief comment early in the film from Hester claiming Calhoun is different from all the rest hints at things to come, as do very brief shots of the inside of an outhouse, but it isn’t until the very end that things are really revealed. I can’t say much more without giving the game away, but I caught a few subtle things that had me thinking about the ‘twist’ before it came, but part of me was wishing that it had been a bit clearer earlier in the film as that would have put a different complexion on the relationship between Pandora, Hester and Calhoun. It would have also given the audience a different view on what Bear John and his posse where riding into.
But it is easy to be wise after the fact, just don’t be expecting a full-on horror experience with Place of Bones.
Having said that, I enjoyed the movie. It offers very little new from a western perspective, but that is not always a bad thing in this genre. Cummings has put together a fun film that, while it may look a little too “clean” for good, old-fashioned frontier livin’, makes good use of its cast and setting, building tension and expectation for a final shootout. This too might be a little sanitised for hardcore western fans, but it is still entertaining enough!
Graham is great as pious frontier mother, Pandora, toughened by the land and by the bible, bringing up her daughter as best she can in a cruel world. Robillard plays youthful curiosity well as the suitably gruff Nemec throws their world into chaos. If you want a grizzled anti-hero/killer, Nemec is your man! The accents felt a little “hammy” at times, but that is easily overlooked.
However, Tom Hopper feels too nice to be the leader of a band of cutthroats.
I am slowly growing to enjoy watching him after seeing brief turns in Merlin and Game of Thrones, and then rooting for Luther all the way through The Umbrella Academy. He may have played bad guy Wesker in Welcome to Raccoon City, but he still seemed like a nice guy! So, yeah, maybe too clean cut for a killer, but he was fun to watch alongside his rag tag bunch of killers.
There was one scene that presented a small bump in the road as one of Bear John’s crew rapes and kills two ‘whores’ (mercifully offscreen). Frontier life was tough, but his felt slightly at odds with the relatively ‘light’ feel of the rest of the film. There are some feminist undertones to the movie with Pandora and Hester sticking it to the patriarchy, and this scene gives us more reason to root for them, but it feels too easy. There are other ways of portraying cowboys as cold-hearted killers, I guess, it just left a bit of a bitter taste; which may well have been the point.
But, on the whole, I enjoyed Place of Bones.
At time of writing it is at 4.9 on IMDB and that feels about right. I am very difficult to completely disappoint with a film and will watch just about anything and see the good in it. If there is any reason for Place of Bones to fail with audiences it is likely because it is not original enough as a western and not horrific enough for a horror, so doesn’t quite deliver on either of its premises. I’d give it an extra point or two for being a Western and having a fun cast, but your mileage very well may vary!
