*Currently Under Construction* "You still don't understand what you're dealing with, do you? Perfect organism. Its structural perfection is matched only by its hostility." -Ash(Alien)
STAY TUNED && WELCOME TO MY PRIMETIME.
Well..finally here is my review of part 2 of Bag Of Bones.
To START off I'd just like to say that contrary to what many other reviews were online, I actually liked the movie. I thought that it was a tad-less boring than the usual made-for-tv Stephen King flick. Like I have said many times before, I am NOT a fan of Kingdom Hospital(another Stephen King flick). That movie just kept going and going and going...and it lost me about an hour due to confusion and just pure boredom. Back to Bag of Bones: Though there was a LOT of talking between characters going on, the development of the story moved on at a pretty good pace. Revealing things quite quickly but at the same time taking 10 minutes of screen time to do so. At the beginning of the 2nd half I was fueled by my eagerness to find out more about the visions that Mike had been having, and fortunately I didn't have to wait long for answers to be revealed. The first person to reveal these answers was his cleaning lady, who shows up once AGAIN at the perfect time to see Mike lose his cool a second time. After a little persuasion by the stunningly old Mike Noonan she reveals information about, "The Curse of Dark Score Lake....the legend...the kind of stories told round the campfire..it's when people go mad." and of course the appropriate question that was asked next is, What do people do when they go Dark Score crazy?. && in this town instead of just locking yourself in your house and owning a lot of cats, crazy is defined as killing your female kin(apparently this is a trend that is ongoing in China). This curse has plagued the lives of certain residents in the past that are listed below:
Maddie's husband Lance trying to kill their daughter Kyra by drowning her
Buddy's dad held his little sister under the water pump and drowned her
Dill dean's father Fred held Billy's little sister when they were young under water at Dark Score Lake
But Who's next?
The only drawback to all this information being revealed in the movie was that at the end of the day..or movie should I say...it wasn't that great of a reveal. There was such a lack of an awesome resolution to all the mystery they had done so well of building up to. I was actually very disappointed with the 2nd half of the movie because of this, because it made predicting from beginning to end the "DARKNESS" of Dark Score Lake and its past so easy. After the first 10 minutes of the 2nd half I could already predict what had happened to Sara Tidwell and how the town was involved in her death. I probably could have even guessed what happened to her after seeing the first half of the movie. Once again in a movie the tiring plot, of a town with secrets and people who in the past committed a wrong that they are now dealing with in the present is being played out here. I can't tell you how many times I've seen this situation in a movie, and in this movie they did little to make it stand out from the rest. In this situation, the curse was placed by Miss Sara Tidwell on all those who played a hand in the death of her and her daughter(who was an innocent bystander). The scene of her death was very brutal to watch, so seriously if anybody has a sensitivity to domestic abuse/rape situations, proceed with caution. It is in this scene that Sara says, "You and your kin are cursed. You and your sons are going to do to you daughters what you done to mind. With your own hands you will murder your own daughters, until you are all gone." It is because of the involvement of Mike's grandad in her death that now he must suffer if he has kids..ahem..wasn't he supposed to have one up until the mother got pummeled by a bus!? Well, with the reveal of the curse of Sara Tidwell also came the reveal of why his wife Jo was truly keeping her pregnancy a secret; to protect her unborn child and Mike from harm. Guess she's not a trifling ho after all like Mike had suggested for 2 hours of the movie. The reveal of his wife's secret was probably the only fact that came as a surprise to me aside from a few surprising scenes, because I really had thought she had cheated on her ignorant husband with his gay brother she had been spotted with. Along with this shocking fact came a few deaths that were also "good" unsuspecting surprises. A sudden death of a main character actually shocked the sh*t out of me and scared me a lil'(just a lil). I liked this scene in the movie though for many reasons. 1) it brought my full attention back to the movie (&& took it away from twitter's sick grasp over my mind) 2) it providing the 2nd half with the much needed twist 2 make it a bit unpredictable && 3) it helped to explain the quote, "Custody has it's responsibilities"(an underlying theme in the 2nd half)
The other death, was more of suicide, but all can be explained when you see the film.
Now to get to the end summation of the whole film. One of the best parts of this film I believe were the quotes said by a variety of characters that really made you intrigued with their meanings and helped to play a crucial part in the mystery of the film. Such quotes as,
"This thing was always bigger than you",
"People Don't take kindly to having their secrets spilled",
"A person without secrets is like a scarecrow without stuffing",
&& "I'm going to give you once chance to save your soul".
One of the most important quotes in this movie being, "Lie still Bag of Bones". The "Bag of Bones" concept was brought up multiple times during the film. It was first mentioned when Mike had described himself as being a bag of bones with no purpose in the first half of the film. Then in the 2nd part of the film is when a novel of words was written on his laptop solely consisting of the words, "Lie Still Bag of Bones". Though this made no sense at first, this would ultimately be the resolution to the curse and the overall conflict of the movie. The way that the movie was resolved can be summed up in any episode of Supernatural.
Overall, I'd have to give this movie a solid 3.5/5.
It was awesome to see Pierce Brosnan on the screen again, though he disappointed me at times with his lack of mojo && his ridiculously acted "crying" scenes.. && the lil actress who played Kyra is just so damn cute && good at her role that it was a pleasure just watching her on my nice HD TV. The plot of the story was enough to keep you watching until the story unraveled and revealed itself, && the fact that you cared for Kyra && wondered where the curse will take things made it watchable till the end. There were about 3 scenes that could maybe make you jump out of your comfy couch, but there was much time in between these scenes, so for avid horror fans this may not be your top priority on your DVR. The reveal of the mystery and secrets is sub-par though the buildup is great && there are many things that make this movie both good and bad. In my opinion, I'd say just watch it to say you did and I promise you that you won't come out feeling like you wasted 4 hours of your life. (Though don't watch it all in 1 night--separating the 2 parts makes the 2nd half more entertaining and you feel less as though the movie was dragging on as well).
Similarity to The Shining:
Setting of the story made people go crazy: For Jack Nickelson in The Shining it was the Overlook Hotel && for MikeNoonan && the other victims it was Dark Score Lake.
Family Members were always the victims: In The Shining the families of the Caretakers during the winter for the hotel were always the victims, being killed off before the end of the winter. && in Bag Of Bones it was the father's killing their daughters.
The father is always the crazy/vulnerable one who ends up killing.
Sooo I finally checked out the first part of the A&E movie special, "Bag Of Bones"..&& to be honest I ACTUALLY liked it despite what most reviews have said about it.
Of course there were parts that I found funny at times, but the overall tone of the movie was great and the mysterious vibe was definitely kept.
Now lets keep in mind I never read the book so I really can't compare what I saw to what was in the text, though I find that in most cases the books are always better anyways.
Now I gave a summary of the movie in my previous post so I won't do much to summarize it here again...all I will simply say about the plot of the FIRST half is that in this half they introduce Mike Noonan, the renowned Novelist, and his wife(soon to be dead-wife) Jo. They have a seemingly awesome relationship filled with awkward sexy moments between an elderly man(Mike) and what could be his daughter(Jo)? As you can see, I really found the scenes between the couple kissing and climbing on top of each other just plain awkward. Pierce Brosnan who plays Mike seemed so shaky, like he needed to take some more Viagra before he partook in any kind of sexually arousing activities. Not to mention him trying to kiss his lovely and hot wife seemed completely forced beyond belief.
Fast Forward to his wife's untimely death just as she was returning back to her ignorant lover with a secret hidden away in her purse. BOOM! A bus hits her and her secret just like that is spilled out for everyone to see..literally. && What do you know? its a pregnancy test! Gosh. Now the question on all our minds, even Mike's, is whether it was his baby that just got run over or some hot young dude's baby from the lake house she so frequently visited while her husband ignored her so effortlessly.
Well, that question isn't answered in the 1st half.
Lets fast forward again, && now we find Mike at the lake house that he inherited from his wife after her passing. Many things could have prompted poor terribly acted-depressed Mike to come here(seriously his crying scenes were laughable, like a bad audition tape for acting school). It could have been his frequent nightmares that were acted out like a poor interpretive dance about drowning children and the lake house itself. But then again, maybe it wasn't the dreams that did it, maybe it was Jo's presence in his own house who was supposedly frequently talking to him through phone rings, "once for yes, twice for no". Hmm..maybe people are just calling you MIKE?! The only thing that actually convinced me he wasn't crazy(and NOO it wasn't the backgrounds of Jo all over his phone and computer that did it) was the fact that Jo pulled a "sixth sense/m.night shamala-dingdong" move on us by reaching out from underneath the bed to warn/scare Mike of something. Which by the way, I thought that scene was soo poorly done. It wasn't creepy, it was expected, and she was just THERE. No blood, no corpsy looking body. Just her being like, "Hey go the lake house f*ck tard && stop crying over spilled milk". Anyways, it actually wasn't any of those things at all that made him go to the lake house, but instead it was his sweet and lovable agent Marty who convinced him to write another novel in 4 months who made Mike think it was a good reason to go.
Anyways, we're at the beautiful lake house, that I now envy so much, and crazy shit starts happening almost immediately. Which I think is a good thing because the movie definitely picked up towards the second half of the first half =] If things moved any slower I'd probably be bored out of my mind, which is sometimes the case with Stephen King movies.
In the house, in my opinion, it feels like 2 spirits are fighting to control Mike's decisions and his life there at the house. One is obviously Jo, who is the good-natured spirit always asking him to help others, and the other being an angry spirit that we have yet to learn about(my guesses is that it's Sara). The ghosts that we are introduced to in this part are Jo and Sara Tidwell (a jazz singer from back in the day). Both of them seem to have secrets hidden in that house, and the creepy elderly people around town seem to know a little sumtin sumtin too about these secrets as well. There ways of communicating to Mike are actually quite interesting, though some methods are down right stupid. One way that Jo actually tries to communicate with Mike is through the same bell around the Moose's neck that they so often rang together each time they made love when she was alive. This was clever because it really played into Mike's preferred method of communicating with the dead with the once or twice method. The other way that these spirits communicated is through the preschool refrigerator magnet letters on the fridge. This made no sense to me because first of all why would 2 grown adults with no children have just 6 letters on the fridge. They obviously only have about a 4 word vocabulary. The other methods include Mike's visions and an old record player that played creepy lullaby's about the Sandman coming, sung by none other than Sara Tidwell.
Jo vs Sara
The beautiful Sara
We are also introduced to Mattie and her daughter Ky during this half, who are both wonderfully portrayed by the actresses. Ky is just soo damn cute =] Mattie is actually fighting for custody of her daughter against her daughter's maniacal grandfather, who ever since the death of the father(who tried to kill his daughter), has been trying to take her away. Honestly, I would not want the father of the guy who tried killing my baby to take my daughter away; bad genes run in the family hunny. Locals actually called the deceased father, "Dark Score Crazy" for attempting to kill his daughter. It's funny because these were actually the key words that gave me the idea that Sara Tidwell might have been killed by some of the older generations in the town back in the day, and that is the secret they're all hiding. Maybe the grandfather did it? Maybe he was Dark Score crazy too?
Of course in this custody battle there is no justice being served because everyone is on the grandfather's side even Mattie's lawyer. That's what happens when your rich and have a history of killing people.
Also, while at the Lake house Mike's visions become more intense and sexual. There is even 1 minute of the movie where he cycles through all the ghosts all while succumbing to all their seductions. Seriously folks, he makes out with all 3 ghosts, including his wife, with no conviction. At least he did gain some valuable information from his hands on approach to interrogating the dead. Maddie, who appeared as a ghost with a hole in the back of her head(no she's not really dead, confusing right?) before she disappeared said to Mike, "All will be revealed". My guesses are that Maddie knows more than she is letting off, and that everyone in Dark Score is pretty much keeping a secret.
"All Will Be Revealed"
Part 2...to be continued.
Well guys, I gave a summary even though I didn't plan too. That's what usually happens when I start talking...I usually can't stop myself.
As far as the quality of the movie goes, it was definitely enjoyable and watchable. Its better than other Stephen King adaptations I have seen in the past such as the unmentionable, "Langoliers" and "Kingdom Hospital". There were creepy jump out of couch scenes and then there were the scenes that lacked in intensity. From this first half I have come up with the conclusion that, Pierce Brosnan sucks at being sexy anymore =[ and he is definitely not a good crier(way 2 much expression). Also, I couldn't help but notice all the similarities the film had to the Shining, another Stephen King film.
Here are a few:
The bathtub scene: In the Shining we had the creepy old woman come out the bathtub and in this movie we had a little child reach out the tub to scare the shit out of us.
The main character is a writer, who of course suffers from writer's block and because of it goes a lil mad at times.
The subtle ghost precenses. In the Shining a lot of the ghosts weren't there to show up for 2 seconds to scare you and then leave again until the next "oh-shit" moment. This was similar to, "Bag of Bones", because in this flick the ghosts communicated with Mike, as they did in the Shining, and there presence at most times came quietly.
The child and mother in both movies are the ones who are keeping the men sane to a certain extent or at least trying to. In the Shining, they struggled to keep there daddy with them and on the same page. In this movie, they are a means of bringing Mike back to the reality he lost with the death of his wife.
The ghosts from the 20's-60's. In both movies there were spirits that were communicating with the main character that came from times way before there years. In the Shining it was the bar tender. In Bag Of Bones it was Sara.
Thank the TV gods for A&E. I think I fell in love with them ever since they advertised that they will be showing a 2 night television event starting Dec 11 at 9/8c. This 2-night event will be showing none other than the master of written horror, Stephen King's Bag Of Bones. This movie is directed and produced by Mike Garris.
Starring in this movie are great actors such as
Pierce Brosnan(who was sexy as hell back in the day) as Mike Noonan
Annabeth Gish as Mike's dead Wife Jo
Melissa George as the "Attractive" young widow, Mattie
Caitlin Carmichael as the widows daughter, Kyra
William Schallert as the wealthy grandfather
And Anika Noni Rose as the spirit of the blues singer
Premise of the Story:
Well just like any other good ghost story it begins with a death. && who better than to go through the emotional roller coaster of having a dead wife than a best-selling novelist, Mike Noonan, who probably ran out of ideas?? Is it starting to get utterly predictable yet? Well, because he is so distraught, Mike decides to follow his dream(literally), by going to back to his lakeside retreat in Western Maine that he once used to visit with his late wife. Enter stage right the cold weather and the predictable hot new love interest, Mattie. However, this can't be just a one night stand for this fella cuz everyone in Maine comes with baggage..and hers is in the size of a lil pint size daughter named Kyra. Of course being the man that Pierce Brosnan is, he gets involved with this strangers crazy custody battle over her daughter that is between her and guess who? Her wealthy grandfather. If I was the girl I'd rather go with grand daddy and get the pony for Christmas. During this plot line, somewhere along the way, Mike regains the ability to write again from some sudden inspiration. However, everything comes at a price. And his is costly. It includes nightmares along with frequent visits from a blues singer who ghost still lingers in the house(yet happened to not ever be there when he used to visit...hmm). Now here comes the secrets at the lake which start to unveil themselves && at the end comes the biggest secret of all from his late wife.
This movie of course is an adaptation of another one of Stephen King's great horror novels. It is described as being a ghost story that is more about the nature of love and romance as it is about the retribution of the sins of the father. It has everything you could ever dream of in a horror-suspense movie including secrets waiting to be revealed, a mystery waiting to unfold, brutal murders itching to be heard, and of course the long anticipated battle between two spirits motivated by love and the other by hatred and revenge.
If you want to take a look at the official site check out this link below:
Also make sure you check out the Dark Score Stories website(photojournalism-type site) for a more in depth look into the story with photos and commentaries on more secrets to be known. www.darkscorestories.com
Also, here's a trailer for the movie.
Lets just hope this movie is ACTUALLY good and they don't execute it as poorly as Stephen King's Kingdom Hospital. It's a 2 night event so lets see if the ratings stay consistent to the 2nd night and lets see how many of the viewers actually remain on the channel for the full movie && not because they fell asleep on the couch.
wooo.
The Ratings are IN!!!!!
Viewer Ratings:TBA NY Times: Thumbs wayyy dowwwnnnnn Dread Central: 3 out 5 stabs Variety: Began with some home but ended badly Fangoria: 2 out of 4 skulls
WALKING DEAD HAS BEEN RENEWED FOR A THIRD SEASON!!!!!!
Ok now on to some new knowledge I have gained on the horror film industry:
The First horror movie was Georges Melies short film, "Le Manoir du Diable".
Over 160 people have Count Dracula in Movies, more than any other horror film character.
The Silence of the Lambs is the only horror film to receive a Best Picture Oscar.
Blair Witch: One of the film cameras used during the movie by the actors was bought at Circuit City(now closed), AND returned in order to make their movie budget go even further. Wonder if they raised the price of the camera after that?! Also, be4 the film was even released the 3 main actors were listed on IMDB.com as missing and presumed dead.
Exorcist: The demon noises that you heard coming from Regan's body were actually recordings of slaughter house pigs..can anybody say...PETA?
Carrie: Sissy Spacek refused to ruin the continuity of the film, so during the 3 days they were filming the prom scene she slept in the blood and dress. Dirty girl. Also, in the prom scene of the movie when the hose knocked out one of the girls, in reality, a girl was truly knocked out from the pressure of the water and they kept it in the film for realism.
The Ring: In the ring, when Noah and Rachel return to the Inn at the end of the movie, below the sign "Shelter Mountain Inn" sign it reads "Closed until further notice", because in the alternate version of the film the Cabin manager dies from watching the film. A really good reason to buy the VHS or dvd version of the film is that if you watch the movie fully re-wounded, at the beginning, the creepy film plays and after you hear a phone ringing twice before previews start. Also, after the movie you see additional footage that helps to explain the mystery behind the cursed video.
Nitemare on Elm Street:The scene with Jonny Depp lying on the bed listening to the radio, if you listen to the broadcast you will hear the DJ saying, "this is KRGR" which is Kruger without the vowels.
Con't: Also, not shown in the actual movie but on the disc's special features is that Nancy and her friends weren't the only children && that some of the brothers/sisters were killed by him too.
Con't: At the hospital where Nancy's hair turns white, the nurse is played by Wes Craven's wife, Mmi Craven.
Con't: The only times you see the word, "Elm street", is during the opening and closing credits...the word is never mentioned in the film.
Halloween: Due to the extremely low budget of the film, Michael wore a redesigned WIlliam Shatner mask, and Jamie lee Curtis bought her clothes from J.C Penny with an 100 dollar budget.
Con't: John Carpenter is the voice of Annie's bf when you hear him talking on the phone to Annie.
Stephen King's IT:Pennywise the Clown was inspired by the real life serial killer John Wayne Gacy who used to dress up as a clown.
Con't: Throughout the movie, Pennywise is saying, "Beep Beep Richie", in the book it explains that he is saying this as a way to tell Richie to shut up.
Con't: A night guard at the asylum is named Koontz, after Stephen King's rival author Dean Koontz.
