🍿54: Bones and All

This week, we've got three new trailers, a lot of news and a whole lot of blood! 🩸

Dec 01, 2022

“Listen to them - the children of the night. What sad music they make!”
~ Dracula, 1979

An aperitif…

Cinemas have more on the menu than just blood, flesh, bones and all that other stuff as there’s another great film showing at the moment: The Menu, starring Anya-Taylor Joy, Ralph Fiennes and Nicholas Hoult.

I’m not here to give you a review, only to say that it is as good as all the critics are saying - possibly better! While I really enjoyed this week’s feature Bones and All, The Menu was a lot more fun to watch. It’s dark, funny, violent and a little scary in places.

Funnily enough, it’s much closer to being a horror film than Bones and All. Who’d have thought a film about an exclusive restaurant for the rich would be scarier than a film about cannibals?

Now for the headlines:

A first look at Indiana Jones 5 shows that Phoebe Waller-Bridge will be starring alongside Harrison Ford as his god-daughter, Helena. Read more.
Director Ang Lee has cast his son Mason Lee to play Bruce Lee in the upcoming biopic. Read more.
Netflix’s upcoming Luther film, starring Idris Elba, will “break out of the gritty streets of London”. Read more.
More than 50 years on from the original, an Easy Rider reboot is reportedly in the works. Read more.
In further news of remakes-nobody-asked-for, Bambi is being turned into a horror. Read more.
An early trailer for the film Cocaine Bear has been released and is based loosely on this true story. Watch the trailer.
And finally, in not-so-new news, it looks like Taika Waititi will be turning back to his roots with his next film Next Goal Wins, based on the true story of a football team that lost 31-0 to Australia. Read more.

Salty Popcorn is 100% free, but if you enjoy SP, please consider buying us a cinema ticket for just £5 per month - or a bunch of tickets for just £30 per year. Thank you!

Upcoming Releases

Inside

UK: TBC // USA: 10 March

Willem Dafoe plays Nemo, an art thief trapped in a New York penthouse after his heist doesn’t go to plan. Locked inside with nothing but priceless works of art, he must use all his cunning and invention to survive.

White Noise

UK: 2 December // USA: 25 November

Professor Jack Gladney (Adam Driver) and his family's comfortable suburban life is upended when a nearby chemical leak releases a toxic black cloud over the region that forces the Gladney family to evacuate.

This will have a limited theatrical release and be made available for streaming on 30 December in the UK and USA.

When You Finish Saving The World

UK: 20 January // USA: 20 January

Evelyn (Julianne Moore) and her oblivious son Ziggy (Finn Wolfhard) seek out replacements for each other as Evelyn desperately tries to parent an unassuming teenager at her shelter, while Ziggy fumbles through his pursuit of a girl at school.

Fact of the week

Have you ever wondered how much blood was used in the iconic ‘Elevator Scene’ in The Shining? Well, you wouldn’t be the first. While nobody knows the exact amount, the guys at FilmSchoolRejects estimate 13,638 litres (or 3,000 gallons) - possibly more.

Was it easy pumping this much fake blood into a hotel lobby? No.

Special effects were limited back in 1980 and you might be surprised to learn that pouring thousands of gallons of fake blood out of a lift (aka. elevator) is a logistical nightmare. Because so much was riding on the shot, and because so much could go wrong, director Stanley Kubrick couldn’t even bring himself to be on set for the stunt - of which they could only afford one take.

Review: Bones and All

Star rating:

4 (out of 5)

Where to watch:

USA: Only in cinemas

UK: Only in cinemas

Runtime:

2hr 10m

Director:

Luca Guadagnino

Blurb:

Love blossoms between Maren (Taylor Russel) and Lee (Timothée Chalamet) as they drift between the margins of society while trying to survive and forget the terrifying truth of who they are.

The review (SOME spoilers):

While Bones and All leans more toward being a romance film than a horror, this is not for the squeamish or faint of heart… and yet it’s not quite right for horror fans either.

The fact that Leonard Cohen’s ‘You Want It Darker’ plays over the trailer, gives the impression that the film will be cooler than it is. I went into the cinema expecting a semi-fast-paced, gruesome film with a good dose of heart, soul and feeling. While the first act lives up to that expectation, the film shifts gear to become something more brooding and melancholy.

Despite that, it’s easy enough to fall into the film’s rhythm but what I struggle with is Taylor Russell, whose performance isn’t always convincing. Fortunately, the chemistry between her and Timothée Chalamet is enough to make up for it.

Interestingly it’s Mark Rylance who steals the show with his portrayal of the eerie and malignant antagonist, Sully. His role though is surprisingly minor and not quite worthy of his talent or the character he plays. My expectation was for Sully to be a menacing shadow always on the tail of our protagonists. The truth though is that he’s quite forgettable, which has nothing to do with Rylance’s performance and everything to do with his lack of screen time.

The film’s score is mostly made up of lonesome acoustic guitar notes (no Cohen!) that reminded me of the video game series, ‘The Last of Us’. I’d be surprised if director Luca Guadagnino hasn’t played the games because I felt there were some striking similarities. If you’re unfamiliar with the series, keep an eye out for the TV version due next month.

I’m conscious that this might read like a negative review but don’t get me wrong, it’s a great film. My only real problem with it is that the trailer doesn’t set the right expectations.

Objectively speaking, the score does really well to set the tone and there is some beautifully calm cinematography that juxtaposes the horror while making it all feel real, heartfelt and (somehow) ordinary - an odd mix perhaps, but it works.

Scroll down to see what’s in the next issue.

If you liked Bones and All…

Let The Right One In

2008 | UK: Amazon Prime (free for subs) // USA: Amazon Prime (free for subs)

In this coming-of-age horror, 12-year-old Oskar strikes up a friendship with his new, moody and mysterious neighbour, Eli. But Eli is no ordinary girl and she soon shares her dark secret that reveals her connection to a string of bloody murders.

For anyone that’s not so keen on subtitles, there’s a US remake of this Swedish coming-of-age horror film, directed by Tomas Alfredson - but I will say that the original films are usually better.