This sub-standard thriller copies much of the style and substance of SEVEN in such a dull, unoriginal way that you'll be hard pressed to bother sitting through it after the first hour. Yet another example of the straight-to-video trash which fills out the shelves of Blockbuster these days, this is a lethargic, silly thriller with only a handful of good scenes to make it worthwhile. Despite having some nice chilly locales, BONE DADDY fails to build up any kind of worthwhile atmosphere due to a clichéd plot and disinterested performances from the leads.
Rutger Hauer has been in some good films in the past, so it's sad to see him whiling away his weeks in colourless fodder like this. Hauer's detached performance fits in nicely with the coldly clinical feel to the film, half bought on by the medical action on screen, and half due to the certain feeling that the makers of this film were in it only for the money. Hauer has definitely been ageing of late and it's sad to see him walk around and do little, wasted again in a pointless role. The rest of the cast are awful; especially the talentless female lead who offers up absolutely NO sympathy.
Mystery fans would be wise to avoid this film, as despite having a few whodunit elements, the premise is flawed as the killer turns out to be somebody who has been in the film for one scene only. Feel cheated? You should do. There's an appalling lack of characterisation meaning that the cast blur into one and you're never really sure of who the actors and actresses are meant to be and what relation they bear to the plot. I'm not sure if this was cut for television, but there is virtually no gore rendering the "disturbing" warning at the beginning of the film pointless. We get to see a few bloody cadavers and some meaty bones but that's about it. Another thing, only one person falls victim to the killer in this film. Talk about rationing, this is ridiculous! I liked a couple of the more outlandish moments: Hauer running through a morgue, pulling out all the corpses and checking them to see if the stitches match with the murder victim; plus the fun scenes which have bones being discovered in brightly-coloured parcels. Otherwise, this is a strictly middling affair: not bad enough to make you cry, just enough to make you think "why?" instead. The premise in itself isn't particularly bad, and I'm sure a good film could have been made of it. Pass it over unless you're stuck for something to watch.
Rutger Hauer has been in some good films in the past, so it's sad to see him whiling away his weeks in colourless fodder like this. Hauer's detached performance fits in nicely with the coldly clinical feel to the film, half bought on by the medical action on screen, and half due to the certain feeling that the makers of this film were in it only for the money. Hauer has definitely been ageing of late and it's sad to see him walk around and do little, wasted again in a pointless role. The rest of the cast are awful; especially the talentless female lead who offers up absolutely NO sympathy.
Mystery fans would be wise to avoid this film, as despite having a few whodunit elements, the premise is flawed as the killer turns out to be somebody who has been in the film for one scene only. Feel cheated? You should do. There's an appalling lack of characterisation meaning that the cast blur into one and you're never really sure of who the actors and actresses are meant to be and what relation they bear to the plot. I'm not sure if this was cut for television, but there is virtually no gore rendering the "disturbing" warning at the beginning of the film pointless. We get to see a few bloody cadavers and some meaty bones but that's about it. Another thing, only one person falls victim to the killer in this film. Talk about rationing, this is ridiculous! I liked a couple of the more outlandish moments: Hauer running through a morgue, pulling out all the corpses and checking them to see if the stitches match with the murder victim; plus the fun scenes which have bones being discovered in brightly-coloured parcels. Otherwise, this is a strictly middling affair: not bad enough to make you cry, just enough to make you think "why?" instead. The premise in itself isn't particularly bad, and I'm sure a good film could have been made of it. Pass it over unless you're stuck for something to watch.