Bones and All – Review

Based on a book of the same name, Bones and All is a fairly dark romance with dramatic horror overtones throughout. The year is 1988 and the setting starts in small town Virginia. Maren Yearly (Russell) lives with her protective dad Frank (Holland) in a small home, where she is locked inside her room nightly. She has no knowledge of her mother, not even a picture.

She wants to make more friends, so she sneaks out to a girl sleepover party when a peer invites her. She has only been in town for a little while, but this group of girls is at least trying to get to know her. Things are going really well for Maren until… she inexplicably does something horrendous. What the hell is happening?

Her dad knows. In the car in three minutes, he demands. Take anything you can, but it is time to be good and gone. Something is clearly different with this girl. Off to Maryland the pair goes, but what secrets are they hiding?

Things continue to spiral for Maren and her dark urges grow. As she winds up navigating the world, other strange and mysterious characters enter her life. Perhaps they help her find herself, or perhaps they are even more dangerous than she is.

Bones and All is a strangely hypnotic affair which is very well acted and despite graphic and shocking violence plays out almost as if a classic love story and coming of age tale. Ultimately though, this is more than it appears as it adds monstrous layers of darkness to a haunting life drama. It is a bit long and too slow at times, but it is not often boring and the director did a great job putting it all together and managing its varying elements.