Marrowbone is a 2018 drama about a young man and his three younger siblings, who have kept secret the death of their beloved mother in order to remain together.
Don’t rock the boat seems to be the underlining message when it comes to modern horror, so few films taking greater advantage of the potential the genre truly has, instead relying on the proven standards in delivering the same old story over and over. It’s not like director Sergio G. Sánchez‘ newest film Marrowbone isn’t loaded with plenty of opportunities to do something original, it’s just that the film simply refuses to go there, crowding the story with all kinds of genre trappings we’ve seen before, ending up a one-off with very little separating it from the already overstuffed pack, even as it teases with some moments that sting.
Set in 1969, we come upon a man named Jack (George MacKay), the eldest of a small family of siblings, Billy (Charlie Heaton), Jane (Mia Goth), and Sam (Matthew Stagg). Their mother brought them to the United States, running from a troubled past in England where their highly-abusive father left behind a gruesome trail of victims. Now that she has died, it’s up to Jack to take care of the others, keeping them isolated until he turns twenty-one and gains powers over the estate. The plan seems solid until an outsider in Allie (Anya Taylor-Joy) gets his attention, a young woman who also has the favor of Tom Porter (Kyle Soller), the estate lawyer who is at odds with Jack now over more than the house and the whereabouts of her mother. However, this is not a home of peace as an evil has come to roost and while Jack struggles to keep their past secret, that secret is has come to clean house.
Taking the name of the manor, the children adopt the Marrowbone name and the film spends a good amount of time, as so many often do, slowly building routines and character, tension trickling into the crevices after their mother passes and we discover the need for a fresh beginning for this clearly troubled family. The decrepit house serves as a kind of metaphor for their crumbling status and Sánchez, in his feature film debut, juggles these early moments fairly well, stitching together a bit of dark lore to the story.
However, things become a bit contorted the more we stay, with the plot dividing into a number of tributaries that leave far too many plates in the air. From a love triangle that is soaked in melodrama to well, a few others that I won’t spoil, but of course a ghost traipsing about the house as well. There’s a lot to keep track of, and while that in itself isn’t all that hard, these layers all weigh down the psychological potential of the haunting, leaving it stripped of its power to really matter.
Certainly Sánchez can set the stage for a high quality fright. There are plenty of well-crafted and executed moments of suspense, especially as it makes its way to the final act. Fans of a moody scare are most likely going to have some fun with bits of this, the movie avoiding the jump scare in favor of slow burns of atmosphere that sort of work. The problems lie with just about everything else, the film taking itself far too seriously and some of the acting choices well over the top, soaked in theatrics. Far better in the beginning, this one runs aground, letting a few good twists slip through its fingers, leaving this a disappointing pass.