The Bonesetter (2003)

Only one asset was half-way tolerable and that was attractive Sherry Thurig who at least tries to give her character some personality. Everything else fails and not in a small way, we're talking colossal failure here.The Bonesetter is a cheap-looking movie, camcorder video taping is much more professional-looking than the slipshod photography here, the lighting is often too dim and drab in colour, editing is all over the place in the parts that are supposed to be scary and the special effects are all very half-hearted. The music has some occasional mildly effective parts but that's far outweighed by the majority of the time that it's loud, repetitive and over-bearing.When it comes to the story, that's where The Bonesetter falls down massively. The whole story-telling is literally a load of tired clichés re-hashed with pedestrian pacing and complete lack of scares or suspense to boot(because the whole movie is so predictable), making the relatively scant 72-minute length feel longer by seemingly twice as long. None of the characters are interesting and some are annoying, the villain is also far too obvious and just a walking cliché with no development or menace. The acting is terrible from all but Thurig, with Lloyd Kaufmann underused and going through the motions, Mark Courneyea making a near-broken marionette less wooden and Anne-Marie Frigon showing very little emotion.A vast majority of the blame for the colossal failure of The Bonesetter lies with Brett Kelly, who stars, directs and writes and he fails at all three. His lead performance is stiff and whiny with the character making stupid decisions that don't fit within the situation. His direction makes past-prime action stars less flabby, and the script throughout The Bonesetter is so senseless and awkward-sounding that it feels like there wasn't one written for the movie at all until literally at final stages. Overall, a terrible movie with only Thurig as a redeeming merit. 1/10 Bethany Cox

I don't want to say this movie is bad, merely poorly classified. "The Bonesetter" is not a good horror film (Its hard to make anything good when you appear to have shot entirely on a camcorder) but if you accept it as part of the genre I like to call "Borchardts"* it becomes not only a perfect example of the form, but one of the best I have seen.A Borchardt is a Low budget film, usually horror, that has been produced, written, directed, and (this is critical) stars the same person. This is made painfully obvious through out the film. The star is decent at acting and is often convincing; but the rest of the cast (pulled from friends 9 times out of 10) is well, cardboard. Video production and effects are crude at best, and the importance, sex appeal, and intelligence of the lead are extremely overstressed.The Bonesetter is a great example of a Borchardt, but the full on elongated french kiss between Kelly and the female lead puts it over the top. Also note the film makes reference to Kelly being involved in a relationship with a "party girl" resulting in a child, and he is fawned over by his co-worker in the film. Extremely overstressed.But, before we damn the film, please remember that the important thing is that despite funding and equipment and all the other tough things it takes to make a movie, Kelly at least got it done, and out there. Granted, out there in a four volume collection selling for $6, but how many of your movies are on the shelf at Best Buy?*Named after the film "American Movie"

Firstly let me "come clean" admit that I was in the film, as an extra.That being said the film itself is a good story, well told on a very small budget. This of course somewhat effects the look and feel of the movie but in my opinion does not detract from the story or acting.Anne-Marie Frigon simply steals the screen whenever she appears. She gets the best "one liners" and makes the most of them. Other actors, including Sherry Thurig, do not have extensive experience in front of a camera but it doesn't stop them from giving good performances.The attempt at a creepy atmosphere is evident and with some allowance for the lack of computer aided and expensive special effects we have become used to, the movie pulls it off.Watching it being made I came to appreciate the talents of all involved and look forward to more work from this collection of mostly local talent.

I worked on this movie and it was a real pleasure. The movie turned out to be very atmospheric and moody. it favors acting and story over blood and guts. The mood is dark but there is a good balance of humour in the movie as well. Brett Kelly is a good actor and a good storyteller. Hopefully the indie horror audience who may be be used to sub par stories will appreciate this gem. Despite what has previously been written, the lighting in this movie is actually quite good as is the cinematography. The DVD also features many excellent features such as commentary from the director and actress Anne-Marie Frigon (who shines in every scene she is in) as well as bloopers, outtakes, auditions, camera tests and more. Its really very cool. good job to everyone involved in this movie. Well done