Stars: Reggie Bannister, Elissa Dowling, Kelly Misek, Jr., Julia Cavanaugh, Devin Toft, Jamie Scott Gordon, Lawrence Wayne Curry, Hannah Richter | Written by Keith Melcher | Directed by Brett DeJager
After slaughtering nearly all the local police force, the legendary immortal serial killer Bonejangles has finally capture. With Bonejangles now detained and heavily sedated, the four surviving officers need to transport him to a secure facility. On route, the police van breaks down in a cursed town called Argento(!), overrun by zombies and controlled by a succubus witch and to make it worse Bonejangles escapes.
There are plenty of horror comedies, but it is always difficult to get the right balance between the two. Bonejangles thankfully follows in the footsteps of the Hatchet series, by creating a mix of ridiculous laugh out comedy and enough bloody gore to keep most horror fans entertained. The violence in the film is played out with a lot of tongue and cheek humour and remains in keeping with the classic clichés of the horror genre. However, writer Keith Melcher throws in a few unexpected twists, which adds a sharp satirical edge to how the characters react. Although once Bonejangles has his machete, they end up with a familiar fate.
As a villain, I really like what they have created. Bonejangles is modelled on Jason Voorhees from the Friday the 13th series, but instead suffers from father issues and has a much better mask. Son of a notorious serial killer Edgar Sr. played energetically by Reggie Bannister, who like Pamela Voorhees did for Jason, still guides Bonejangles from the grave as the driving force for his killing spree. It may only be a small part for Reggie, who is best known for the Phantasm series, but it is memorable as he warns Bonejangles about the evils of woman and how he must protect his winky from them.
The same could be said for some of the other characters such as for Elissa Dowling – the succubus witch, who feels underused in the film. But with so much going on and the various sub plots, the film just keeps moving without really looking back. It works for the pacing of the film, but there are a lot of ideas to fit into a relatively short running time of 78 minutes.
Although we are naturally routing for Doug (Kelly Misek Jr.) as the cowardly cop returning to his home town which transferring Bonejangles, it is the anti-hero Clint (Devin Toft) that I found most entertaining. Normally he is the character in the film we generally dislike, but the way they utilised the character with Devin’s overstated performance I found his performance extremely funny.
Bonejangles is creative enough to deserve a sequel and it would be great to see the immortal serial killer return. With the original already setting a trend with a succubus witch and zombies, the options remain unlimited for the additional forces who battle against or alongside the immortal Bonejangles.
Bonejangles stalks VOD (in the US) July 18th, courtesy of Wild Eye Releasing.
