Horror Movie Review: Bonehill Road (2018)

Combining two horror ideas into one resulting in a bit of a confused, yet enjoyable mess, Bonehill Road is written and directed by Todd Sheets.

The movie stars Eli DeGeer as Emily and Ana Rojas-Plumberg as her daughter Eden. The pair finally have enough of Emily’s abusive boyfriend and make their escape heading for her father’s house. It’s a raw and gritty start, establishing the characters and making them sympathetic.

Battered and bruised, Emily is desperate to get as far away as possible and admits to her daughter that the breaking point came when she realised she was pregnant again. While talking the pair are distracted and hit something on the dark road. Thinking it’s a bear, they wait it out but after nothing shows itself they venture out only to get attacked by werewolves.

They manage to escape and make their way to a remote house hoping to find safety inside. Unfortunately, this is the home of a psychopathic cannibal played by Douglas Epps who already has a few victims tied up at the dinner table. One of which is scream Queen, Linnea Quigley in a small but effective role.

Werewolves outside, a cannibal killer inside…just how will the mother and daughter survive?

On a super-tight and low budget, the work gone into making Bonehill Road a memorable but rough watch is admirable. Its blending of two horror elements doesn’t quite work but it helps sustain the movies run-time, especially as werewolves rarely make good horror villains.

After the initial attack in the car, the beasties are all but forgotten. Replaced with Douglas Epps’ cannibal killer who has a lot fun channelling his inner Chop-Top Sawyer. He’s goofy but threatening at the same time, enjoyable to watch. He turns out to be far worse then the werewolves as he switches moods in an instant and any offence is punished severely.

Those hoping for an outright werewolf movie will be disappointed though and the creatures are left shrouded in mystery. However, if you make it to the final 15 minutes they make their triumphant return for a gloriously violent finish. Here the tension is ramped up to even higher heights and the relationships built come to fruition.

Perhaps the thing Bonehill Road can be most proud of isn’t the good acting or the well-told story, no. It can be proud of its effects, in particular the werewolves. Here we have no CGI, just practical effects and make-up. The werewolves look good, the gore is visceral and a transformation scene at the end is exceptionally well done even if the end result is a little silly looking.

This is how you use a budget.

Bonehill Road missteps can be forgiven because of just how much it does right. It’s not a modern classic or anything but in a genre that repeatedly fails to try, Bonehill Road deserves credit for putting the effort in.