Ash and Bone
**This piece was written during the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the actors currently on strike, the movies being covered here wouldn’t exist.
“Ash and Bone” wants to be a hillbilly horror film so badly it sidelines what might have been a more intriguing thriller to get there. What the film does in terms of the horror narrative is fine- even if the killers become grating after a while- but the film ultimately feels like a series of teases that doesn’t quite put its ideas together into a cohesive whole.
A husband and father (director Harley Wallen) is taking his family to his old hometown for some time away from the city. The outward reason for the move is because of how rebellious his daughter, Cassie (Angelina Danielle Cama), has gotten, but there’s also implications of legal issues that might have played a part. Cassie is basically a Goth girl, and has no respect for her father’s new wife, Sarah (Kaiti Wallen). She meets some people in town, but when her interest is piqued about a local urban legend- the McKinley’s- they take a trek that could lead to some gruesome consequences.
The film begins with a terrific opening sequence involving a young woman running away from the McKinley’s before the story proper begins, but that is the highlight of “Ash and Bone” with regards to anything involving the McKinley’s. There are implications of a larger conspiracy regarding the family that are barely explored, and everything within the film about the McKinley’s is generic and predictable. That leaves the domestic stuff, which is more interesting- especially when it’s implied there might be more to Cassie’s rebellion than just her look- but is undercut by the performances, which do not really grab us. It would have been a different film without the McKinley’s element, but it might have made the impending danger, and tension, between the family connect more. As such, it feels like writer Bret Miller had two ideas for stories, but didn’t find a strong enough way of connecting them. As such, “Ash and Bone” is a disappointment, but not without interest; it just doesn’t feel like it knows how to stick the landing to standout in its respective genres.
