SNOOP DOGG CHASES TALE OF TERROR AS URBAN LEGEND TAKES ON THAT OLD DEVIL
CRACK COCAINE

Snoop Dogg is in the haunted hiz-ouse. The rap performer stars as a
pimp-stylin' vengeful spirit in "Bones," an urban horror thriller with a
retro-funk twist. The role of a supernatural mack daddy is a perfect fit
for Snoop, ne Calvin Broadus, who has made sinister appearances in such
films as "Baby Boy" and "Training Day." The blaxploitation-inspired
character suits his rap persona. It also recalls "Candyman," another
wronged soul who terrorized an inner-city neighborhood. However, "Bones" is
more of a traditional haunted house thriller, set in a decrepit brownstone
with a skull-like facade.

Big floppy hats aside, the film's most clever notion is to demonize crack
cocaine, as opposed to Snoop's Jimmy Bones. While alive, Bones was the
benevolent patron and protector of the neighborhood. In the wake of his
untimely death, drugs turned the 'hood into a living hell, where the people
are walking ghosts. Stirred by a group of teens who foolishly disregard
urban legend and attempt to restore his spooky old home as a dance club,
Bones rises from the grave to exact his bloody revenge on those responsible.

The crack theme makes "Bones" more engaging than similar, recent films such
as "The Haunting" and "House on Haunted Hill," for a time at least. Sadly,
the low-budget horror flick ultimately resorts to genre conventions and
falls apart during the gory final act.

A modern-day prologue sequence finds Bones' decaying manor guarded by a
large black dogg (--) er, dog (--) with glowing red eyes. The hellhound
mauls two rich white kids who make the mistake of hiding in the house while
fleeing police during a drug deal.

Soon thereafter, a group of young entrepreneurs buy the building with plans
to turn it into a club for their DJ act, the Resurrection Brothers. The
teens are undaunted by the cobwebs and rats, never mind the bloody claw
marks on the stoop or the human jawbone in the foyer. The place has serious
potential, Patrick (Khalil Kain) says.

"Yeah, the potential to leave me seriously injured," replies Maurice (Sean
Amsing), all too presciently.

While fixing up the building, the teens do all the stupid things teens in
these types of films do, including befriending the big bad dog and
disturbing Jimmy Bones' shallow basement grave. Patrick and his brother
Bill (Merwin Mondesir) also incur the wrath of their father, Jeremiah
(Clifton Powell), who escaped the neighborhood years before to make a
better life for his sons in the suburbs (--) among other reasons.

Director Ernest Dickerson ("Tales From the Crypt: Demon Knight") peppers
the film with flashbacks to 1979, in which we gradually learn the truth
about Bones and his relationships with the neighborhood regulars, including
fortune teller Pearl (Pam Grier), drug dealer Eddie Mack (Ricky Harris) and
slovenly Det. Lupovitch (Michael T. Weiss).

But once their secrets are revealed, the film devolves into Western-style
retribution dressed up for Halloween with buckets of blood and torrents of
maggots. The special effects vary between convincing and schlocky, but none
of it is all that scary.

The most frightening thing about "Bones" is the apparent prospect of a sequel.

Review: 2 stars

'Bones'
Rated (R) (--)Gory violence, drugs

Playing (--) Dutch Square, Wynnsong