Ash And Bone

Psychological horror, or thriller films can be found in many different genres with very different plots. What matter´s is that they manage to bring out the psychological elements and make them work, and there are actually some film titles that comes to my mind. Psychological films that take on family subjects are definetely something i am interested in, since there are so many ways a family can break, unless you have a steady ground. One of my personal favourites has to be the 2001 psychological thriller known as Frailty. This is one of those films i highly recommend everyone to see, because it is one of the best in legendary actor Bill Paxton´s amazing career. He actually have the lead role in this film, and he also directed this film. Frailty tells the story of father Meiks ( Bill Paxton ), who in the summer of 1979 said that an angel have visited him, and told him that God want him to "destroy" disguised demons, who may look like humans but are actually demons. Meiks tells his both sons Fenton and Adam that their father has to do this, no matter if it seems wrong. While Adam claims that he begin to see the visions of his father, Fenton feel that there is something wrong with his father. As Fenton starts to question what his father is doing, Meiks believe his son needs to be punished and locked in darkness until he see the truth. Frailty is one of those films that is difficult to watch, because you don´t want any child to see their father killing people, or hurting his own child. Bill Paxton gives an amazing acting performance, and really manage to bring out an acting performance that is very difficult to portrait in such a powerful way as he does in this film. I suggest you pick up a copy of Frailty on DVD or Blu Ray today, no matter where you can buy it online. If i say the name Harley Wallen, you might recognize the name very quickly. And i would not be surprised, because Harley have given us several quality films such as Eternal Code, and especially the really good TV series Tale Of Tails ( go watch this TV series on Tubi ). It seems that Harley is just becoming more popular for each year, so i have a feeling that he have a lot of treats to deliver his big screen audience. For quite some time i have heard about a new film that he have directed called Ash And Bone, that seemed to be a psychological horror film. Not knowing much about the plot or any of the characters, i was given a chance to see the film. Is this the film that will take Harley Wallen´s career on a whole new level, or is this film not as good as i was hoping it would be?

Cassie Vanderbilt ( Angelina Danielle Cama ) is a rebellious teen who does not want to travel outside of Detroit, with her father Lucas Vanderbildt ( Harley Wallen ) and his partner Sarah Vanderbildt ( Kaiti Wallen ), Cassie´s stepmother. They travel to a cabin outside of detroit to get away from the city life, while Cassie clearly don´t want to be here. She escapes to a local bar where she finds out about a local urban legend, about an odd family living in a big house. Cassie becomes curious to see if the urban legend is true, if this family really are ass odd as they say that they are. She is about to find out, that once you enter the property of the McKinley family, you will never be safe again.

One of the first subjects that Ash And Bone clearly bring up early in the film, is the subject that a lot of families have gone through. And that is rebellious teenagers, wich most of us have gone through when we were young. So you can understand the character Cassie, she has a lot of things to struggle with in her mind. I do think this was a good way to introduce the family, by showing us a realistic scenario that a lot of parents have gone through, or experience at this moment. It gives us a chance to get to know the characters a bit better. Cassie played by wonderful actress Angelina Danielle Cama ( who you might recognize from the Harley Wallen film Eternal Code ), is a really good match for this character. Angelina manage to capture the right kind of emotions, that a rebellious young teenager would have at her age. I also think her costume for the character fits very well, where she is clearly drawn to the metal scene. Director Harley Wallen plays the character known as Lucas, and he is such a loving natural father. Harley have no problem getting into this role, and it feels like he knew exactly how to portrait Lucas, and it almost feels like he did not even have to do any rehearsals. Actress Kaiti Wallen ( playing the character known as Sarah ) proves once more why she is so good in front of the camera, and deliver one of her better acting performances that i have seen her do. The thing i especially love about Kaiti is that she can do so many different kinds of characters in films, and still manage to balance each one in her own unique way. Legendary actor Mel Novak ( known from classics such as Game Of Death with Bruce Lee and A Force Of One with Chuck Norris ) as the bartender Louie, is without a doubt one of his best acting performances in many years. I wish we would have had more scenes with him, since it would have been interesting to know more about his personality. Wonderful actress Erika Hoveland as the mentally disturbed character May McKinley is so damn good, that i would love to meet her someday and personally thank her for this performance. When it comes to the plot and the horror elements in Ash And Bone, i would say that this is the most ambitious film that director Harley Wallen have made in his career so far. This film is much darker than we are used to see him do, and much more brutal. How is the psychological level in this film? A bit too soft to be honest, i would have liked to have more. But this does not mean that Ash And Bone will leave you disappointed, if you are a horror fan. There are elements here that surprised me, especially the urban legend that turns out to be true ( in the film, not in real life ). I have seen several Harley Wallen films, and i can easily say that Ash And Bone is his most professional film so far, with both strong characters and give us a fascinating story. There is no doubt in my mind, Ash And Bone is a film that will please the horror community, and definetely surprise some people as well.

Rating: DDD