‘Bones and All’: Getting to the Bare Bones of What Makes a Monster

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Bones and All is a gem of a movie that I recently caught on Netflix. I don’t remember any hype around it, so I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. I suppose it can be called a horror movie. It certainly has horror elements. 

More importantly for me, it has heart and soul, and great ensemble acting. 

The movie, set in the late 1980s, centers around a teenager named Maren. She’s been sheltered all her life by her strict father. He closely monitors her activities and locks her in her bedroom at night.  

One evening, Maren sneaks out to a sleepover hosted by one of her high school friends. There, we find out the reason for her dad’s behavior when she gives in to her cannibalistic urges. She runs home and tells him what happened, and the pair flee out of town. 

It turns out that Maren has been hungry for human flesh all her life. Her father abandons her in a new town, telling her she has to fend for herself from now on. He leaves a tape explaining her history. He also leaves her birth certificate, which is the first time she learns her mother’s name. 

She sets out to find her mother, and meets “eaters” like herself along the way. 

The movie is adapted from a 2015 novel by Camille DeAngelis. The story ultimately is of an outcast trying to find belonging and acceptance. Fate has dealt her an awful hand, and she sees what living at the fringes of society does to other eaters. 

Taylor Russell brings touching vulnerability and quiet strength to her role as Maren. Timothée Chalamet shines as Lee, the boyfriend who offers Maren love and support as he tries to weather his own problems. Full disclosure: I am a Chalamet fan. He was what drew me to the movie in the first place. 

Mark Rylance, the disturbing drifter that tries to take Maren under his wing, is absolutely chilling. 

I recommend the movie if you want more from a horror story than an adrenaline rush. This one will make you think and feel and question what it is that truly makes a monster a monster. 

[The movie is no longer streaming on Netflix. I watched it on the last day it was available.]

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