Review: Skeletons

Pulitzer Prize winning journo Ron Silver has a heart attack and he seizes an opportunity to head away from the big smoke to a small Maine town with his wife (Dee Wallace) and son (Kyle Howard). It seems like a peaceful, friendly town like something Norman Rockwell would’ve envisioned. However, this town turns out to be not so friendly after all, as Silver and fam discover when he investigates the case of an incarcerated gay man (Dennis Christopher) accused of murdering his lover. The man’s devoted mother (Carroll Baker) believes he's innocent, and Silver starts to feel that way too. Unfortunately, the locals of Saugatuck have a different view, and start to make life a living hell for Silver and his family as he edges closer to the truth. James Coburn plays a friendly local journalist and neighbour who is the only person in town to stick by Silver once word gets out that he’s looking into the case. Christopher Plummer plays the influential local Reverend, who enjoys hunting and whose (adopted?) son Toby is intellectually impaired.

 

Filmmaker David DeCoteau (perhaps best-known for “Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-o-Rama” and Full Moon’s “Puppetmaster III: Toulon’s Revenge”) makes a lot of exploitation/horror films that frequently seem to have homosexual undertones, usually scenes with shirtless hot guys and that sort of thing. Here with this 1997 TV movie he not only got to work with homosexual themes, but in a more ambitious undertaking where he also got to work with one heck of a good cast as well. Scripted by Joshua Michael Stern (“Swing Vote” with Kevin Costner), I’m not gonna say this is an especially memorable film nor do I necessarily think that Mr. DeCoteau’s rather ham-fisted approach is terribly advantageous to what is quite a serious and worthy subject matter. However, the story is quite interesting and likely something the director is passionate about, despite being a last minute replacement for Ken Russell. And just look at that collection of A and B-grade actors! Whatever you make of the film, it ain’t boring and that’s the scale I’m gonna grade it on. I think it deserves a bit more of an audience than it seemed to get.

 

Things don’t get off to a good start with an overdone opening scene and an overly strident music score by John Massari (“Killer Klowns From Outer Space”, “Retro Puppet Master”). However whatever this film lacks in subtlety, the late Ron Silver is on hand to give the film a rock-solid, believable anchor as a crusading investigative journalist. An underrated actor, Silver is the main show here and he’s terrific as seemingly the only sane person in town. Old pros James Coburn and Christopher Plummer turn up to add a touch of class, with the former stealing his every scene and the latter perfectly cast as a sinister holy man. Be wary of any town that has Christopher Plummer as the local religious representative and filmmaker Paul Bartel as the local mayor. It’s good to see Carroll Baker and a well-cast Dennis Christopher as a gay man and his devoted mother respectively, and although the role is stock Dee Wallace is nothing less than solid as Silver’s wife. In small roles we get two surprising casting choices in “Police Academy” actor David Graf and former one-hit wonder heartthrob Jeremy Jordan. They’re effective as respectively, an intimidating hunting enthusiast and creepy Aryan homophobe teen bully.

 

I just wish the film weren’t so ham-fisted. DeCoteau doesn’t hide the ‘surprise’ villain well at all (through no fault of the actor) and look at the absurd bit where a truck driver tries to run Wallace and Kyle Howard off the road. Did we really need that? The whole film has an oddly heightened vibe to it, right down to the way over-the-top finale. And yet, you won’t turn it off. It’s lumpy, but compelling in a trashy way.

 

A very, very soft recommendation. Too silly and overblown to be considered a successful film, but the cast and subject matter are too compelling to not be at least somewhat entertaining. It’s no “Mississippi Burning” or “Boys Don’t Cry”, but you’ll keep watching.

 

Rating: B-