Bag of Bones (2011)

 Bag Of Bones (2011)

Without a doubt Stephen King can pen a great ghost story, I think one that has always been one of my favourites is his 1998 novel Bag Of Bones.  I know that many disagree with me on that, but I always felt like the way that he constructed that story, that I felt strongly touched emotionally by this novel.  In 2011 television channel A&E made a two part miniseries of King's novel, and I felt like they captured the feeling of the book quite well, and actually followed the original novel pretty faithfully.  Though not everyone agrees on that, many cite that the film is too slow going, and comes off hokey, but I felt that it was quite a sincere film, and that with the choice of casting, I could really feel the emotional struggle that the characters were dealing with. 

Bag Of Bones is about an author, Mike Noonan whose wife dies in a tragic accident in the street outside of a book signing that he is doing in New York City.   After finding out that his wife was pregnant, and being suspicious that she was cheating on him, and with her haunting him, he decides to start digging into what the hell she was doing up at the lake cabin all alone, while he was busy writing at home.  So he packs a couple bags and heads up to Dark Score Lake Maine, and there he uncovers more than he bargained for, and learns about what it means to go "Dark Score Crazy", and finds himself helping a lovely young woman and her daughter.   This is a film that is not just a horror film, but an emotional drama, about a man who loses his greatest love in life, and his ability to keep writing, and while trying to discover his wife's secrets, he discovered his own family's dark past, and what his part is in it.   It is great gripping ghost story by the master of horror!

Bag Of Bones was directed by Mick Garris, who has collaborated with Stephen King several times with television film versions of his works.  The screenplay is by Matt Venne, and attempts to adapt Stephen King's 1998 novel of the same name.   The film was released as a two part television miniseries in 2011 by television network A&E.   The television miniseries has traditionally been a great way to present Stephen King's works, as often times his books are too big and detailed to fit into a feature film.  It looks like with streaming services this is a tradition that will continue, with the success of shows like 11/22/63, Mr. Mercedes, The Outsider, and others as limited television series.     The mini series wasn't as successful as some of the ones that he did for the big television networks in the 1990s, as A&E has a smaller viewer pool than say CBS for example, but it was pretty successful with the station's viewers.   However the critics were mixed to negative in their reviews of it, many like I said saying that the story comes off feeling hokey, and just too long and slow going.   Which of course I disagree with, I like that slow going pace, I feel that it builds up to a satisfying climax.  I also feel like the story was perfectly at home at A&E, as it fits well into the programming that they tend to be known for, of the pro-woman and painting men as evil story elements, which though the main character is male, it is really the story of three women, and how two of them use him to save the life of a little girl, from the other one (I really can't say more, because I really do feel like this film is worth watching and I don't want to spoil anything of this amazing story for those who haven't seen it).

Bag Of Bones stars Pierce Brosnan as Mike Noonan, Annabeth Gish plays his wife Jo Noonan, Melissa George plays Mattie Devore, Caitlin Carmichael plays her daughter Kyra Devore, William Schallert plays her evil father in law Max Devore (David Sheftell plays the young Max Devore in flashbacks), Gary Levert plays Sheriff George Footman (who works for Max Devore), Anika Noni Rose plays Sara Tidwell, Jason Priestly plays Mike's agent Marty, Matt Frewer plays Mike's gay brother Sid Noonan, and Peter MacNeil plays Bill Dean.  This film has a great cast, I think that this might be my favourite work of Pierce Brosnan, he does an amazing job at conveying the emotion of the character, and I could actually feel his pain after his wife's accident, and in other highly emotional parts of the film.  His portrayal of the character felt very authentic to me.  I also really appreciate Annabeth Gish as an actress, I first really was aware of her as Trish in the film SLC Punk, but I am starting to realize that she is in a lot of films and shows that I love, with her in here as the beautiful Jo Noonan, and recently I watched The Haunting Of Hill House, and found out she was in that as well, she really is a talented and underrated actress.  

Bag Of Bones is set in Stephen Kings version of Maine, though it was filmed in Nova Scotia.   Dark Score Lake is a fictional place, so it can be found on a map, however, if you know the state of Maine you can figure out where Dark Score Lake's real life counter part is.   For example we know that Derry is based on Bangor, Castle Rock is based on Lisbon Falls, 'Salem's Lot is based on Durham, Hancock is Ludlow from Pet Sematary (though Ludlow is an actual place in far northern Maine, which is not the Ludlow from Pet Sematary), and I think I have found the real life location of Haven to be Brooklyn Maine near Blue Hill (there is an actual area there called Haven which if you search on the map you can find it).  So at first I was thinking that Dark Score might be Rangeley Maine, but as I dug more into it, I started rethinking the location, and moved it further south.  I know that Dark Score needs to be near the New Hampshire boarder, not too far form Mount Washington New Hampshire, and I know this because of Stephen King's Gerald's Game novel, and I also know that it needs to be near the fictional Chester Mills.   So I think Rangeley might actually be more likely near the location of where The Girl That Loves Tom Gordon takes place, and I think that Chester Mills might be Bridgeton (though I might be wrong in that, and will explore that more when reviewing a film set there), but I think that the real life counterpart of Dark Score Lake then might in fact be Kezar Lake, and that the village is actually Center Lovell, which of course is also the location of Stephen King's lake home.  Now this is all of course speculation, and guesstimation, and only Stephen King himself could tell us the truth of this, and I would love to hear his thoughts on my theories on this.   However the film was shot in and around Halifax Nova Scotia, which is a pretty common thing for Stephen King films to be shot in Canada, I am guessing that there are better tax deals and that shooting in Nova Scotia is cheaper than shooting in Maine, which I feel is unfortunate, because I feel like Maine is the most beautiful and amazing state in the United States, and I would really like to see more films set here, filmed here.  I think that might be part of why Pet Sematary is my favourite Stephen King film, it is filmed in and around Hancock Maine and Acadia National Park, with scenes set in Bangor filmed in Bangor.   Though I suppose, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia are pretty close stand-ins for Maine if shooting here isn't possible for whatever reason.  

If you have not yet seen Bag Of Bones, I highly recommend checking it out, I feel like it is a rather faithful adaptation of Stephen King's novel, and a quite effective ghost story.   The film looks beautiful, it has some wonderful acting by a very talented cast, and though it is long and slow, I feel that helps to build up the emotional context of the film, and helps the climax to be all the more powerful.   Some of the effects look a bit dated now, but for a made for television film, I think it still looks pretty amazing overall.   The characters are well written and I feel a strong emotional connection to them.  Overall, I feel like Mick Garris did an amazing job on directing this beautiful ghost story by Stephen King, and I highly recommend checking it out.   So if you come across a copy of Bag Of Bones, don't pass it up, I feel like it is an important part of every Stephen King film collectors library.   I don't know if it is a must-see film, but it is still one that I highly recommend.