BONES

Year: 2001
USA: New Line Cinema
Cast: Snoop Dogg, Pam Grier, Michael T Weiss, Khalil Kain, Bianca Lawson, Clifton Powell, Ricky Harris, Ronald Selmour, Merwin Mondesir, Sean Amsing, Katharine Isabelle, Kirby Morrow, Lynda Boyd, Geoff Redknap
Director: Ernest R Dickerson
Country: USA
USA: 93 mins
USA Rated: R for violence/gore, language, sexuality and drugs
USA Release Date: 24 October 2001


Synopsis

The time is 1979. Jimmy Bones (Grammy-nominated rap superstar, Snoop Dogg, in his first starring role) is a legendary protector and patron of his thriving urban neighborhood. Cool, handsome and respected, Bones is the benevolent caretaker of his people, until he is betrayed and murdered by those closest to him simply for refusing to cooperate with them in a plan to begin dealing crack cocaine to the local populace.

Now crime and drugs have crumbled the neighborhood and Jimmy Bones has become a feared legend, a charismatic emblem of better times but also some one whose very name evokes dread. The dwelling in which he was brutally killed, remains standing but has become a decrepit, abandoned memorial to it's former owner. Bones' woman Pearl (Pam Grier), whostill loves him and Shotgun (Ronald Selmour), Bones' right-hand man who has never forgiven himself for not having the courage to die an honorable death protecting his friend, still live in the neighborhood and give the place a wide berth. It's well-known that strange happenings surround the house, and that those foolish enough to pass through it's doorway often don't come out.

As fate would have it, the sons of Bones' old friend Jeremiah (Clifton Powell), one of those who betrayed him, find their way back to this very house. In the intervening years, Jeremiah has made good, left the ghetto behind and moved his family out to the suburbs. But unbeknownst to Jeremiah, his enterprising sons Patrick (Khalil Kain) and Bill (Merwin Mondesir) have returned to the old neighborhood to open an after-hours nightclub, buying the gothic structure where Jimmy Bones still lies buried in the basement - and where his tormented spirit has continued to claim dominion all these years. But the brothers, along with their step-sister Tia (Katharine Isabelle) and friend Maurice (Sean Amsing), are blissfully unaware of the danger and eagerly move in, anxious to fix the place up and get their dance club happening which unleashes a series of strange and unexplainably terrifying events.

Jimmy Bones is staging a comeback...and he's hell-bent on revenge, intent on tracking down and visiting vengeance upon all those who betrayed him. But Bones' tortured spirit is also drawn back to this world by the love that once guided his life - his love for Pearl, the woman who has remained steadfast in her devotion to him and who has raised his daughter, Cynthia (Bianca Lawson), a child born after his death and someone he's never known.