'The Secret of Marrowbone' Review

Plagued by a mysterious presence from their past, Jack (George MacKay) looks to protect his family after the passing of his mother.

With an impressive young cast and mysterious, well-made trailers, 'The Secret of Marrowbone' looked incredibly promising. Eery whilst not giving much away about the story, the film was set up to look like a tense and interesting affair by its marketing. Unfortunately, this was not transferred into the final product at all, with the film being extremely disappointed and very messy.


It must be said that despite this film failing to hit the mark, it isn't at all to do with a lack of effort or laziness. 'Marrowbone' is the directorial debut from successful screenwriter Sergio G. Sanchez and is a fairly ambitious effort from the Spanish filmmaker. However, Sanchez' inexperience as a director shows as he looks to cram in more than the film can handle as the film has major pacing issues. The first half often forgets at times that it's a horror film but does very little to build character or use the time to create interesting scenarios to keep you engaged. There's a weirdly large chunk of time dedicated to playing on the beach and decorating as if the film was a BBC special about children in the countryside which doesn't mix well with the tone the film tries to set later on. During this time there is no attempt at all to try and build any sort of interesting or likable characters. To sum up, the first half of the film is very poor, with it being dull, lifeless and sadly, downright boring. The second half tries to make up for this a bit too much as the pacing goes from 0 to 100 very quickly. Soon enough lots of information and events are rapidly being thrown in with little breathing period. In amongst the ending is a twist that the film heavily relies on but its effect gets lost in amongst all of the ongoing chaos. The film is very unbalanced with far too little of interest happening early on and then far too much ensuing nearer the end and by that time, you've already checked out.


As previously mentioned, the cast for this film made 'Marrowbone' a lot more appealing with an impressive crop of young talent but even this aspect failed to deliver. Anya Taylor-Joy is completely wasted as a love interest with very little character other than her endearment for Jack, played by George MacKay. MacKay is undoubtedly a talented actor, but the script sees quite an emotionless performance with the occasional overly shouty dialogue that doesn't allow him to showcase his abilities. As for the likes of Charlie Heaton and Mia Goth, they are only there to make up the numbers as again they are wasted. There isn't much character in this film at all and with the dull story, it doesn't make for an entertaining viewing. 


What is unquestionably disappointing is the horror elements, as the film resorts to predictable jump scares and loud noises as its main source of 'horror'. There was a potentially interesting element regarding mirrors but it falls completely flat combined with the final twist. This is perhaps the most disappointing part of this film as the scares don't seem to have much thought within them. Although the rest of the film does miss the mark, there is a clear intention to try something ambitious and slightly out of the box. Unfortunately, with its execution of horror, the same cannot be said.


'The Secret of Marrowbone' does take risks with its storytelling but the craftsmanship isn't quite there. The pacing is all off which really harms the effectiveness of the chaos that ensues later on in the film with there being very little of interest happening early on. Despite an attempt to create a film that really makes you think, 'Marrowbone' is certainly an unfortunate misfire.

Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

'Split' Review

Kevin (James McAvoy) has 23 personalities with each of them vying to get an equal share of controlling the body they live within. Kevin abducts three young girls (Anya Taylor-Joy, Haley Lu Richardson, Jessica Sula) to a windowless, locked up basement. They are told that them being there will be for a reason as a 24th personality known as 'The Beast' look set to come to life.

2015 saw the return to the big screen for M Night Shyamalan after two years, his last film being sci-fi flop 'After Earth' with Will and Jaden Smith. By this point, Shyamalan had become a bit of a laughing stock with the most recent part of his filmography being universally panned. The world of film relentlessly mocked the Indian-American director/writer/producer for his involvement in 'The Happening' and 'The Last Airbender' to name a few.

Due to this, the world seemed to forget about Shyamalan's early work or wrote them off as flukes or as a lucky run.  Shyamalan shocked the world with 'The Sixth Sense' and 'Unbreakable' as his ability to create a creepy atmosphere combined with great storytelling made for some great movies. The twist ending also became synonymous with his work and became a trademark that he carried with him through his career. 'Split' is no different to this but mot importantly, it shows that Shyamalan is capable of the quality he produced early on. After the success of his early films, Shyamalan was tipped for greatness- even being described as 'The Next Spielberg' in an issue of 'Newsweek' magazine.

 With such high praise, it may have been easy for it to have gone straight to the former Academy Award nominee's head. It seemingly did just that as his filmography became plagued with bomb after bomb until 2015 where he ended that bad run with the dark comedy 'The Visit'. The film gave hope to fans over the world as maybe, just maybe Shyamalan was getting back to his best form. 'Split' only further cements this as the Shyamalan that we loved looks to have returned.

Shyamalan brings us the same feelings as he did in the like of 'The Sixth Sense'- an eery, intriguing story with dark humour sprinkled throughout the film. There are many moments that feel like an early Shyamalan film, especially due to the twist that comes late on in the film. Shyamalan's ability to craft a story where every detail matters are apparent yet again in this film as there are moments where you think something is unnecessary but it then creeps up on you, later on, bringing a startling revelation along with it. The film isn't perfect as there are some of the poorer Shyamalanisms- some clunky lines of dialogue and placing himself in yet another role helpful to the protagonists but neither are nearly as bad as what we've endured from him before. 

What returns is also a beautifully shot and edited film with Shyamalan working well with cinematographer Mike Gioulakis and editor Luke Franco Ciarrocchi. From the get go, the audience is treated to a wonderful opening credits scene- split into 23 for each of the personalities in the film - as the cast members and directors names come up in bold white block text. The main story takes place mainly in one room and the camera work creates a true claustrophobic feeling as you feel trapped within the confines of this small area. Quite similar to last year's 'Room', on a slightly bigger scale to similar effect. 

James McAvoy gives a career best performance in 'Split' has is given the opportunity to showcase all areas of his acting range. As Kevin who suffers from DID (Dissociative Identity Disorder), he has many different personalities, all different to one another. McAvoy bounces between Barrie; a camp fashion designer, Patricia; a well-spoken British woman and Hedwig; a nine-year-old child to name a few. McAvoy excels in a role that would be an actors dream as he shows hi chops in comedy, drama and horror, and all to a very high standard. It's a real shame that the Scotsman isn't getting any nominations this award season as he fully deserves so. It's very harsh that he is being shunned due to the type of film this is as some of the nominees won't be half as good as McAvoy was in 'Split'.

Anya Taylor-Joy cements herself as one of Hollywood's best young talents in her role as Casey, one of the kidnapped girls who has a cool head about her despite what is going on. The character is written extremely well, giving her a very dark past - the most sickening revelation of the whole film - which allows Taylor-Joy to show off her acting range. Taylor-Joy has been a revelation since bursting onto the scene with 2016's 'The Witch'. If the young actress continues making great choices with her roles and continues performing like she is, we may be looking at the next big thing. Taylor-Joy is accompanied by Haley Lu Richardson and Jessica Sula who lend a helping hand in showing the torture and torment from McAvoy's characters. Acting veteran Betty Buckley adds an interesting character as Kevin's therapist who specialises in those who suffer from DID. Buckley brings a calm performance that allows the audience to understand just what the condition is and how it is allowing Kevin to do such things. Again, the character benefits from some strong screenwriting from Shyamalan. 

'Split' is a great return to form for Shyamalan. He really deserves credit for his work in this film as he has gone back to his roots and meticulously planned out and executed an extremely clever story. This modern exploitation film is deeply layered and more is as everything is loosely connected, creating something that we've missed from Shyamalan. A tense thriller throughout with excellent performances, 'Split' is a great watch with plenty to get out of.

Final Verdict = 

So have you seen 'Split'? If so, what did you think of the film? I hope that this review was useful for if you were planning on seeing the movie or not. Once again, thank you for taking the time to read my review, it is much appreciated!

By Angus McGregor

'Morgan' Review

Last year, 'Ex_Machina' hit the big screen and its story featuring Artificial Intelligence was one of the best of the year. This year 'Morgan' looks to take a slightly different look at this sci fi sub genre whilst looking to make a similar impact. It's safe to say that 'Morgan' is no 'Ex_Machina', but it is still an effective thriller in its own right.

Morgan (Anya Taylor Joy) is a bioengineered child who exceeded the expectations of her creators by learning and adapting to the world in her first few years. However, Morgan has a very aggressive side to her and when she attacks one of her handlers, corporate risk assessor Lee Weathers (Kate Mara) is sent to the facility to make a decision on whether she is safe to keep alive or not. Things turn south as Morgan breaks free and now the staff and Weathers have to deal with a murderous synthetic human.

What really holds 'Morgan' back from being a great movie as it seems to not know what it wants to be. At times, it shows potential to be a sort of Frankenstein like story as a creation has turned bad and is running amok. On other occasions, it showcases the film to be a very effective drama. The film continuously bounces between the two ideas and doesn't decide on one until late on, This does cause a problem with the film as it can't choose which way it wants to go and never settles on where it's going with its story.

However the films biggest strength does come with its drama which the talented cast have to take a lot of credit for. Kate Mara and Anya Taylor Joy are two of the standouts as they appear most in the film and play vital roles in the ever-growing tension and unpredictability that the film holds. The two do very well with Joy giving a chilling performance as Morgan and really gets to show her range of acting, all performed to a very high standard. In fact, the best part of this movie has Morgan come face to face with Paul Giamatti, as Giamatti interrogates her surrounding her recent behaviour and the consequences that may be a foot. This scene is fantastic as Giamatti shows just how good he is in an incredible scene. This is the highlight of the film by far and is one of my favourite scenes of the entire year.

As the film progresses, the tittle character becomes a ruthless killer and is on the loose. This leads to some very brutal scenes with Morgan acting like Hannibal Lecter and brutally clubbing one of her handlers to death with a handgun. Morgan was shown to be ruthless and showed no remorse but only towards those she considered "friends". This was very bizarre for me as she didn't keep this level of ruthlessness the whole way through which was clearly just to prolong the film. This hurts the film as you sit and are baffled by the fact that she was so clinical in some cases and nowhere near so in others.

The action film is very hard-hitting with some really good fight scenes, again with Joy and Mara standing out once again. The pair do fairly well with some tough fight scenes where they don't hold back and you can clearly see the effect that it is taking on each other, especially with Mara's face being bloody and broken by the end of the conflict. After coming out of the cinema, some of my friends were not impressed by how much of the action that they seen. To an extent, I agree with them as there is an abundance of cuts that does really hinder the action. At some points, it does work by not showing exactly what is happening. There are some moments that would probably be genuinely hard to look at and the film uses beautiful sound editing to make sure you know what is happening and what effect it is taking. The film really shows that action featuring female characters can be just as brutal and hard-hitting as they do with male and hopefully opens the door for more like it.

There is a pretty huge twist at the end which really is hit or miss. Unfortunately for me, I wasn't a huge fan of the twist. Looking back, I can recall a moment where it may hint at it but a second watching would be needed to fully see if it was hinted clearly throughout the movie. It seemed very abrupt and left me puzzled as it happened and I couldn't quite understand how it was possible. The film does explain it a little at the end but it just didn't fully impress me unfortunately.

Overall, 'Morgan' has some great moments, especially from its talented cast. Anya Taylor Joy builds on from the 'The Witch' to show that she is one of Hollywood's finest young actresses. Kate Mara also shines with Paul Giamatti doing fantastically well. Some problems such as undeciding on what story to go with and inconsistencies with the tittle character really hold this back from being a great movie. Entertaining throughout with an intriguing premise but the excecution wasn't quite perfect.

Final Verdict = 

So have you seen 'Morgan'? If so what did you think of it? I hope that this review was useful for if you were planning on seeing the movie! Once again, thank you for taking the time to read my review, it is much appreciated!

By Angus McGregor