The Horror Show
The Secret of Marrowbone
by Sergio G. Sánchez
The Secret of Marrowbone is a horror movie that touches several boundaries of the thriller realm as gently as possible, trying to be scary yet dramatic, but in the end failing to deliver. And that’s for a number of reasons.
The atmospheric story set in the 60s follows Jack (George MacKay), a young English boy who moves to America with his three younger siblings after the death of their mother. Haunted by trauma, which was caused by their abusive father, the four siblings need to face the music alone.
Their past, the one that they think they escaped from, comes back to torment them. Before the big reveal — which is unfortunately the movie’s lukewarm climax — the story unravels at a rather flat pace. Writer and director Sergio G. Sánchez was probably going for a slow build-up that, in the end, took too long.
Interestingly, Sánchez is also the person behind the story of The Orphanage; a great piece of Spanish work back in 2007. Ten years later, he comes with The Secret of Marrowbone, and frankly, for a haunted house horror, this one is quite light on the scares.
In principle, however, The Secret of Marrowbone should tick all the boxes of an entertaining horror choice. Sánchez made sure to include the necessary jump-scares to give some heartbeat to the movie, and at the same time, he tried to keep the core mystery intriguing enough. The comparison to The Orphanage, however, is what causes most of the damage.
On the bright side, I must give credits to Sánchez for the great cast. MacKay’s performance is key to the storytelling as he is forced by the circumstances into early adulthood and being the man of the house. MacKay has several strong moments that shape and strengthen the story, but the blurred borderline between supernatural and psychological takes a toll on the overall experience.
Maria Kriva, HMS
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