"Bones" (2001)

Revisited the 2001 Snoop Dogg horror romp "Bones" last night as it happened to find it's way into our Netflix queue. Snoop plays Jimmy Bones, a notorious 1979 superfly pimp who gets wrongly assassinated by the community. A group of urban teenagers rent out the building his murder took place in to throw a disco event and, low and behold, the ghost of Bones comes back to haunt them and their parents who took part in the group slaying of the title character. Thankfully, Snoop and director Ernest Dickinson keep the tone light and spoofy, with fun flashbacks to Bones heyday in '79 being the highlights of this familiar tale. Script and acting are derivative but the movie is lightweight, has a sense of humor about itself and delivers plenty of gore. Bones himself, as Snoop plays him could have taken off as a "Freddy Krueger meets Superfly" villian with a great wardrobe. If only the movie itself had more punch. This could have been a great franchise, definitely funnier and more interesting than the current "Saw/Jigsaw" phenomenon. As it stands, "Bones" is a moderately entertaining night out at the movies and a painful reminder of a time when horror movies were still fun.