Fans of horror author Stephen
King can expect more than a few chills and
thrills from A&E Network’s miniseries adaptation
of the writer’s best seller Bag of Bones.
The two-part, four-hour supernatural series
stars Pierce Brosnan as Mike Noonan, a bestselling
novelist who suddenly finds himself at
wit’s end after the sudden death of his wife Jo
(Anabeth Gish).
Unable to focus on his work and fighting a
bout of writer’s block, Mike decides to take a
trip to the couple’s vacation home in Maine.
Still grieving for the loss of his wife, he begins
to sense that she is trying to communicate with
him from beyond the grave.
When
magnetic
letters
on the refrigerator
mysteriously
begin
forming
words and
a familiar
little bell
hanging off
a moose
head in the
living room
inexplicitly
rings, Mike
becomes
hopeful
that his
love is indeed
in the
house with
him.
But Mike
also senses a more negative spirit dwelling in
the house. When he stumbles upon an unexplained
tub full of water during the first part of
the series, he gets an even more frightening
shock when he tries to drain it.
Eventually Mike finds his creative voice and
goes into town where her meets and befriends a
young widow, Mattie (Melissa George), and her
daughter Kyra (Caitlin Carmichael). Soon, Mike
gets swept up in the middle of a custody battle
between her and the child’s wealthy grandfather,
Max (William Schallert).
Mike is also haunted by nightmares and visions
revolving around Sara Tidwell (Anika Noni
Rose), a 1930s blues singer whose dark secret
holds the key to all mysterious hauntings and
occurrences at Dark Score Lake.
The storyline for Bag of Bones takes a while
to develop, but viewers who endure the slow
pace of the first two hours will be rewarded
with a thrilling climax to the two-part miniseries.
While there are also enough frightening
scenes to keep horror fans satisfied, there
aren’t enough to scare away causal Stephen
King fans.
It’s a clever take on a classic Stephen King
novel, and while it may not rank among the top
supernatural movie events of all time, it is suspenseful
enough to keep you guessing.
