Weekend Movies #3- Marrowbone

The third movie that I present in my Weekend Movies series is a heartbroken tale of four siblings and their mother. This hidden Indie gem was a sudden finding when I was hopping between Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Apple TV in hopes of finding some good horror to watch. It had a horror tag on it- but the Rotten Tomato score was low. So I had almost ditched the plan of watching it, in the fear of wasting my time- until I saw the cast. So let’s start with that first, the cast.

Cast of Marrowbone

The horror queen Anya Taylor-Joy was the one who drove me to check out the rest of the cast before exploring the movie. Then I saw Charlie Heaton, Matthew Stagg, George MacKay, Mia Goth, and even Kyle Soller. 

Do you see where I am getting at? No? 

Well, the cast in the lead made me feel that either this movie is going to be a cliched ghost-hunting story- inspired by the Ghostbusters franchise, probably a worse disaster than the new movies (No offense Paul Rudd), or it could be the victorian era themed tale of siblings bothered by some ghost. 

My mind didn’t go beyond that time, for the good; to my surprise- the movie turned out way better than my theories of it.

The Marrowbone Plot

Well, the opening shows us the siblings along with their mother checking out a house in the USA, where they apparently moved to from the UK to escape their abusive father. At least that is how the plot felt initially. 

The dialog and series of events set up another expectation of a cliched story where the father might have found the siblings and kids would fight back and win- and then they would live happily ever after- right? Not that either!

It had a deeper heartbreak to offer. The movie ‘SPOILER ALERT’ revolves around the story of Jack, who is protective of his siblings, cares most for his brother Sam, and has to sometimes show a little bit of dominance over Billy due to his naiveness and anger. Allie, on the other hand, meets the siblings and becomes their friend on one of their adventures in the beautiful landscapes that surround the home.

Allie’s entry planted another theory into my mind, maybe she was supposed to be the villain, nuh uh- wrong again!

Then there’s Porter, a nosey civil worker responsible for collecting taxes from the family who does more than that. Like trying to convince Allie to elope with him to the big city where he had supposedly got the new job, or lurking around in the Marrowbone house where he had no business inside.

Marrowbones, soon after they moved to the house, faced a greater loss, their mother passed away leaving them to face the world alone. But Jack soon took charge while also keeping their mother’s passing a secret until he was old enough to legally take custody of his siblings. Though before that day would come, tons of events took place. 

For starters, Porter, in jealousy of Allie and Jack’s relationship, threatened Jack to bribe him with money to keep the mother’s passing a secret. A secret this big could disband siblings sending younger ones to foster homes. While all this was happening, their father found the siblings too, leading to a violent confrontation between Jack and his father. 

There’s so much that happens after it- and as much as I want to write about it, it’s an experience you should have yourself. Keep tissues ready because you will cry- that’s the biggest spoiler I can give for now. 

Where to watch Marrowbone in The UK, Australia, France, and More?

Once you are done watching, come back and tell me in the comments whether you liked the movie or not.

Also, drop me a suggestion if you think I should watch and review it.

Check Out Previous Episodes of Weekend Movies:

Weekend Movies #2- Killers of the Flower Moon

Weekend Movies #1- Three Thousand Years of Longing