Search - Bone Yard (2000) on DVD

Great Late-Nite Pizza flick!

Duston Barto | Hickory, NC | 02/06/2000

(3 out of 5 stars)

"This movie has it all! Spooky ghouls, Occult practices, blood splatter, and Phyllis Diller as the diabolical Poopinplatz! This is a great flick to kick back and watch with friends and just have fun. I loved the cheese factor and the surprisingly interesting concept. I think everyone should see this at least once; heck.. I even bought it so I could show my friends the wierdest "horror" movie ever made! I have to admit.. there are several points that actually made me jump in surprise!"

This will definately keep any b-movie fan pleased

Brian Ringler | Aberdeen, SD United States | 02/14/2001

(3 out of 5 stars)

"This movie has almost everything to keep a cheesy movie fan pleased. It has zombies, phyllis diller, a psychic, and a big zombie poodle. Yes, a zombie poodle. The zombie poodle didn't get as much screen time as it should've but its worth the price for that alone. The original box had a picture of the poodle on it with the quote "keep repeating to yourself, it's only a poodle" and thats why I originally watched this. The only reason it didn't get a higher review was because the movie drags until the last half."

Zombos Closet of Horror Review

Iloz Zoc | Westbury, NY | 05/19/2006

(2 out of 5 stars)

"The Boneyard is an odd, uneven mix from director and writer, James Cummins. There are elements to the script, however, that make it an interesting and almost creepy story, but poor pacing, monotonous dialog scenes, and somewhat laughable special effects get in the way.

The original idea, to take a world-weary, burned-out and overweight psychic investigator, toss in a background story about child demons that spend most of their time devouring anything that moves, and mix them together in an understaffed, and soon to be closed coroner's building late one night, would seem to be a solid one, and one ripe with horrific possibilities suitable for any gore-hound or horror-head. But...by the time we get to the demonized and giganticized poodle terrorizing everyone toward the end, well, you can see where best intentions may have gone astray.

The film opens with a drawn-out scene wherein our two stalwart detectives, well-played by Ed Nelson and James Eusterman, enter the psychic's house (Alley, played with little energy by Deborah Rose) looking for her help on a baffling case involving a mortician and what appear to be three dead children. After trying to convince her to help them, they leave, and later that night, she has a disturbing psychic vision that gets her back into the thick of it.

Back in the police station, Alley and the detectives listen to the interrogation of the mortician, and hear how the mortician's family has, for three centuries, kept the three child-sized ghouls from devouring living people by feeding them body parts garnered from the funeral home's attendees.

The coroner's building is where the story kicks into gear with veteran performers Phyllis Diller and Norman Fell, but not before we are subjected to a confusing flashback experienced by Alley, and an interminable dialog sequence between the two detectives where nothing happens. Show me, don't tell me, and if you must tell me, at least make it interesting. Luckily, the script is included as an extra on the DVD, and reading the flashback scene explained how the family tried to resurrect their children three hundred years ago with disastrous results. But how the dialog sequence was kept in still eludes me. It reads just as boringly as it was to watch, and provided nothing to further the story along. Alley snaps back from the flashback into a a vision of the three little ghouls awakening downstairs in the morgue, putting the detectives and morgue attendants in imminent danger. Due to poor direction, little tension is generated as Alley hurriedly makes her way downstairs to warn them.

The scene she comes upon, with dead bodies strewn everywhere, gobs of blood across the floor, and the little hellions eating away (especially one gustily attacking an open rib-cage) is suddenly gory, horrific and exciting. A great scene that stands out in an otherwise so-so endeavor. Its very gruesomeness is a sudden and unexpected jolt that brings us into the story. Mayhem ensues as the survivors try to escape the onslaught.

In the midst of all the carnage, once again the story stops to allow a dialog exchange between two characters that does nothing to move the story along. Instead, we hear whys and wherefores, and the action grinds to a halt as we get unneeded background information. Alley and Floosoms finally square off, and the ending contains no sequelization-antics to spoil it.

A readme folder on the DVD is meant for use on a PC. It contains the script, publicity kit and photos, and preliminary artwork for the monsters (two of which were used above) in PDF format. Scripts are always welcome, as they can show the original vision as written compared to the edited and finished film.

The film is still worth seeing, though you may wish to fast-forward a bit here and there."

"Dare to enter, Try to leave"

M. Ryan Fairbanks | Cleveland, Ohio | 11/03/2009

(3 out of 5 stars)

"That tagline is so terrible, I just had to use it as my review title. This early 90's zombie outing has all the cheesy, B-movie charm you could ask for. Plus a poodle zombie. How could you go wrong there?

Detective Jersey calls upon Allie, a psychic, to aid him in investigating a series of grim murders. It seems that a local mortician has been keeping the zombified corpses of three children alive by feeding them spare parts of cadavers, a ritual he claims his family has done for the past 300 years. When Jersey and company arrive at the morgue AKA "The Boneyard" to investigate, they become trapped inside with the three grotesque zombie children that have a taste for human flesh. Oddly, a bite from these zombies doesn't spread the infection, but rather if a human were to get zombie flesh in their mouth somehow. Perhaps the greatest moment is the finale, when a man in a zombified poodle suit appears to wreak more havoc on the survivors of the ordeal.

The Boneyard is one of the stranger horror movies I've seen in a while. It has it's gory disturbing moments, but it also tries to incorporate a great deal of humor. As a horror comedy, it sort of works, but most of the laughs are of the "so bad it's good" variety. The Boneyard also has a dark, eerie undertone, likable characters, and an intriguingly weird storyline. Unfortunately, it's somewhat limited by some stiff acting and cheaply done gore effects, but nothing a seasoned schlock fan couldn't overlook.

Overall I have to say, for as obscure as a horror flick The Boneyard is, it isn't half bad. Highly recommended for B-movie and low budget horror fans."