In 1979 Jimmy Bones was the man on the streets. Nothing got by on old Jimmy and he let nothing get by on him. Now sure, he dabbled in a little pimping and numbers playing, but he didn’t sell no smack, whack or crack to the people in his hood. In fact Jimmy Bones kept it real and safe for the little kiddies and older folk, kind of like an urban Robin Hood, if you will. But as the 80’s were coming in Jimmy refused to play ball with the new pushers and product coming his way. So in a nasty turn of events, good old Jimmy gets his ass smoked. But all is good, ya’ll, as Jimmy ain’t leaving his hood just because of a little death and betrayal, in fact he’s gonna stick around for quite sometime and take care of some old scores.

Snoop Dogg takes a bite out of the big screen in his horror film debut, Bones, but is this Dogg’s bite worse than his bark?

Bones follows the life and afterlife of Jimmy Bones who is played by Snoop Dogg, it’s hard to say anything bad about Snoop’s performance, like Christopher Walken, Snoop is just so damn cool you have to like him. Snoop oozes coolness as Jimmy in life and at times will chill you as the character in the afterlife.

Although he doesn’t get a lot of screen-time in ghost-mode, what’s there is fairly creepy, but a cheap special effects budget keeps the performance from being all it can be. The character also becomes a little to Freddy-ish at times with the dream-like sequences and children’s song that accompanies Jimmy’s legend.

Before Jimmy can walk the streets again, however, he has to be reborn and that is taken care of by a big black dog. Ya see the more this pooch eats, the closer Jimmy gets to corporeal form again, so as you can guess there is a lot bone gnawing going on in this one. The rest of the gore is kind of slight and the blood is a little too red for my taste. There is however some very good maggot spewing in this one to be had.

The story is fairly well done, if not predictable, and the huge plot twist at the end is figured out as soon as the character it involves utters the first line about it. Once in the present, Jimmy’s old hang out has just been bought by a young man who intends to turn it into a night club/rave type of place, but as work begins on the building Jimmy gets woken up and he is more than a little cranky.

Pam Grier shows up as an ex ho of Jimmy’s and Katherine Isabelle provides some eye candy to help round out the cast of others.

Bones isn’t bad, but it’s story and characters are very predictable. Also the main character of Jimmy is made out to be a fairly good guy in the beginning, but by the end instead of seeking revenge or redemption he, almost sadly, becomes some kind of a cheesy Candyman in the hood. Still the flick is pretty fun and shows that Snoop really has some bite as an actor.

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