Wednesday October 24, 2001

Grade:

C

There's nothing like a good, campy horror movie just in time for Halloween. Welcome to the world of Jimmy Bones.

Back in the day, Jimmy Bones (Snoop Dogg) was a big-time hustler in his thriving inner-city neighborhood. He didn't cause trouble; he didn't bother nobody. Basically, he was the Godfather of his area before he was savagely murdered by some of his associates in a house that was still pretty creepy-looking, even back then.

Flash forward to the present, when four hip teens buy the old house because they want to turn it into a dance club, despite many recommendations to do otherwise. The house is a bit of a fixer-upper, but a little elbow grease and it'll be as good as new. What could possibly go wrong?

The only real problems with the house are that Jimmy Bones' ghost pulls an O.J. on whoever sets foot inside, and that the abode houses the City of the Dead in its basement. Better go to Home Depot for this one.

If this plot sounds like it was conceived by Mr. Dogg after taking some serious amounts of sticky icky icky while watching a Scooby Doo episode, it gets better.

Jimmy Bones is a skeleton in the present day, since he was murdered way back when. For him to take human form again, a rabid dog with bright red eyes must eat human flesh to supplement Jimmy's lack thereof. How the two are connected, we never find out.

(What is really scary is that one never really questions this stunt after growing up watching Snoop transform to and from dog form in countless music videos. But this is a separate project altogether, right?)

Basically this movie is like Snoop's version of "Thriller," except there is no hit song behind it, which might have helped. The plot is lame and way too slow in many places, the characters are common and the ending is expected. But that doesn't mean all is lost, Snoop fans.

One thing that makes this movie watchable is that it does its job entertaining the audience. It's like a blacksploitation film in the same vein as "Blackula" or "Shaft." It serves its purpose and at times can be quite clever. For instance, the movie's first deaths are two white guys. That was no accident.

There is also a strange, interracial vibe throughout the movie, which seems a bit odd and makes you wonder why it's there. For instance, a first guess is that this movie is primarily for a black audience. However, out of the five couples in this movie, three of them are black men with white women. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but for a primarily black cast, you would have thought the trend would have carried through with the ladies.

For nay-sayers, surprisingly, Snoop Dee-ohh-double-gee can hold his own on camera. He didn't steal the movie or anything, but he could definitely hold the audience's attention.

Pam Grier of "Jackie Brown" fame is also present as Jimmy Bones' long-lost girlfriend (present, because that's all most of the actors are in this film - they are just there to fulfill the story and little else). It doesn't matter who dies when because everyone is equally invaluable to the plot.

As far as gross-out techniques, this movie can also hold its own. Not so much the blood and gore of the killings that may get you after a large spaghetti dinner, but more the little things - things such as a dog projectile-vomiting large scores of live maggots onto living characters. An empty stomach is recommended.