Please note: I would've liked to have written a complete review of this DVD. Unfortunately, Allumination Filmworks provided an incomplete screener DVD with only the movie and its trailer. All special features on the commercial release were not included. In addition, a very large For Screening Purposes Only text appeared on every single frame of the film (save for the end credits). For these reasons, sadly, I can only review the movie and its audio track; the video and extras I can't rate.

Bone Dry is one of those films that doesn't waste time in getting to its premise. By the time the opening credits have scrolled through, the viewer is placed straight into the main plot of the movie. Eddie, played by Luke Goss, is a young man whose career remains purposively vague until the end of the film. He's traveling through the Mojave Desert to his wife and family. Jimmy, well-played by character actor Lance Henriksen, is out to torture him - for reasons that are revealed near the end of the movie. After Jimmy surprises Eddie and knocks him unconscious, he plays a cruel game of cat and mouse with him in the unforgiving desert heat. Jimmy, like a low-budget version of Jigsaw from the Saw series, devises quite a few cringe-worthy scenarios for Eddie to try to worm his way out of. In one scene, Eddie is handcuffed naked to a 12 foot cactus. In another scene, Eddie is buried up to his chin in the desert with a shovel standing several feet beside his head. All the while, Jimmy toys with Eddie via a walkie-talkie, spouting out menacing lines in a manner not dissimilar to the crazed trucker in Joy Ride a few years back. The ending has a few surprises - just don't watch the movie trailer first as it completely spoils these surprises.

Bone Dry was much better than I anticipated. The end credits list the following locations for this movie: Death Valley; Trona Pinnacles; Baker, California; Palm Springs; and Yuma, Arizona. And boy, does the movie utilize these locations with some wonderful shots of barren desert landscapes. The beauty of the film's settings, of course, contrasts the unpleasantness of the film's plot - much in the same way as Wolf Creek did a couple years back.

Remarkably, though, the most memorable shot of the film was a relatively simple one. Near the end of the movie, Eddie comes upon a human skull in the sand swept desert. He picks it up and sand pours out of a hole - a bullet hole - over his hands. It's an effective shot at establishing the dread which seeps through to the surprise twist ending.

I do have one major reservation about this movie and that is it strains credibility. Eddie, the protagonist of the film, is kicked around, beaten up, left for dead, and clearly dehydrated over several days in the desert. Even though he's young and in good shape, it's hard to believe that he could endure the film's events without dying.

Still, the movie is tense and keeps one's interest. Lance Henriksen, who I've always been a fan of, really delivers here. He's near pitch-perfect for the role of Jimmy, and this is one of the better films he's headlined in recent memory. I'd recommend Bone Dry to fans of horror films like the aforementioned Saw and Wolf Creek.

The DVD

Video:

At the start of the review, I explained that Allumination Filmworks provided a screener DVD with an enormous For Screening Purposes Only text stamped on every frame of the film. The movie looks gorgeous at times, with nicely composed shots of the arid wilderness. But, I don't feel comfortable rating the video quality with this non-commercial screener release.

Sound:

The screener DVD of Bone Dry only had one sound option: a nice sounding Dolby Digital 2.0. The score is appropriate to scenes and dialogue is clear.

Extras:

As stated before, this screener disc did not contain the extras on the commercial release; hence, I can't evaluate and rate the special features.

Final Thoughts:

Bone Dry is a tense thriller that utilizes its desert setting to advantage with a number of well-composed shots. Lance Henriksen is terrific as the antagonist, Jimmy. If you're into films like Saw and its ilk, then this film comes recommended.

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