Following the success of Call Me By Your Name, director Luca Guadagnino once again explored the melodramatic approach in his latest feature, Bones and All, but in a differently thrilling fashion. Just a month after its theatrical release, the road drama film will be biting its way into everyone’s homes through On Demand, just in time for the Yuletide countdown.
Although a cannibal film is not something one would expect to see during the holidays, Bones and All will be coming home on December 13. Based on Camille DeAngelis‘ novel of the same name, the genre-bending film stars Taylor Russell (Maren), who plays a teenager with cannibalistic urges, and Timothée Chalamet (Lee), who plays another “eater” who enjoys feasting on human flesh, “bones and all.”
The film follows Lee and Maren as they make their way through a world in which they have no place, considering their difference from “normal” people who don’t feast on each other. As they struggle with their common desire for human consumption, they grow closer to one another, all while trying to fulfill their cannibalistic desires, with Maren attempting to suppress her violent urges. With their current situation already affecting their mental health, they decided to take a 3,000-mile road trip through America’s less traveled ruins. But no matter how far Maren and Lee run from their disturbing pasts, they always find themselves returning to their old ways.
Bones and All had its world premiere at the 79th Venice International Film Festival, then debuted in limited release on November 18, before continuing to expand to movie theaters on November 23. Guadagnino’s latest film has also been rated “certified fresh” on Rotten Tomatoes thanks to its transgressing nature. Though it currently has a 60% audience score as of this writing, the film has certainly made quite an impression, earning a remarkable 82% on the reputable Tomatometer. Given that the film incorporated romance and cannibalism together, the significant difference between audience and critic scores is reasonable considering the film’s reluctance to venture on the usual path.
Alongside Chalamet and Russell, the film’s cast members also include Mark Rylance as Sully, Michael Stuhlbarg as Jake, André Holland as Frank Yearly, Chloë Sevigny as Janelle Yearly, and David Gordon Green as Brad, among others. Chalamet reunited with Guadagnino, whom he worked with for the 2017 coming-of-age queer drama Call Me By Your Name. Russell, on the other hand, is a rising artist who rose to prominence by starring in the 2019 psychological horror film Escape Room.
You can watch Collider’s exclusive interview with Russel down below.