Entertainment
The R-Rated, Extremely Graphic Thriller That's A Sadistic Game Of Cat And Mouse
By Robert Scucci
| Published
They say that revenge is a dish best served cold, but that’s physically impossible in 2008’s Bone Dry, a chase thriller set entirely in the punishing desert. The marketing ahead of the film’s release pitches the viewing experience as “Deliverance meets Duel,” but if anything, it reminds me of another low-budget film called Drifter that came out the same year. The main difference between the two films is that Drifter leans more into the Saw film series, with a group of people waking up in the desert and being forced to endure a series of challenges if they want to survive.
In Bone Dry, on the other hand, we’re introduced to a man being hunted by a ruthless antagonist who seems to be having just a little too much fun torturing him as hours turn into days under the brutal desert sun. Funny enough, and this is a pattern I’ve noticed in a lot of low-budget movies, both films feature protagonists dressed in business-casual attire. I’m not sure if this is meant to make them appear more legitimate, or to drive home the point that wearing synthetic fabric blends in the middle of a heat wave is about as unpleasant as it gets.
Though there are conflicting reports on how much it cost writer-director Brett A. Hart to film Bone Dry, it’s clearly a low-budget effort, with estimates suggesting it probably cost around a million dollars, potentially topping out closer to $5 million. Fortunately, those limitations don’t really show on screen because the on-location shooting does most of the visual heavy lifting for this particular game of cat and mouse.
Two Guys And A Gun, Having All Sorts Of Fun
Like most survival or chase thrillers, there’s really not much to Bone Dry, and that’s the point. The less you know about it, the better.
Here’s what you absolutely need to know before deciding if it’s the next thing you fire up on Tubi. A man named Eddie (Luke Goss) is chased through the desert by a psychopath named Jimmy (Lance Henriksen). Jimmy gets a sick thrill out of torturing Eddie, giving him just enough water to survive along with very simple instructions to keep walking North or be executed. Along the way, Eddie is subjected to Jimmy’s sadistic machinations, which include being knocked unconscious and handcuffed naked to a very tall cactus, buried up to his neck in hot, rocky sand, and given water bottles that turn out to be filled with salt water.
As time passes, Eddie becomes increasingly delirious, but through his hallucinations we catch glimpses of the backstory that brought these two men together in the first place. It slowly becomes clear that Jimmy has a personal vendetta against Eddie, for reasons that aren’t yet clear to Eddie, making the hunter’s motives all the more menacing.
A Low-Budget, But Very Resourceful Thriller
Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan once said that the real star of the show was Albuquerque, New Mexico. Some of the series’ best shots come from the rolling clouds, hazy sun, and thick air. Bone Dry, which was filmed on location across desert regions in California, Utah, and Arizona, boasts a similar aesthetic, but it’s the only aesthetic it boasts. There are no city streets or sound stages here, just the pure, punishing heat of an unforgiving desert landscape.
While the conflict is immediately clear in Bone Dry, the film escalates smoothly as we learn more about its two principal characters. The stakes remain largely the same throughout, but your perception of each man evolves along the way, making for an engaging watch.
The only real bone I have to pick with the film is minor, and when you consider the budget, probably inevitable. Eddie wanders through the desert for days, sustains a significant number of injuries, and just keeps going. In real life, I imagine he’d be reduced to a walking boil after a single day, especially after the cactus scene, but he keeps pushing forward. I’m not a huge fan of hyper-realistic gore, so this was actually a relief, but if you’re watching Bone Dry for realism, you’ll need to suspend some disbelief.
The real story is about the two men, the hunt, and the inciting incident that brought them together in the first place. If you want to find out what that incident is, all you have to do is fire up Bone Dry on Tubi, where it’s streaming for free.
