213 Bones – Movie Review (3/5)

213 BONES is a new Whodunnit Horror Movie with a mean Slasher streak. Also, it’s strangely charming thanks to both its characters and overall vibe. Screening at FrightFest, where I imagine the audience will have a blast with it. Read our full 213 Bones movie review here!

213 BONES is a new Horror Movie with a slasher vibe and a whodunnit plot. It takes place in the 1990s and features lots of pop culture references for that decade. And with the current retro love of the decade, it feels eerily fresh.

Admittedly, I guessed the killer from the first time this character was introduced. However, the how and why of everything remained to be seen, so I still had fun with the whole discovery. The runtime is just 85 minutes.

Continue reading our 213 Bones movie review below. The movie will have its World Premiere at FrightFest 2025 on August 24, 2025.

Anthropology students on the case

With 213 Bones, we’re meeting a group of anthropology students just as they’re about to embark on a group assignment. Their teacher is surprisingly kind and wants to truly engage his students, so he has set up something extraordinary.

Well, okay, it does go beyond what he intended, but his intentions are good.

For their assignment, the students (fewer than 10 of them) are sent to look at some bones in another lab on campus. They need to take pictures, write down anything of note, and recognize what happened to the apparent victim.

WAIT, HOW MANY BONES ARE IN THE HUMAN BODY?

The answer is usually 206 bones, but in this movie the answer given is “up to 213 bones” which explains the title. Want to know more? Head over here >

Also, there will be bones from other creatures, and they get extra points for recognizing those. If I seem a little excited about this assignment, it’s because I think it’s absolutely brilliant.

Sign me up!

This is a forensic anthropology class, so the assignment is perfect.

Of course, more actual human bones start showing up, and then the students start dying one by one, so things take a wild turn early on. In fact, they are clearly targeted and die violent, bloody deaths, making the class much less appealing.

Once they started dying, I no longer wanted to do the assignment, but up until that point, I was like: Sign me up!

We also see the masked maniac (The Grunge Monster) targeting the forensic anthropology students, so we know that a serial killer is on the loose. Actually, we see the serial killer attack for the first time two years earlier.

To survive this group assignment, they need to figure out who the killer is. Not of those plastic bones in the lab on campus, but the identity of the killer targeting them.

Helping them are Sheriff Bracco, Laurie, who is the County Coroner, and their teacher, Kelly. Will they figure it out before their entire group has been slain?!

Welcome to the 1990s West Coast

213 Bones has a story that plays out in and around a college in the state of Washington in the 1990s. This means lots of 1990s outfits of the grunge variety, so pretty much what the kids are wearing today, as the 1990s fashion is trendy again.

Also, this horror slasher has lots of amazing music from the 1990s, so I was having a blast with this movie for that reason alone.

From Seattle icons Soundgarden & Mudhoney to iconic tracks from Duran Duran, Bananarama, Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Meat Puppets, and more.

The cast of 213 Bones features actors I may recognize, but most haven’t had starring roles yet.

The movie stars Luna Fujimoto, Hunter Nance, Colin Egglesfield, Sarah Brooks (Girl on the Third Floor), Toni Weiss, Allegra Sweeney, Dean Cameron (Found Footage: The Making of the Patterson Project) & Liam Woodrum (Based on a True Story).

For the record, Liam Woodrum looks so much like a child of Demi Moore and Bruce Willis. He looks like a male version of their daughters… and has great hair to boot. I can’t wait to see him in more genre films. He was charming and funny.

World Premiere of 213 Bones is at FrightFest 2025

213 Bones was directed and co-written by Jeffrey Primm, who also has a cameo in the movie. Sadly, the movie is also dedicated to him, as he passed away before this movie (his debut) could enjoy its world premiere in London.

That’s a real sad note to end on, and for me, it came just as I was trying to work out why I enjoyed it so much. It isn’t all that innovative or has the best production quality overall, but it is very well-made and strangely charming.

Yes, 213 Bones is a horror movie, a whodunnit, even a slasher, but also a very charming movie – both thanks to its characters and the overall vibe. Somehow, it feels very Canadian.

And yes, that’s a compliment to both the movie and Canada. And to the late Jeff Primm, who made this movie along with co-writer Dominic Arcelin. For the record, this is a U.S. production, shot in part at Eastern Washington University.

We’re reviewing this as part of our FrightFest coverage, but from a distance, as we couldn’t be there in person. I can imagine the audience loved this one.

World Premiere of 213 Bones is at FrightFest 2025 on August 24, 2025.

Details

Director: Jeffrey Primm
Writers: Dominic Arcelin, Jeffrey Primm
Stars: Luna Fujimoto, Hunter Nance, Colin Egglesfield, Dean Cameron, Liam Woodrum