George MacKay in Marrowbone (Magnet Releasing)

With horror films, audiences scare better if they don’t know much about the apparent ghosts and can barely see them. Usually when a phantasm reveals itself as a character, fear most likely dissipates. To avoid such disappointment, this gap should be filled with a compelling drama. Some great horror movies are successful because there are also convincing as drama without the thrills. Marrowbone was conceived to be that kind of film, but it doesn’t succeed.

The starting point in Marrowbone is promising. Rose (Nicola Harrison) has moved back  from Britain to the American rural home where she grew up, but this time with the company of her four children: Jack (George MacKay), Billy (Charlie Heaton), Jane (Mia Goth), and Sam (Matthew Stagg). They have left behind Aa unmentionable past.

Rose draws a line with chalk on the floor, saying that once they have crossed it, all memories will be forgotten and everyone will assume a new surname, the name of the house: Marrowbone. (The beautiful landscape looks timeless, so it’s surprising that the film is set in 1969.) The Marrowbone kids meet Allie (Anya Taylor-Joy), a young girl who becomes their friend. She lives close enough to maintain contact with the Marrowbones through Morse code with lanterns. Jack and Allie are around their 20s, and the romantic chemistry is unavoidable.

However, the fairy tale doesn’t last for very long: Rose dies, Jack is not legally old enough to take care of his siblings, and, later, the four are assaulted by an unexpected male visitor. Whatever happened that day remains unknown. The film jumps ahead six months later after the incident. Only Jack can leave the house to visit the town to fix the legal issues involving the house with an unsympathetic young lawyer, who also feels attracted by Allie (one of the many uninteresting plot points). Jack pretends that his mother is alive but extremely ill. Nobody can discover the truth if the siblings want to keep their house.

In the meantime, the incident has left severe consequences. All mirrors are broken or covered, and now the Marrowbone kids stay together every night to protect themselves against a ghost that lives within the walls. The house has become a threat to them, but it’s the only place in the world where they are safe from the horrible past.

Marrowbone is the directorial debut from Spanish screenwriter Sergio G. Sánchez. He wrote The Orphanage and The Impossible, directed by the Spanish director J. A. Bayona, and both films balance family dynamics with extraordinary events. Thematic and aesthetically, Marrowbone resembles a little bit The Orphanage. Sadly, the latter is superior compared with the former. Xavi Giménez’s cinematography provides delightful shots, and there are scenes where the atmosphere feels intriguing. The main issue, though, is that the script lingers too much in building up to a revelation that is easy to anticipate for anybody who has watched horror movies in the last 20 years. The setting fails in the scary parts, even if every scene is a beautiful to behold.

Jack and Allie’s romance never gets the time it deserves to grow, and the most compelling aspect of the story is the back story, not the mystery. The reason why Rose and her children should start a new life in Marrowbone hides the promise of a powerful drama that is more fascinating than the formulaic ghost story.