Pierce Brosnan in "Bag of Bones"; photo courtesy of A&E

“Bag of Bones” (A&E) 

Stephen King’s novel BAG OF BONES has been made into a mini-series for the A&E Channel. This movie version of King’s fright filled book stars Pierce Brosnan, Annabeth Gish, Anika Noni Rose, Melissa George and William Schallert. The movie has a weak ending but for three of the four hours of the film you are held entranced.

Brosnan plays Mike Noonan, a successful novelist, who relies on his wife Jo (Gish) as his inspiration and muse. He is just coming off one of his biggest successes as a writer when his wife dies. He is devastated, especially when he learns she was pregnant at the time of her death. Mike had been told he was sterile and could not father any children.

He goes to the family home at Dark Score Lake in Maine to try to find out if his wife was unfaithful and also to work on a new story. Once there he becomes haunted by not only his dead wife but also a singer from the thirties named Sara Tidwell (Rose).

It seems there is a history of drownings in this town, and they are drowning of daughters by their fathers. Mattie Devore (George), who Noonan befriends, killed her husband who was trying to drown their daughter Kyra (Caitlin Carmichael). Now Mattie’s father-in-law Max (Schallert) is fighting her for custody of the little girl.

There are a lot of plot twists and turns in this movie and they all serve to make the viewer enjoy the movie more. Plus the acting is at a level as to make all the main characters believable. Brosnan creates a man who is wounded by his grief and astounded by the supernatural occurrences. He takes Noonan through each of the steps of understanding and ends up in heroic mode.

Gish is on screen for only a short period of time but she makes Jo’s impact felt from beginning to end. The same is true for Rose who creates the haunting Sara. Not only does she sing like an angel, she acts like the devil. George has the rather thankless role of Mattie, a woman who appears to be a little too quick to jump from one relationship to the next.

It is great to see Schallert, the Mr. Nice Guy of the old “Patty Duke Show”, playing a man who is evil through and through. At first you think he will have some redeeming qualities – but he doesn’t.

Again you must be aware that the ending of the story is weak. Maybe it played better in the book but on screen it is almost laughable. But everything up to that point is fun, chilling and entertaining. “Bag of Bones” isn’t primo King but it is good enough to keep you tuned in for four hours.

“Bag of Bones, Part 1” airs on A&E Sunday, December 11 at 9PM/ “Part 2” airs on A&E Monday, December 12 at 9PM.