Bone Snatcher, thankfully, is nothing like Bone Eater or Skeleton Man. Bone Snatcher is essentially The Thing meets Pitch Black in the Nambi Desert. Clive (Sean Higgs), Paul (Langley Kirkwood) and Harvey (Jan Ellis) begin the film as diamond prospectors who encounter the Esikulu AKA The Bone Snatcher. They'll be back later in the film with considerably less flesh on their bones.
The movie shifts to Vancouver, where systems analyst Dr. Zack Straker (Scott Bairstow), tasked with doing field work in the desert. Since Eland Mining owns the rights to the area, Straker tags along with a security team looking for the three prospectors. There's hot chick Mikki (Rachel Shelly), Karl (Warrick Grier), Titus (Patrick Shai), Kurt (Andre Weiman) and tough gal Magda (Adrienne Pierce).
In between long shots of the desert, the truckload of victims' truck breaks down. And you know what that means…cue the shooting and the screaming! The remaining survivors must figure out the creature's biology (hint: it involves chemical scents) and then track the queen to its lair so that it can never threaten humanity again. Unless of course the obligatory ending leaves it open for a sequel, in which case it may well threaten humanity again.
Bone Snatcher reveals its hand early with a monster that looks like a guy loping around in a rubber suit…until you realize that's intentional. On the surface Bone Snatcher doesn't look like much, but it gets under your skin. Once the true nature of the thing is revealed it becomes clear that shooting at the thing isn't going to do much. The CGI effects are competent enough to convey that this thing only mimics the shape of a man…
Bone Snatcher's not going to win any awards in the acting department, but what it lacks in charm it makes up for with creativity. Unforgiving terrain, plenty of testosterone, and an interesting beast make for a fun monster movie.
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