Bones (2001)

Bones is a 2001 American psychological horror film directed by Ernest Dickerson and starring rapper Snoop Dogg as the eponymous Jimmy Bones, a murdered gangster that rises from the grave to avenge his death. The movie is an homage to blaxploitation films of the 1970s and incorporates numerous elements from the genre.

Plot
In 1979, Jimmy Bones is a numbers runner who is respected and loved in his neighborhood as its respected member and protector. He is betrayed and brutally murdered by corrupt cop Lupovich and drug pusher Eddie Mack who then convince Jimmy's associates Jeremiah and Shotgun as well as his lover Pearl to take turns stabbing him to death. Afterwards, Bones' elegant brownstone building becomes his own tomb, and is closed.

The timeline flashes forward to 2001, where the neighborhood has become rundown and Jimmy's brownstone building is a condemned ruin. Four teens, Patrick, brother Bill, their white step-sister Tia and their best friend Maurice, buy the property and they want to renovate it as a nightclub. In the process, Tia finds a black dog who is actually the spiritual manifestation of Jimmy's tortured spirit. As the dog starts to eat, Jimmy is slowly resurrected.

Patrick meets Pearl and her daughter Cynthia. Patrick develops a romance with Cynthia. Patrick wanted to open a nightclub at the old rundown neighborhood in hopes of making the neighborhood great again, and also to make a profit. While exploring the basement, Patrick, Cynthia, Bill, Tia and Maurice find Jimmy Bones' body and they realize that he was actually murdered. Patrick, Cynthia, Bill, Tia and Maurice decide to keep Jimmy's murder quiet or they won't be able to open the nightclub and they bury the remains.

Later Jeremiah, who is Patrick and Bill's father as well as Tia's stepfather, finds out about Patrick and the gang's plan to open the club at Bones' old building. He freaks out and demands that Patrick and the others leave the building. Patrick, Bill and Tia refuse his request and open the nightclub, in spite of their father's objections. On opening night Maurice is lured into an upstairs room where he is mauled to death by the spiritual black dog. Once he is fully resurrected, Jimmy sets the club on fire and is intent on getting revenge on those responsible for his death, those who betrayed him, and anyone who gets in his way. Pearl's neighbor Shotgun tells her how they should have burned the building down a long time ago. After the incident, Pearl admits to Cynthia that Jimmy Bones is her father, as she had a relationship with him.

Jimmy first confronts Shotgun and kills him as a way to release him of his troubled guilt he tried to maintain by becoming an alcoholic. Patrick confronts his father Jeremiah and demands to know if he help murder Jimmy Bones twenty-two years earlier. His father admits he betrayed Jimmy Bones to make money to leave the neighborhood. Also, he got fed up living in Bones' shadow and he wanted to be as popular and successful as him. Jeremiah allowed drugs into the neighborhood as long he got paid for it. Later, Eddie Mack is having sex with his white girlfriend Snowflake. With Mack being one of the people who betrayed him, Jimmy confronts him after murdering Snowflake and stuffing her body in a trash bin. Jimmy decapitates Mack and does the same to Lupovich, but keeps their heads alive to transport their souls.

Pearl, knowing that Jeremiah is next, goes with Cynthia to his house to rescue him. They ending up being too late. Pearl, Cynthia, Patrick, Bill, Tia and Jeremiah's wife Nancy watch him get dragged off by Jimmy, leaving nothing but a melted hole in the window. Jimmy brings Jeremiah back to the building, along with the heads of Lupovich and Mack. Jimmy sends Lupovich and Mack to hell for all eternity while Jeremiah begs for his life. Patrick, Cynthia, Bill, and Pearl go underground to find that Jimmy Bones' body has disappeared. Pearl tells them that in order to put Jimmy to rest, they have to destroy the dress she wore the night Jimmy was murdered which was buried alongside him as his blood which splattered onto it still contains his spirit and is the only thing keeping him anchored to the world of the living. As they look for Jimmy, Pearl steps in the elevator which closes and goes up. Meanwhile, Jeremiah asks Jimmy what he wants. He asks Jeremiah if he could give him his life back. When Jeremiah says he can't do that, Jimmy sends him to hell for eternity.

Pearl gets off the elevator and walks into a room that is filled with ignited candles. She has a flashback and Jimmy appears, and puts the bloody dress on her. Patrick, Cynthia, and Bill head to the second floor where they see a ghostly Maurice, who leads Bill in the wrong direction where he is captured and killed. Patrick tries to reach him but is too late. Patrick and Cynthia make their way to the room where Pearl and Jimmy are at. Patrick knows it's a trap. As Cynthia is lured to Pearl and Jimmy, Patrick hears his father's voice in a mirror begging for help. When Patrick hesitates, Jeremiah chokes him. Patrick uses his knife to chop Jeremiah's arm off and he disappears into hell. Patrick goes after Jimmy, who disappears and reappears behind Patrick's back much more demonic-looking. He grabs Patrick by his throat, as Cynthia begs him to let go. Pearl, realizing what is happening, tells Jimmy she loves him before grabbing a candle and setting fire to the dress while still wearing it.

As Jimmy and Pearl both die together, Patrick and Cynthia make their escape, barely making it out before the entire building collapses. Before jumping to safety, Cynthia is briefly pulled back into the building by an unseen force. Outside, Patrick finds an old picture of Jimmy and Pearl as Jimmy's face turns to him and says "Dog eat dog, boy." Too late, Patrick realizes that as his daughter Cynthia has Jimmy's blood within her, and turns around as Cynthia, now possessed by Jimmy smiles at him and, vomits a mouthful of maggots into his face.

Cast

 * Snoop Dogg as Jimmy Bones
 * Pam Grier as Pearl
 * Michael T. Weiss as Detective Lou 'Loopy Lou' Lupovich
 * Clifton Powell as Jeremiah Peet
 * Ricky Harris as Eddie Mack
 * Bianca Lawson as Cynthia
 * Khalil Kain as Patrick Peet
 * Merwin Mondesir as Bill Peet
 * Sean Amsing as Maurice
 * Katharine Isabelle as Tia Peet
 * Ronald Selmour as 'Shotgun'
 * Deezer D as 'Stank'
 * Garikayi Mutambirwa as 'Weaze'
 * Erin Wright as 'Snowflake'
 * Josh Byer as Jason
 * Kirby Morrow as Palmer
 * Ellen Stephenovna Ewusie as The Death Lady
 * Lynda Boyd as Nancy Peet
 * Linda Chow as Jeremiah's First Wife
 * Boyan Vukelic as Young Detective
 * Marcus Moldowan as Young Patrick
 * Chaka White as Foxy Lady
 * Primo The Dog as Bones The Dog
 * Alina Kaufman as Jenny (uncredited)