‘Digging Up The Marrow’ is Never Boring and Has Some Great Monsters (Review)

Written by: Daniel Hadley 

Directed by: Adam Green

Cast: Adam Green, Ray Wise, Will Barret

Adam Green plays himself in this intriguing little horror mockumentary that falls short of greatness only for Adam Green’s unwillingness to push his ideas a little further. But what we do have is a nice little mystery that will hold your attention throughout and has some pretty cool monsters to boot.

When Adam Green is contacted by William Dekker (played by the always fun Ray Wise) about a subterranean community known as the Marrow that is home to several mutated monstrosities he decides to join Mr Dekker in documenting these creatures and discovering the mysteries of the Marrow. For the most part I enjoyed this movie but what brings the grade down is how little of the Marrow we get to see and how many of the monsters are only hinted at; those you do see have very little screen time.

In between the few monster sightings there are several interviews with William Dekker who describes these monsters with a childlike glee as he shows off various illustrations and shares a few grizzly stories. As interesting as these scenes are they hint at something much greater that the movie barely scratches the surface of. The idea of a subterranean community of mutants and monsters could make a great movie, not that similar ideas haven’t come up before, but the way the creatures in Digging Up The Marrow are described as well as the few that we see are so unique and well done that I wanted more.

Not that leaving the audience wanting more is a bad thing but in this movie we are given so little that I found it frustrating. There was so much potential here for something great but Adam Green holds almost everything back, only showing brief glimpses of the creatures here and there until a nicely done chase sequence – but even then he holds back. That’s not to say the movie is boring, that would be unfair, the investigation into the Marrow is intriguing and Ray Wise is as entertaining as ever.

As with most mockumentary/found footage the camera gets a little shaky during the action but it’s nothing too disorientating. As with most handycam horrors it’s hard to comment on the camera work, and being a mockumentary the camera remains static for the majority as Mr Dekker tells tales of the Marrow.

Overall Digging Up The Marrow is an interesting little film that is never boring and has some great monsters plus a few nice cameos. If only Adam Green had revealed a little more of this world we would have something truly special.

Rating: 3/5