Bone Keeper Digital Review

4 stars of in-your-face creature feature.

Bone Keeper is a 2026 British independent sci-fi survival horror film, written, directed and just about everything else by Howard J. Ford (The Ledge, Escape).

Following its World Premiere at Glasgow FrightFest on 6th March 2026, it is available on UK Digital Platforms from 6th April 2026, courtesy of Plaion Pictures.

“What are the police even doing? We can go down there. We can try and find them.”

Olivia (Sarah Alexandra Marks – Witch, River of Blood) is a troubled young woman whose mother Lucy (Angela Dixon – Never Let Go) has recently gone missing. Olivia has found a journal belonging to her Grandfather, a journalist who went missing investigating a cave and believes that her mother followed in his footsteps.  She assembles a team of friends, Anabelle (Tiffany Hannam-Daniels – River of Blood), Nadia (Sophia Eleni – The Shamrock Spitfire), Ethan (Louis James – Ibiza Dark), Nick (Tyler Winchcombe – Escape) and Ravi (Danny Rahim –  DCI Banks (TV Series)) and together they set off for the caves.

Despite the emotional nature of the expedition for Olivia, the rest of them have a scientific interest and wish to investigate the local legend of the Bone Keeper, a creature rumoured to live in the caves (we know this to be accurate because we saw it move in and kill cavemen right at the star of the film). Along the way, they also pick up Ashley (Sarah T. Cohen – Ariella), or “Bitch Hiker” as she’s known on Tik Tok, who spies an opportunity for content. They seek out local expert Professor Harrison (John Rhys-Davies – Metal Hurlant: Resurgence, The Gates) who reluctantly agrees to tell them the location of the entrance.

Off they go, armed with the usual heady mix of scientific curiosity, enthusiasm, good intentions and poor decision making processes. What’s the worst that can happen when the ancient monster gets a whiff of all this irresistible naivete?

“The real story is Olivia. Her mother went missing in these caves and monster or no monster, something happened to her and we are going to find answers.”

Bone Keeper is a very enjoyable film, not afraid to show off the monster in all its glory. A combination of practical effects and CGI make for a compelling and surprisingly scary adversary. Think Descent meets the Thing and you’re not far off. The acting is pretty good, the script is passable and the soundtrack fits the story well.

While it doesn’t bring much new to the table, it’s good fun, genuinely building tension and quite gruesome in places. It’s disturbing enough to be satisfying and while it dwells too much on the emotional side of things, it still packs a punch. Well worth a watch.

“Razor sharp 4K, eh. Do you know where those images will be? They will be in the cameras. And where will the cameras be? They’ll be down there, with your dead bodies.”

Bone Keeper is available now on UK Digital Platforms.