The Secret of Marrowbone

The film is set in 1969. A British woman named Rose moves to rural America to resume residence at Marrowbone House, where she grew up, with her four children. Upon arrival she says that from then on they would take the name of the house as their name and all memories were to be forgotten, everything was to start anew. Things start off well, and they make a new friend, Allie. Unfortunately, the long journey took a toll upon Rose’s poor health. At the end of summer, her health worsens and she dies leaving her children Jack (20), Jane (19), Billy (18) and Sam (5) alone. In her last moments, she makes her eldest son Jack promise to keep everyone together and not tell anyone about her death until he was 21 and legally able to care for his siblings.

Things appear to be going well, despite their loss until an unex- pected visitor arrives six months later. The film then jumps ahead to the next summer with the children living in a dilapidated house with all the mirrors hidden or covered to protect them from a ghost in the loft, which has apparently been gone for several months but they fear its return. Now only Jack visits the local town to sell baked goods and take care of any necessities. He is also courting Allie. The rather calm life that they have created becomes disrupted when the town lawyer, Tom, (who is also interested in Allie) comes around to finalise arrangements for the property transfer to Rose and starts becoming nosey. Jack finds himself under pressure when the ghost returns and Tom suspects that Jack is lying and he tries to blackmail the children. Classification: 15