Bone Daddy (1998)

Bone Daddy
DirectorMario Azzopardi, Mario Philip Azzopardi

Plot

Rocky Carlson, the agent of novelist Bill Palmer, gets assaulted in his Chicago hotel room by an unknown figure. Palmer's best seller Bone Daddy is a heavily fictionalized version of a series of real, unsolved murders that took place in the city, about which Palmer gained insider knowledge on his previous job as chief medical examiner. Bill and his PR man visit Rocky's room. It is unoccupied, but they discover a human finger bone. Palmer is allowed to serve as consultant on the investigation and is assigned to reluctant police officer Sharon Hewlitt. The two head to a party celebrating the appointment of Bill's son Peter to his father's former position of chief medical examiner, but it is cut short when lower leg bones are found inside a gift box, accompanied by a message reading "Here's your agent. Bone Daddy". Forensic examination reveals that the bones were removed from a still alive Ricky, and more bones are shown being surgically removed from him.

Hewlitt reviews archives and finds out about one-time suspect Dr. Morten Franz, then Bill's assistant. Another medical examiner, Marshall Stone, tells Hewlitt that Franz had a professional and personal rivalry with Bill, who had an affair with Franz's wife. Bill later compounded Franz's disgrace when he made his book's fictional killer a medical examiner. The next day, Peter's children find a tibia on the hood of the family's car, and Palmer is further taunted by a phone call from the "Bone Daddy", who says he will next target Hewlitt. He manages to record some of it. Hewlitt finds Rocky's body outside her home just as Palmer arrives. Hewlitt and Palmer head to Franz's home but finds him greatly diminished by his downfall, for which his son Mort Jr. blames Bill.

Peter's house is found ransacked and empty. While searching the premises, Bill and Hewlitt come across newspaper clippings about the Bone Daddy and a copy of the novel, which is missing identical pages to those wrapping the bones sent by the killer. Palmer heads to the morgue and compares the stitches on Rocky's corpse to Peter's work. They do not match, but those on another body do. Meanwhile, Hewlitt and a specialist de-scramble the voice from the Bone Daddy's call to Bill. They identify Marshall Stone as the killer, who took Bill's inaccurate account of his crimes as an affront. As he is about to hurt Peter, Bill and Hewlitt barge in, and a struggle ensues. Hewlitt shoots Stone, and he falls into a deadly pit before reinforcements show up to seal the crime scene.

Cast

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