‘Bone Keeper’ Digs Up New Creature Feature from Director Howard J Ford

Howard J. Ford has returned to the horror genre with Bone Keeper, a new British creature feature that promises to bring claustrophobic suspense and subterranean terror to the big screen. Featuring veteran actor John Rhys-Davies, the film has just completed production and is expected to be delivered this autumn. International sales are being handled by REinvent, with first-look footage set to screen for buyers at the upcoming Cannes Film Festival.

Bone Keeper centres on six friends who enter a remote cave system in search of answers surrounding a decades-old local legend. In 1976, a man named James Wheeler disappeared while investigating strange sightings in the area, leaving behind only a single frame of Super 8 film depicting the silhouette of an unknown creature. Now, in the present day, Wheeler’s granddaughter and her companions descend into the same underground maze, intent on solving the mystery. What they find is a threat that has waited in the darkness for generations.

Ford, best known for The Dead series and Never Let Go, described the film as a long-gestating passion project. “I’ve always been intrigued with caves and caverns and imagined if something lurked down there in the depths,” he said. “So I am very excited to be making a creature-feature and reuniting with the REinvent team — and not least working with the legendary Mr. John Rhys-Davies, who has been an absolute blast.”

Rhys-Davies, whose genre credentials include The Lord of the Rings trilogy and the Indiana Jones films, leads a cast that also includes Sarah Alexandra Marks, Louis James, Tiffany Hannam-Daniels, Sophia Eleni, Danny Rahim, Tyler Winchcombe and Sarah T. Cohen. The visual effects are overseen by Giordano Aita.

Shot in the UK, the film blends practical cave sets with visual effects and takes inspiration from classic underground horror while aiming for a contemporary edge. The project is being produced through Ford’s Latitude Films, continuing the director’s focus on internationally marketable thrillers with high-concept hooks.

No release date has been confirmed yet, but sales interest is expected to accelerate following the Cannes showcase.