Popcorn Frights Film Festival Coverage
Booger review
Grief horror meets possible cat transformation in Booger. On VOD September 13.
Festival reviews will not contain spoilers
Booger
Directed by Mary Dauterman
Written by Mary Dauterman
Starring Grace Glowicki, Garrick Bernard, Heather Matarazzo, Marcia DeBonis, Sofia Dobrushin, Jordan Carlos and Richard Perez
Booger Review
Some of our best horror movies come from the exploration of grief. From classics like Don’t Look Back and The Changeling to modern hits like The Babadook and Hereditary…grief makes for a formidable narrative monster. Booger, out September 13 on Video on Demand, utilizes unaddressed grief as a launching point that has a lot in common with recent independent great Fang. Fang used a trauma metaphor of a person trapped in a horrible life to kickstart a body horror story about a young man who believes he is turning into a rat. Booger, like Fang, involves a character being bitten by an animal…and starting to believe they are transforming into it. Booger doesn’t take the horror as far as Fang. It knows, however, how to expertly use its metaphor.
Anna (Grace Glowicki) is reeling from the death of her best friend and roommate Izzy (Sofia Dobrushin). Before she has time to process any of it…Izzy’s adopted stray cat Booger bites her hand and runs away. Obsessed with finding the cat and incapable of addressing her sorrow…Anna’s whole life begins to go down the drain. If that wasn’t enough, Anna is coughing up hairballs and showcasing other strange, cat-like behavior.
Booger puts Anna through Hell. Her health deteriorates both mentally and physically. Every aspect of her life falls apart. She hasn’t gone to work since Izzy died. Her relationship with boyfriend Max (Garrick Bernard) becomes strained. She’s behind on her (now doubled) rent and her landlord is threatening eviction. Basically…a lot of things that can happen when we lose someone. The solid base of relatable drama in Booger lets the story effortlessly incorporate its horror elements on top of it.
Following her cat bite…Anna begins to go through some slow physical transformations. It’s presented as a growing illness that she is incapable of getting a handle on. Her senses heighten…rats start looking mighty tasty…hair starts growing out of her bite mark. You know, regular depression stuff. Booger’s disappearance is the impetus for Anna’s change more than the bite or even Izzy’s death. She doesn’t really deal with either of the latter two. She takes the first one extremely seriously.
What’s interesting about Booger is how often it feels directionless. That isn’t a knock…it’s a bold, fascinating choice. Anna’s life is in shambles. She doesn’t know what to do next. The further things fall around her the more she retweets inward…and the more her side effects begin to take hold. The longer Anna neglects what’s happening to her in favor of finding what’s lost…the worse it gets. Metaphor!
Booger intercuts Anna’s story with videos of her life with Izzy. It provides a good look at happiness lost. Glowicki plays things beautifully. She creates a fully different character than the one we see snippets of in the past. The movie also gives us a window into how the people around Anna are dealing with Izzy’s loss…and Anna’s decline. Izzy’s mother Joyce (Marcia DeBonis) and friend Ellen (Heather Matarazzo) provide an outside look at Anna’s world. It’s a smart way to show how far Anna is falling without having to add lengthy flashbacks or layer in a ton of exposition. Booger is economical storytelling with a purpose.
The horror elements here are used to showcase Anna’s inability to confront her feelings. It doesn’t push the body horror element like Fang did. The purpose here is to complement the story with moments of horror that define Anna’s state of mind. It’s a very personal story of grief. Don’t expect scenes of a cat-person prowling around to feed on human flesh. Like Fang, it is unclear if any of this is actually happening in the first place. It doesn’t matter, of course. Anna believes that it is happening. That’s enough.
Booger is a well-made film about a character who hasn’t dealt with their grief. Problems mount from every direction but only the grief, or Booger’s metaphor for it, breaks through. It’s relatable to anyone who has lived those early days of loss. Even if they never started transforming into a cat.
Scare Value
Dramas about grief can be a tough sell. You know that you’re in for a rough emotional ride when you sign up. Booger adds in horror elements to liven up a solid drama. The metaphor here is strong and well utilized. Grace Glowicki is great in the role of Anna. Booger puts her through some tough paces and challenges her to come out of it still intact. Such is life.
3.5/5
