The Boogeyman review
The Boogeyman plays it safe to deliver a crowd-pleasing experience. Veteran horror fans have seen its tricks before, however.
New movie reviews will not contain spoilers.
The Boogeyman
Directed by Rob Savage
Screenplay by Scott Beck, Bryan Woods and Mark Heyman
Starring Sophie Thatcher, Chris Messina, David Dastmalchian, LisaGay Hamilton and Vivien Lyra Blair
The Boogeyman Review
It didn’t take long into my viewing of The Boogeyman for the realization to wash over me that I could see every beat in the movie coming. There is one unfortunate exception to that which we’ll get to in a moment. For the most part…The Boogeyman is very standard fare. Don’t get me wrong…it’s a perfectly fine film. There are moments of visual flare and some good performances to be had. There are also too many recycled ideas.
The Boogeyman plays like a medley of themes we’ve seen repeatedly in modern horror. There’s a dash of cursed horror mixed with light investigative horror. It touches on “believe your children” horror and plays out mostly like creature horror. The movie also liberally borrows from 2003’s Darkness Falls with its “stay in the light” set-up. These are all well-trodden concepts. They also usually work. They work here too…they just add up to something that feels too familiar to be frightening. Too easy to see coming to surprise. Too safe for the experienced horror viewer.
The Boogeyman puts all these ideas into a blender. It doesn’t commit to one hard enough for them to overwhelm the picture. If anything, the creature aspect best defines what the story becomes. The story also brings in a “trauma horror” aspect that has become so popular lately. It tries to tie in familial loss to its monster…but it never connects as fully as it should. We’ve seen trauma tied into cursed/investigative horror better recently in Smile. Mainstream horror seems to be in love with these themes of late.
The story focuses on a family dealing with a monster in the darkness following the death of their matriarch. This allows director Rob Savage to have fun with light and shadows. There is some very effective imagery in The Boogeyman. Most of the fun in the movie involves your eye catching something skittering in the background or making out the outline of something in the darkness. The creature itself is more effective encased in shadow than out in the open. The climax puts it front and center…and while there are decent effects at play…the mystique is gone.
While The Boogeyman takes a mostly leisurely pace, it’s propped up by universally good performances. Sophie Thatcher and Vivien Lyra Blair play sisters plagued by the boogeyman. The movie posits that the creature has attached itself to them because it feeds off their trauma. This aspect of the story has its hits and misses. While it works as an excuse for the creature’s presence…the payoff feels more forced than earned. Chris Messina plays the recently widowed father. He’s doing his best with the situation while avoiding dealing with his own pain. He does inevitably fall into the failure to believe children trope when the narrative needs it. Mostly, however, he brings a grounded take on loss and sadness.
In the opening I mentioned that there is one thing in the movie that wasn’t predictable. Unfortunately, it’s not in a good way. The Boogeyman introduces a very unlikable character early in the story…the kind you look forward to seeing get what they deserve. It even goes so far as to bring that person to the family home while the creature is stalking the shadows. Then the movie doesn’t give us the usual payoff. It’s a missed opportunity…especially given the lack of deaths that occur throughout the story. If you are going to have a character meant to be hated…let the creature eat them, please.
The Boogeyman is the kind of movie that you won’t regret watching…but will wish it brought a new idea or two to the table. This is a movie made for the masses. Casual movie goers who are looking for light thrills and competent storytelling will get what they’re after. Those in need of more danger and risk may be left wanting, however. Savage does a fine job setting the atmosphere…the script doesn’t offer enough surprises to take advantage of it.
Scare Value
There’s nothing wrong with The Boogeyman. Fine performances and some fun tricks with light and shadow combine to make a watchable movie. You’ve probably seen this all before…even if you can’t always place where you remember it from. That doesn’t mean The Boogeyman isn’t worth a watch…just that it’s likely to end up exactly where you expected it to. It all feels a little too safe. Which isn’t the feeling horror should be going for.
2.5/5
The Boogeyman Link
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The Boogeyman Trailer
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Can’t disagree with the review on its basic points. Id still give it 3/5 for direction, performances and fx… but yeah, they had a hate worthy biatch all ready to be skewered…. And nothing. That being said, it would have gone against the trauma theme. Haven’t read the short story so im not sure where the movie goes off on its own and where it sticks to the story.
The pre- climax fight had a nice little turn of play and a great setting. The “breather” scenes were interesting and overall well paced. Standard fare? Yes, but it felt like a Stephen King story to me, which sometimes is just solid, standard fare… but worth it.