Lester Billings (David Dastmalchian) is a disturbed patient obsessed with the Boogeyman. He comes to the home of widowed therapist, Dr. Harper (Chris Messina) for help. Before his time is up, Lester hangs himself in a closet. Soon, the doctor’s kids begin seeing the spectral Boogeyman lurking in their closet. Naturally, dumbass dad doesn’t believe them, and it’s up to the kids to kill the Boogeyman once and for all.
Directed by Rob Savage, this is a sharp U-Turn in terms of style and substance from his previous film, the manic minor classic Dashcam. Too bad Savage couldn’t inject the picture with a little of Dashcam’s fun. If any movie needed it, it was this one.
Based on a short story by Stephen King, The Boogeyman is a watchable, but watered-down PG-13 horror flick. It’s definitely closer in tone to a Japanese horror movie as the Boogeyman looks like the offspring of Samara from The Ring and Gollum from Lord of the Rings. (Hey, they’re both into rings, so it might work out for them.) It doesn’t help that the titular monster is a lackluster CGI creation. This Boogeyman is more like a bargain bin Babadook. (And like many Japanese horror films, this is also one of those flicks where the appearance of mold on the wall is supposedly to be “scary”.)
Despite a strong performance by Sophie Thatcher as Messina’s teenage daughter, atmospheric cinematography, and slick production values, The Boogeyman never quite comes together. The small stretch that adapts the King story is fine, even though it ditches its memorable ending. Whenever the filmmakers start spinning the story into their own directions (it was co-written by the writers of A Quiet Place), the movie falters.
One thing is for sure, The Boogeyman will make you sleep with the lights on… as in you’ll probably start watching it with the lights on and then fall asleep before the movie is even over.
one a half stars for me at best.
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