The Boogeyman – Review
98 Minutes, Rated PG-13
Written by Scott Beck, Bryan Woods, Mark Heyman (based on a short story by Stephen King)
Directed by Rob Savage
**NOTE: You can read Mark’s review below, then listen or watch as he and Ryan discuss the film in more depth. Remember, though, you can listen to all our discussions of this and every other movie directly over on ACAST. Stay tuned.**
Synopsis:
High school student Sadie Harper and her younger sister Sawyer are reeling from the recent death of their mother and aren’t getting much support from their father, Will, a therapist who is dealing with his own pain. When a desperate patient unexpectedly shows up at their home seeking help, he leaves behind a terrifying supernatural entity that preys on families and feeds on the suffering of its victims.
Despite being based on a short story from horror-master Stephen King circa 1974, The Boogeyman initially put me in mind of last year’s Smile (which had, in turn, put me in mind of It Follows).
Don’t’ worry, the similarities are pretty shallow, so there’s that.
First, let me go ahead and acknowledge my fears going in. I had tweeted the following a couple hours before screening this one, and I own it:
Tonight I’m seeing #TheBoogeyman.
PROS:@MarinIreland@StephenKing#DavidDastmalchian
CONS:#SophieThatcher (because #BobaFett‘s scooter gang)#VivienLyraBlair (because of the chase scene in #ObiWanKenobi)
But I’m wiling to be swayed, so I should come out happy, right?#movies— VSMP (@VSMoviePodcast) May 23, 2023
Now, let’s see how far off I was, shall we?
Turns out, generally speaking, at least, I was fairly far off.
The theme of trauma being the aggravating factor in terms of a force focusing on you is good. Smile used this to decent effect (whereas It Follows tweaked it and quasi-equated sex with trauma), and The Boogeyman uses it to full effect.
What The Boogeyman has going for it over Smile is that the idea of the monster in the dark, under the bed, in the closet, is as old as humanity, and that provides the underpinning of the horror here.
It’s all real.
The performances I was worried about? Not an issue. Sophie Thatcher is great as a traumatized teen trying to work through both her own grief while caring for her little sister and trying to get through to her father, who seems disconnected from his own grief and so cannot help his children through theirs.
I’m not sure whether this film was shot chronologically or not, but I felt that Vivien Lyra Blair’s performance got better and better as the film went along. We can feel every bit of her fear as we move through the film.
Director Rob Savage makes ample use of the darkness which hides that which consumes our fear to great effect, making the characters meager lights never quite enough to pierce the veil for full protection.
The monster design is stellar, by they way, but if I have a complaint it’s that we see too much of it too soon. It’s inevitable that we see the full creature, but the longer we wait, the longer our own minds can spin that revelation into our own terrifying thing, making the build-up that much more effecting.
That said, still not sad to see the monster.
I am kind of sad that Dastmalchian is barely here, but was happy to see more of Marin Ireland (of the recent Sundance Film Festival favorite, Birth/Rebirth), even if I wanted to see even more of her in this film, perhaps staying a bit longer into the climax.
The Boogeyman is an effective, atmostpheric horror with good performances and really good creature design. It should make horror fans happy without alienating casual movie-goers, as it’s PG-13 rating would reflect.
The Boogeyman hits theaters June 2 and stars Sophie Thatcher, Chris Messina, Vivien Lyra Blair, David Dastmalchian, Marin Ireland, and LisaGay Hamilton.
And remember, if the BEST thing you can say about a movie is that it’s “visually stunning,” then they’ve done something wrong.
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