It had to have been electrifying to be an avid horror aficionado in 1973 and encounter the short story “The Boogeyman” by a fright-foisting upstart named Stephen King. Taut, grim, detailed, eerily matter-of-fact, inspired by childhood fears but soaked in grown-up nightmares, it’s the work of someone eager to inject a timeless form with new blood. (It would eventually stand out in his first published collection of stories, 1978’s “Night Shift.”)
The 2023 film version of “The Boogeyman,” however — getting a theatrical release after originally being intended for streaming only — is something less inspired, just one more neatly packaged, PG-13 date night entry in a cost-effective, money-minting genre, serviceably fitting a very common, slick horror paradigm: shock mechanics, CGI, and simplistic psychology are more important than any abiding sense of dread or inconceivable terror.
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Granted, unremarkable adaptations of Stephen King are practically their own category, and every time interest fades in doing right by him onscreen, a hit comes along — in this case, the two massively popular “It” films — to inspire more attempts. “The Boogeyman,” directed by Rob Savage and adapted by Mark Heyman, Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, was always going to be tough to make cinematic, considering the original story is set entirely in a therapist’s office. But the resulting expansion falls prey to that iffiest of modern-day horror movie conventions: an “opening up” narrative that too often feels like a shutting down of what’s truly scary.
After a sleekly unnerving opening scene drawn from the evil depicted in King’s pages, we turn to the house of the Harper family, a solemn (and solemnly lit) Craftsman two-story where teenager Sadie (Sophie Thatcher) and her younger sister Sawyer (Vivien Lyra Blair) are still mourning the loss of their mother in a tragic accident the month prior. Their therapist father Will (Chris Messina) puts on a brave front as he sees patients in his home office and pushes the girls back into a school routine — where Sadie is unprepared for well-wishers or teasing — but it’s clear dad is in no shape to address his daughters’ or his own loss.
Something is paying attention to the girls, however, particularly Sawyer, who detects a menacing presence in the shadows and sleeps with a big lit ball that you’d have to say is more convenient toy for the director’s reveal-scares than a kid’s security object. Sadie, who would love nothing more than to discover her mom as a ghost, doesn’t buy her sister’s insistence there’s a monster in the house. But in doing her own investigating after a freaky incident in their home with a creepy stranger (David Dastmalchian), Sadie comes to realize there may be a lethal malevolence in the house worth addressing, and — because horror is now as good-versus-evil-driven as any superhero movie — worth combating and killing.
Familiarity doesn’t always preclude craftsmanship, and when “The Boogeyman” is in haunted-house mode, Savage and cinematographer Eli Born work the framing, the light sources and the shadows with admirable care and patience, even if the loudly scored jump shocks are perhaps one too many. But as soon as it segues to monster movie — screenwriting team Beck and Woods are the “A Quiet Place” guys — a woeful metaphoric derivativeness takes over as swiftly as icky black tendrils spread across the Harpers’ walls and ceiling. The race to the end is certainly technically proficient, and all the actors gamely play out the ride (including an acid-tangy Marin Ireland making the most of her two scenes). But it’s not horror anymore — more like a medical drama with a race-against-time diagnosis and cure — and ultimately no memorable deepening of King’s ruthlessly efficient, vividly sketched black hole.
'The Boogeyman'
Rating: PG-13 for terror, violent content, teen drug use and some strong language
Running time: 1 hour, 38 minutes
Playing: starts June 2 in general release
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The 2023 film version of “The Boogeyman,” however — getting a theatrical release after originally being intended for streaming only — is something less inspired, just one more neatly packaged, PG-13 date night entry in a cost-effective, money-minting genre, serviceably fitting a very common, slick horror paradigm: ...
This movie has a completely CGI monster, and we had almost none of it ready for the first test screening. We had animatics in place, and we had a 3D-printed Boogeyman head that I would wave around on a stick in front of the camera.
The Boogeyman is one of the better Stephen King adaptations. It's planned out well with its casting and horror sequences. But it shouldn't be the top choice when looking for intense scares. Content collapsed.
Although The Boogeyman relied on clever jump scares and concealing the monster's design in dark areas, it delivered some intense sequences that had audiences on the edges of their seats.
The Boogeyman has become a great horror film based on a short story by Stephen King. The film is exciting and the makers respond well to the childish fears of a monster in the closet or under your bed. No unnecessary filth or an extremely bloody whole, no, The Boogeyman plays more with the viewer's imagination.
In some cultures, the bogeyman is amorphous, shapeless, and perhaps described as just a dark figure or something seen out of the corner of the eye. It may even be said to change its shape into anything it chooses or any number of terrible things.
The movie relies heavily on the CGI, rather than using its budget for practical effects or some great animatronics. People tend to take animatronics for granted, but a film like “An American Werewolf in London” proves that well-made animatronics can produce great scares.
Some kids have a traumatic past; they're confronted by a monster that doubles as a metaphor for depression. You know: A Stephen King story. In “The Boogeyman,” based on a King short story from 1977, the Harper family is coping with tragedy.
Making up a non-starter argument or position defense based on a cheap, weak argument that the opposing viewpoint doesn't actually present or defend. Think of it as a type of boogeyman: it isn't real, it's a false threat, and it holds no actual meaning.
Bogeymen may target a specific act or general misbehaviour, depending on the purpose of invoking the figure, often on the basis of a warning from an authority figure to a child. The term is sometimes used as a non-specific personification of, or metonym for, terror, and sometimes the Devil.
It tells you that danger is approaching; it is basically a cue for you to get anxious. The sound can also be—and often is—acousmatic, which means that you hear the sound but you do not see what is causing it, which can be tremendously anxiety-provoking because it taps into a fear of the unknown.
The boogeyman is not real, but most cultures have some version of the boogeyman myth, although they go by many, many different names. The actual "boogeyman" name most likely originated sometime in the 19th century, but the mythology of these kinds of "monsters" have been around for much longer than that.
The MPAA gave The Boogeyman a PG-13 rating for terror, violent content, teen drug use and some strong language. As with all horror films, there are scary elements. A big part of The Boogeyman's eeriness stems from the terrifying nature of the titular creature.
It seems the Boogeyman is inside, waiting to strike again. The real therapist appears, and Sadie shuts the door. The movie ends. The open door symbolizes how the Boogeyman and all he represents — pain, grief, suffering, loneliness, and fear — will always be with Sadie and her family and can strike at any time.
Interestingly, while The Boogeyman isn't based on a true experience, Savage has been influenced by another horror movie and how it used the night as a cover to kill.
Light VFX took all the Jordan footage and created a full CG environment to put that into, and it just worked beautifully. That's the beautiful thing about a John Wick film, you're always starting with something real. It's very, very rare that you're not.” Related: Why Does The CGI In John Wick's Ending Look So Fake?
During this match, he took a handful of live worms from his pocket and stuffed them into his mouth. Over the next few weeks, Boogeyman's opponents were generally "flattened" in the ring, left with worms in their mouths and/or spit on their faces.
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