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The Boogeyman (15)

Cast: Sophie Thatcher, Chris Messina, David Dastmalchian, Vivien Lyra Blair
Genre: Horror
Author(s): Scott Beck, Mark Heyman, Bryan Woods
Director: Rob Savage
Release Date: 02/06/2023
Running Time: 99mins
Country: US/Can
Year: 2023

Therapist Will Harper is unable to provide his daughters Sadie and Sawyer with the emotional support they need to cope with the death of their mother. A traumatised stranger, Lester Billings, turns up unexpectedly at the family home in desperate need of Will's professional help. His arrival heralds the emergence of a terrifying entity that feeds on human suffering and gleefully stalks children while disbelieving parents' backs are turned.


LondonNet Film Review

The Boogeyman (15) Film Review from LondonNet

Childhood fears of monsters that lurk in wardrobes or underneath beds are gleefully realised in director Rob Savage’s horror thriller based on Stephen King’s short story, which appeared in the 1978 collection Night Shift along with The Lawnmower Man, Children Of The Corn and Sometimes They Come Back. Conjured using digital effects trickery, the titular antagonist of The Boogeyman is a hissing predator with two gleaming eyes that glisten in the dark, handily giving away the monster’s location shortly before an attack on a terrified victim including one screaming infant in a crib that meets a grisly demise in the film’s unsettling prologue…

Savage orchestrates set pieces in gloom or total darkness, stoking tension with unreliable light sources such as candles, a cigarette lighter or the torch of a mobile phone which are easily extinguished or only illuminate the path ahead (providing plentiful opportunities for a voracious beast to creep up behind actors). Aside from a couple of jump scares, Savage’s picture is mildly unsettling for the duration and abides by familiar genre rules. Screenwriters Scott Beck, Bryan Woods and Mark Heyman deviate from King’s short story in one crucial aspect to leave a creaky wardrobe ajar for potential sequels.

Therapist Will Harper (Chris Messina) is incapable of processing the death of his wife in a car accident and he neglects to provide daughters Sadie (Sophie Thatcher) and Sawyer (Vivien Lyra Blair) with the emotional support they need to cope with their devastating loss. Instead, he relies on colleague Dr Weller (LisaGay Hamilton) to salve the girls’ wounds and help youngest child Sawyer confront her crippling fear of the dark. A grief-stricken stranger called Lester Billings (David Dastmalchian) turns up unannounced at the family home, where Will practises, in desperate need of professional help.

The therapist reluctantly allows the new patient to verbalise a family history steeped in tragedy and Will stares dumbfounded at a child’s drawing of an otherworldly creature, which Lester claims murdered his brood. “It’s the thing that comes for your kids when you’re not paying attention,” warns Lester. The session ends abruptly and soon after, Sawyer claims there is something unearthly in her bedroom, heralding the emergence of a terrifying entity that feeds on human suffering and stalks children while disbelieving parents’ backs are turned.

The Boogeyman won’t be causing any sleepless nights for audiences who are well versed in the psychological warfare of things that go bump in the night. Savage’s film is a solid and quietly efficient horror thriller that espouses family unity in adversity, spearheaded by proactive female characters. Australian horror The Babadook ventured into similar territory in 2014 and was more inventive and chilling than this mildly disconcerting nightmare. Leave a light on.

– Kim Hu


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