The latest addition to the world of horror in the cinema industry comes through the form of Rob Savage’s “The Boogeyman”. The film is adapted from the original story, first published by Stephen King in 1973.
Nowadays it seems as though making a horror film that is both original and effectively frightening is a difficult task that not many filmmakers seem to get right. Of course, I hoped that I would be able to see both of these boxes ticked through seeing “The Boogeyman”, however this failed to be the case.
The Boogeyman failed on being able to provide something different that horror films in today’s generation have so much of. The storyline was generic, the plot was predictable, and the jump scares were boring and irregular.
It’s not that the film itself isn’t interesting to follow, but throughout the films run time, you find yourself a number of times wondering as to whether you care about the characters in this film and the outcomes they face.
And the honest answer – you don’t.
When there is a storyline with such high stakes, as horror films generally tend to have, you need to care about the characters, otherwise there is no risk involved.
But The Boogeyman failed to provide our characters with little backstory and context, to the point where were really aren’t interested about the outcomes they face in this movie.
The story of The Boogeyman, for those who haven’t read or seen any previous adaptations, follows a Father (Chris Messina) and his two daughters who are grieving from the recent loss of their Mother.
The darkness that lurks amongst the remains of this semi-broken family only multiplies when they are treated with a visit from “The Boogeyman” who’s only goal is to see this family face more torture. Both mentally and physically.
It really isn’t difficult to see the direction that this movie goes in, before actually seeing it play out before your eyes. If you have seen any modern horror movie ever – you have seen this movie.
The most appealing factor within a movie that lacks intriguing content and an interesting plot, is the fact that it only has a run time of 98 minutes. If this wasn’t the case, it certainly wouldn’t be as watchable as it is, and I probably would have steered clear of doing so.
Young actress, Sophie Hatcher does a solid job of playing Sadie Harper, the troubled teenage girl who deals with the responsibility of killing the Boogeyman to ensure her families safety.
Although the tools aren’t quite there for her to showcase a strong acting ability, she does a convincing job and is honestly one of the few positive things about this film.
We also see Chris Messina playing Will Harper, the Father to his two young daughters and widow to his recently deceased wife. Messina delivers a subtle and gentle performance throughout the role of the Father in this film, which I tend to find rare throughout horror films.
If you have recently seen Messina’s 5-star performance in Ben Affleck’s “Air”, you would be applauding Messina’s ability to emotionally transform himself into the loving and caring guy that we see him as in this film.
A big aspect to horror films that makes them exactly what they are – is the idea of frightening audiences. And although The Boogeyman fails for the most part in this area, there is one aspect that I did like.
Of course, most horror films are centred around some kind of evil villain that only wants to cause destruction amongst the protagonists in the film, The Boogeyman is no different.
But sometimes the idea of actually seeing what the villain looks like up close and removing the sense of the unknown can spoil the fear factor for the audience members. And although most of the time seeing the frightening antagonist of the movie is inevitable, Rob Savage does all he can to prevent us from having the sense of the unknown taken away.
There aren’t actually that many clear-cut shots in this film that we actually see of “The Boogeyman” himself, which only made the idea of him all the more frightening.
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