The Boogeyman

Director - Rob Savage (Dashcam, Fear Haus)

Starring - Sophie Thatcher (Yellowjackets, The Book of Boba Fett), Chris Messina (Devil, Birds of Prey), and Vivien Lyra Blair (Bird Box, Obi-Wan Kenobi)

Release Date - 2023

Genre - Horror

Tagline - "It's not real.  It's not real.  It's not real"

Format - Streaming (Online Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     Some of my favorite horror films are adaptations of Stephen King’s work. I’ve read some of his works over the years and while I’ve enjoyed what I’ve read I would be lying if I said I’ve read them all. I do enjoy reading but my day job and writing for Horror Society doesn’t offer up much in the line of free time. As much as I enjoy his novels, I would still rather watch the film and television adaptations. Some of my favorite films are adaptations of his work. I grew up with films like Silver Bullet, Pet Sematary, Maximum Overdrive, and Creepshow on repeat. His career is legendary and when I see a film has his name attached will automatically draw in my attention. Several months back I started receiving press releases for a new King adaptation. The Boogeyman was produced by Disney under their recently acquired 20th Century Fox brand and had a June release this year. I had heard mixed things about it but that is expected when King’s work is adapted to film. I wasn’t able to check it out during it’s theatrical run but decided to watch it recently on Hulu. I was sent a code sometime back to review but decided to host a giveaway around Halloween for one lucky fan on our Facebook page. 

      The film follows a therapist and his two daughters who are trying to pick up the pieces after their mother passed away unexpectedly. A unexpected man appears wanting to be seen by the therapist and later kills himself in one of the rooms in his home. The youngest daughter starts to believe that something is living in her closet while her older sister starts seeing strange things around the home. They suspect that the man’s death in their home was the beginning of something much more sinister and they soon learn that the boogeyman is real. 

      I went into this one really excited to see another Stephen King adaptation. While I was not familiar with the book, I had high hopes for this one despite the mixed reception it had received up to this point. I’m not one of those people that have to read the book and pick apart the movie. I always view the film as a separate installment that is inspired or influenced by the original novel, comic, video game, and so on. While I don’t know anything about the source material I can say that The Boogeyman is easily the worst of the King adaptations. It’s predictable with unlikable characters and one of the most generic monsters I’ve seen in recent years. The acting in this one is solid but I was expecting better performances. The characters are very unlikable and one dimensional. The cast delivers decent enough performances but their one dimensional characters that are unlikable makes their performances feel worse than they actually are. The story for this one is so predictable and is similar to other films I’ve recently reviewed including the indie horror slasher The Pumpkin Man. There has been so many films depicting teens or kids fighting their own version of the so called Boogeyman over the years that it makes this film feel almost like a blatant rip off of those films. What makes it even more depressing is that it’s from the mind of a true horror master. I would assume at this point that the book would be better with King’s own style of horror but this film is paint by numbers and easily forgettable. I hate being this way and having so much negative to say about one of the films based on his work but it is one of the worst films of the year. Finally, the film is not a bloody one and if you are looking for iconic horror moments like we’ve seen in many of his other films then you will be very disappointed. We get a horrible CGI monster that looks like the aliens from A Quiet Place but much worse. Overall, The Boogeyman is the biggest dud of the year and the biggest disappointment in my opinion. This is one film I cannot recommend.