The Boogeyman – Decent Flare Sunken By Predictability

Looking to do more than just scare audiences, many of the more impactful horror films try to ground their stories in deeper themes. One of the more recent successful examples of this was 2014’s The Babadook, using grief as the main driving force for its story. Meanwhile, everyone is more or less familiar with an entity known as The Boogeyman, a creature used by adults to frighten children into good behavior. When it comes to The Boogeyman, a film based on a short story of the same name by Stephen King, the entity is merely a means to an end albeit an overly familiar one. As a film, it brings absolutely nothing new whatsoever to the table, creating an overwhelming sense of predictability which led to its downfall. Regardless, a lot of audiences will still find comfort in its familiarity. In the end, the film takes those more familiar aspects and executes it in a still somewhat compelling way, just not a surprising one. Though for what it lacks in originality, it makes up for in strong atmosphere work to add more tension that probably wouldn’t have been there otherwise. Trying to do so much within its short 90+ minute running time, the story comes off on the messy side between lore, themes, and somehow bringing it all together.

The Boogeyman is centered around a grieving family following the untimely death of their matriarch, leaving highschooler Sadie Harper (Thatcher) and her younger sister Sawyer (Blair) along with their therapist father Will (Messina) to fend for themselves as they try to move forward. Only adding to their troubles, a supernatural entity suddenly entered their lives, preying on them and fueling itself with their suffering. Lurking in the periphery, it shone a light on what was already there, lurking below the surface. It was just a shame that it didn’t pull out more from below the surface. Perhaps being a creature feature through the lens of a tale about grief, it bit off more than it could chew as it doesn’t particular succeed at either in enough of a satisfying way. Unwittingly inheriting the creature, it slowly chipped away at the Harper family dynamic in the most predictable of ways in terms of story beats and scares. However, in the background was some strong atmospheric work to manufacture tension through sound design and camerawork in spite of its overwhelming predictability.

Inevitably, the story has to move forward as facing The Boogeyman essentially meant the Harpers facing their grief. Taking the lead was of course Sadie for whom the shallow story hurt. All things considered, she does a decent job at galvanizing her family and moving the story forward even though that journey may not tread any new ground as she was forced to balance high school drama and family drama. While the contrast of the young innocent Sawyer against the film’s horror elements made for a few admittedly fun moments, Will took too much of a backseat to the story as it favored Sadie’s character arc rather than the arc of the family as a whole. Shoehorning in some derivative lore and implementing some decently constructed scares in the midst of the overcoming grief arc, the latter becomes muddled, especially by the time the film reaches its crazy climax and ending which undercut itself for the purpose of creating a franchise. The familiarity and sheer predictability of it all, from its story to its themes, fails to make the film stand out within the horror genre. It may entertain in the moment but is sure to be forgotten soon after the credits roll.

Keeping The Boogeyman afloat was its performances. The chemistry between Thatcher and Blair as Sadie and Sawyer was easily the best part of the film. Representing the majority of the family arc, they ground it with their likability. Even so, they could only do so much with what they were given. Despite being a little too thin as a character, Thatcher was a decent lead while Blair stole scenes with her cuteness alone. As mentioned, Messina took too much of a backseat as Will, a character showing signs of depth that the film failed to explore. His grief appeared most prominent but his struggle was an internal one. Will’s absence through the majority of the film lessened the impact of his ultimate arc.

At the end of the day, The Boogeyman is fine though nothing to get excited about. It shows flare at times but ultimately brings nothing new to the table, amounting in a misfire overall.

still courtesy of 20th Century Studios

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Keith Noakes

The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.