The titular creature is grotesque and frightening, and the jump scares are plentiful in 20th Century Studios’ The Boogeyman. Based on a Stephen King short story, The Boogeyman stirs up unsettling memories of nights spent wondering if that shadow on the wall is about to spring to life. Is that creaking noise just the house settling, or is something ever so slowly creeping toward the bed in the cover of darkness?
Parents always deny the existence of closet monsters and claim that there’s nothing scary under the bed unless you consider dust bunnies sinister. However, the sisters in The Boogeyman are faced with a different reality – that bump in the night is a real threat that enjoys toying with its prey before finally killing them.
A quick flashback finds a baby screaming in fear and blood caked on the photo of a smiling family. What happened isn’t revealed on camera and is left entirely to the audience’s imagination.
Current events find 16-year-old Sadie Harper (Sophie Thatcher, Yellowjackets) and her little sister, Sawyer (Vivien Lyra Blair, Obi-Wan Kenobi), struggling to cope with their mother’s recent death. Their dad, Will (Chris Messina, Air), is a therapist who should be able to help them deal with their grief. Instead, he fails to acknowledge the extent to which they’ve been affected by the loss and that they need more time – and much more support – to heal from the devastation of their mom’s death.
As if the Harper family doesn’t have enough to deal with, a disturbing visit from a peculiar man named Lester Billings (David Dastmalchian, Boston Strangler) – connected to the flashback’s screaming baby – seeks Will’s help. When Will doesn’t believe Lester’s incredible story, he commits suicide in the Harpers’ home.
This gruesome event adds to the trauma the family’s experiencing, a trauma that’s further compounded by Sawyer’s night terrors. In bed, Sawyer clings onto a lighted orb as if it were a life preserver in a sea of terrifying shadows. She’s sure something is watching her from her closet and then scurrying under her bed just beyond her line of sight.
Lester left behind a supernatural creature that feeds on suffering, and the Harper family – and Sawyer, in particular – are the perfect feeding ground for this malevolent being to feast. Sawyer is the first to understand that the boogeyman is real and stalking her family. Although her father refuses to consider the existence of the supernatural, Sawyer’s able to convince her sister that there’s an evil creature slinking around in the shadows of their home.
Together, the siblings make an unexpectedly formidable team in a life-or-death fight against a soul-sucking creature who thrives on misery.
Sophie Thatcher and Vivien Lyra Blair do a terrific job of playing siblings dealing with a life-altering tragedy and then suddenly being forced into a battle against a supernatural being. The appearance of the boogeyman bonds the siblings and teaches them that they need to lean on each other to survive both their grief and the evil entity attached to their family.
Director Rob Savage (Host) and screenwriters Mark Heyman (Black Swan) and A Quiet Place‘s Scott Beck and Bryan Woods tease the creature without giving away their hand too early. Although it creeps around in the shadows, the effective use of ambient lighting reveals the briefest of glimpses of the hideous title character’s features as it scurries about the Harper home. The supernatural entity has enough mass to block lights and cast a shadow, and when it moves, it displaces objects and makes a racket. The boogeyman’s stealthy when it wants to be but can also choose to make its presence known as a way of further terrorizing its victims.
Early scenes show Sadie at school trying to adjust to being the subject of gossip as the girl with the dead mom. And while The Boogeyman briefly delves into high school dynamics, the film works best when it concentrates on the battle of good against evil and scaring the hell out of the audience. When the action’s confined to the darkened hallways and bedrooms of the Harper house, it’s possible to embrace early childhood fears and believe once again in the existence of closet monsters.
GRADE: B-
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for terror, teen drug use, some strong language, and violent content
Running Time: 1 hour 38 minutes
Release Date: June 2, 2023
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