'The Boogeyman' Offers Dynamic Characters Over Dead Bodies
Another day another Stephen King adaptation. The Boogeyman is a perfectly competent horror film that offers the usual generic jump scares with a flash of psychological terror. The setting is small, taking place almost entirely in a single home with a family who's haunted by an unknown presence. The Boogeyman is about as memorable as any other PG-13 horror film. It lacks any real scares or thrills. It's a prototypical horror film that is entertaining, short, and to the point, where its greatest strength rests in its family dynamics.
The Harpers are a family living with grief. After the death of their mother, Will Harper (Chris Messina) has to manage the family on his own as a father. As a therapist, Will must suppress his feelings to treat his patients. One day, things come to a head when Dr. Harper is visited by an unscheduled patient who's incredibly disturbed. Lester Billings (David Dastmalchian) claims that an entity killed his family, but nobody believes him. Understandably Dr. Harper is scared of his patient, not believing a word he says, going so far as to call the police behind Lester's back. After Lester's visit, things get creepy in the Harper's house.
Soon the entity that haunted Lester begins to spook Dr. Harper's youngest daughter Sawyer (Vivien Lyra Blair). Like most horror films about boogeymen, the adults don't see the monster first. It's the child who initially witnesses the evil presence. As the entity terrorizes Sawyer, her haunting doesn't seem believable to her father or older sister Sadie (Sophie Thatcher) until it begins to haunt her. Through a series of slow-building jump scares, the film spends less of its time developing the family dynamics and more on the Boogeyman frightening the family.
The jump scares are the typical ones you'd find in a horror film of the week with a slow build, then BOO! Either it's the real thing or a fakeout with someone from the household accidentally startling someone else. It's not very scary as it's all so predictable. The Boogeyman isn't particularly innovative in its scares or character development. It's very much a movie of the week you'd find from your common Stephen King adaptation. Whether it be the thing in IT or a killer cat from Pet Cemetary, the formula in The Boogeyman is standard protocol at this point.
That's not to say the movie is substandard. What makes the story stand out is its family drama which I'd like to see more of. How do Will and his children move on after their mother has passed? Also, how did the mother die? Was that detail in the book? I found myself asking more questions about the deceased mother than the actual monster. The scary motifs of a shadow creature works up until a certain point where the frights become more repetitive than scary. There are only so many times I can watch a door slowly creep open until I grow overly familiar with where the horror conventions will go.
Never overstaying its welcome, The Boogeyman clocks in at an hour and thirty-eight minutes. To help keep the flow moving smoothly is an impressive cast who makes their characters shine beyond the standard horror film victims. David Dastmalchian plays his usual ominous role of the person you'd be afraid to approach. Sophie Thatcher is confident and intelligent, with a strong performance that surpasses the typical teenager. Vivien Lyra Blair is a scared yet intellectual child who does more than scream.
Chris Messina is delicate in his role as the therapist who must suppress his emotions so he can be emotionally present, not just for his patients but also for his children. There's a sadness to him that's similar to Gabriel Byrne's Dr. Paul Weston from HBO's In Treatment. Like Dr. Weston, Dr. Harper is a man in pain who speaks softly, withholding his emotions.
Lastly, there's a small but memorable role from Marin Ireland. In her role, Ms. Ireland portrays a victim of the Boogeyman who hasn't been killed but has gone mad in her hunt to take him down. Her role is similar to her mad scientist in Birth/Rebirth—a film where Ms. Ireland brings a dead little girl back to life. There's a coldness and confidence Ireland has that electrifies the screen.
Speaking of electricity, the lighting from director of photography Eli Born is impressive. As the film relies on creeping doors and flashing lights, the film utilizes a strong contrast ratio to make the reds, blues, and oranges pop on the screen, illuminating an appropriately uneasy setting. The design of the Boogeyman himself is partially scary but mostly non-believable. When we finally see the monster, it's more animated than spooky.
Although creepy in design, the CGI can't hold a candle to the incredible prosthetics a puppet can bring to the screen. Look no further than John Carpenter's The Thing as an example of how terrifying puppets can be. The audience can tell when something is filmed physically on-screen and what's a creation from a computer software program. Luckily we don't see the Boogeyman all that much until the film's climactic finale. He's given the old Jaws effect, where seeing less is more.
The Boogeyman is an okay choice for a fun night of frights at the movies. The suspense is enough to warrant a few jolts from the seats, and the characters are more well-rounded, let alone acted, than the standard horror victims. The movie plays like Poltergeist, where the family's safety grows increasingly limited while the audience invests in the characters over a slasher made only for body counts. With enough character development (even if it could have used a little more), The Boogeyman has enough smarts in its scares to make for another successful Stephen King adaptation brought to the big screen.
