The Boogeyman

              I think most of us at one time or another, were not a fan of the dark or those small places we thought something could hide in.  I know for the longest time I didn’t want my feet hanging off the bed fearing that something would reach up and grab them.  For my generation, a lot of the nightmare fuel was given to us by one man. Stephen King. It seemed like his stories were everywhere when I was growing up, in books, on TV and on film. He is still not done scaring us, even one of his stories written in 1978 can still make it to the big screen now, ready to terrify us.

              Sadie (Sophie Thatcher) is not in a good place. It has been a month, but she still is having a hard time getting over the sudden death of her mother. Sadie is not alone, her father Will Harper (Chris Messina) is a doctor that works from home and her younger sister Sawyer (Vivien Lyra Blair), is also dealing with the loss in her own way. For Sawyer, that way involves a lot of lights, as she thinks something is hiding in her closet, but I don’t think those lights will do her any good for much longer. You see something is indeed after her, and it thrives in darkness, but no one believes her and chalk it up to her over-active imagination. Soon though Sadie starts to see it as well and with some clues, starts to put things together that lead her to another house where the same thing happened. Of course she is on her own, as her father either doesn’t believe her or doesn’t seem to be around when all this is happening. Luckily Sadie does get some direction, but also some bad news in the form of that this thing is impossible to get rid of. So now she has to find a way, or this thing will eventually get her whole family.

Written by Scott Beck, Bryan Woods, and Mark Heyman, who expand King’s short story in a way you might not expect. Like a lot of horror films, The Boogeyman happenings stem from grief ,but grief is not all it brings as there are some good old fashioned scares as well. Rob Savage, who directed the excellent Host in 2020, does a great job here making you fear what is in the dark, where you are always on edge and waiting for something. That method works, because most of the time you can’t see, or there is nothing there, so when you realize it is there, it just ups the fright level.

           The Boogeyman is a good watch, but it is not without its problems, mostly dealing with reality. Told for the most part through the kids perspective, it seems odd when things are happening, that no one else can hear, or maybe this house has the best soundproof walls ever. Even with its small disconnect from reality it tries to instill, the film delivers  with its atmosphere, which is captured fantastically. All in all, The Boogeyman is a solid film adaption that delivers some good scares and while it tries to add some heart to that, with middling success, there is little doubt that some if you will definitely be checking your closet before you go to bed.