My Review of The Boogeyman (2023)

 

Written by Scott Beck And Bryan Woods And Mark Heyman

Directed by Rob Savage

Sadie (to Sawyer): "There's no such things as monsters. You need to grow up."

As it turned out, I ended up watching two adaptations of Stephen King stories this week. Following Mr Harrigan's Phone, there was also this take on The Boogeyman. I did not have a great time with this one.

Focusing on a grieving family in a nice house, you've got therapist Will Harper (Chris Messina) and his daughters, Sadie (Sophie Thatcher) and Sawyer (Vivien Lyra Blair). They're trying to overcome their loss but also seem to struggle to connect with said loss as well.

Sadie in particular was not only frustrated with her father not opening up but her best friend Bethany (Madison Hu) had become friends with the mean girls. Those girls in particular seemed to take a bit too much delight on mocking Sadie and a sleepover with the girls ended with Sadie rightfully lashing out at the ringleader of that group.

Of course mean girls to one side, there was also Will's patient, Lester Billings (David Dastmachian) confessing to an entity killing his kids before an attack at night resulted in Lester's death. That death also being a trigger for the titular character itself.

The use of the Boogeyman should've livened up this movie as both Sadie and Sawyer have their moments with the barely seen creature but the scenes feel constantly repetitive with the adult typically not believing until the story needed them to do so. 

Then there was Lester's unstable wife, Rita (Marin Ireland) trying to use Sadie as bait before the latter had to step up and save her own family from the Boogeyman. Sadie just about managed to do that but then that last scene implied that it had returned.

- How many people have used that method to remove a loose tooth? 

- The movie used a lot of red, blue and green lighting at different points and usually involving the Boogeyman itself.

- The movie was originally meant to be a Hulu release before it got a theatrical one.

- Chronology: Present day, though the original story was from 1973 and added to the 1978 Night Shift collection.

I wanted to like The Boogeyman but as an adaptation, I found it very lifeless and dull with the lead cast trying their best but ultimately feeling wasted. It's a very poor movie.

Rating: 5 out of 10