‘The Boogeyman’ – Review
Hold onto the light for dear life, and fear the coming of the dark because The Boogeyman has arrived, and audiences await a freakishly scary tale of what happens when the lights go out and evil opens its mouth.
High school student Sadie Harper (Sophie Thatcher) and her younger sister, Sawyer (Vivien Lyra Blair), are still reeling from the recent death of their mother. They’re not getting much support from their father, Will (Chris Messina), a therapist who’s dealing with his own intense pain. When a desperate patient unexpectedly shows up at their house seeking help, he leaves behind a terrifying supernatural entity that preys on families and feeds on the suffering of its victims.
Adapted from the fiendish short story by legendary horror maestro Stephen King, The Boogeyman is an all-new horror experience that plunges audiences into the abyss of the night. And the evils that lurk in its dark recesses. Director Rob Savage steps up to the big time with The Boogeyman, and it’s his ultimate desire to scare the living hell out of audiences that shapes his approach to this freakish story. Analysing themes of trauma and suffering, along with the very monsters from our own nightmares, Savage keeps his audience on edge right from the start with The Boogeyman. With a deep understanding of the horror genre, Savage works to keep the sense of dread high with The Boogeyman and the scares emerge more from what is withheld, rather than shown. And it’s this ‘less is more’ approach to the jump scares that keep the audience freaked.
As the film’s central character, Sophie Thatcher brings a Gen-Z emo quality to her role of Sadie Harper. Dealing with the traumatic fallout of her mother’s death and the lingering emptiness that now surrounds her, Thatcher’s Sadie becomes a focal point for the film’s title monster. And it gets scary quickly. Thatcher brings a real sense of empathy to her performance as Sadie, and she shares a sense of stringer sisterhood with her young co-star Vivien Lyra Blair who takes on the role of her younger sister Sawyer, who is the target of this horrific monster. Savage throws a lot at these two young actresses, and they dive into the intensity of the horror in front of them.
While the scares of The Boogeyman will certainly unsettle you, its Savage exploration as ‘horror as metaphor’ is set against the film’s backdrop of trauma and grief where this film shows its fangs. This title creature preys upon the suffering of its prey, and throughout the film, you almost feel that the monster is taunting the Harper family, or ‘playing with its food’. This only adds to the mounting tension of the film, and audiences will feel that uneasy feeling in the pit of their stomach with this one.
For those with a taste for horror, The Boogeyman supplies the jump scares and the horrors of the dark in equal measure. So remember, keep the lights on….or suffer the reach of the monsters of the dark.
Image: 20th Century Studios
