Studio: 20th Century Studios
Release Date: Now on Digital, 10/10/2023 on Blu-ray
Rating: PG-13
Film Grade: C
The Story: The Harper’s are going through tough times. Mom was recently killed in a car crash, and Dr. Will Harper is trying to find the right balance between seeing patients in his home office and raising his daughters as they start the new school year.
He’s visited by man who desperately needs his help. Although the doctor normally requires a pre-visit phone interview, Lester Billings convinces him to take him on immediately as a new patient. As the session unfolds, Billings reveals the details of his children’s deaths, and we find out that Mr. Billings is either suffering from severe delusions, or there’s something more sinister about.
My Take: The Boogeyman is adapted from a Stephen King story that appeared in his collection of short stories, Night Shift. I never read it, so I can’t make any comparisons between that tale and the movie. Like all of King’s adaptations, you never quite know what you’re going to get. For each Shawshank Redemption you’ll get a Maximum Overdrive. For each version of The Shining, you’ll get a Thinner. You get the idea.
Cutting to the chase, this movie doesn’t fall into the clunker side of things nor on the great end; it’s solidly in the middle. While there are moments that fall under the horror movie trap of, why didn’t character A just do action B, it’s not grossly excessive. One simple example is that nobody seems to own a flashlight, or remembers that most cell phones have that function built in. Those kinds of things end up unnecessarily hurting the movie, and knock it down a grade.
As directed by Rob Savage, The Boogeyman feels like a movie from the 80’s, which isn’t a bad thing. He coaxes some good performances from Sophie Thatcher and Vivien Lyra Blair as the daughters. The father is played convincingly by Chris Messina, adding just the right amount of weight to the role.
Some will assert that PG-13 movies can’t be scary, but I’ve never felt that way. There doesn’t need to be tons of gore or violence to create a sense of dread or fear or general unease. The movie does create that atmosphere at times, but could have done more to keep the audience on edge. The production values and design are both well-executed, which contributes to the feel of the movie.
The 98-minute run time could have been extended a bit to develop some of the secondary characters, who we barely get to know and come off as stereotypes. It also shortchanges Messina, who is offscreen for parts of the movie where he should be around.
Video: There are a lot of dark scenes in this movie, as one would expect. I didn’t notice any issues with it in the digital version, and would imagine that the disc would be at least as good, if not better. Colors are realistic and natural throughout.
Audio: The 5.1 Dolby mix was surprisingly good. Enhanced by the HTP-1’s Neural X upmixer, sounds were scattered about my room, starting from the opening moments, and it features some fun sound effects.
Special Features: ● Into the Darkness Featurette
● Outtakes
Final Verdict: As a Stephen King movie, this fits right in along with the many perfectly average adaptations. It’s hamstrung by an overreliance on horror tropes and could have used some innovation to keep the audience off guard.
If you’re looking for an appetizer for the upcoming Halloween season, you may want to give this one a look. While there isn’t anything groundbreaking or outstanding about it, it does have some interesting moments and atmosphere.
It’s available on DVD and Blu-ray on October 10th.
Fun Fact: The sisters in this movie have a Disney Star Wars connection. Thatcher played Drash in The Book of Boba Fett miniseries, and Blair played li’l Leia in the Obi Wan Kenobi miniseries.
My Review System:JVC DLA-RS3100 4K Ultra High-Definition Front Projector
Elite Screens Sable Frame B2 117” Width with Infinitely Variable Height
Monolith by Monoprice HTP-1 16 Channel Processor with Dirac Live
Monolith by Monoprice 7x200 Watts Amp
Monolith by Monoprice 3x200 Watts + 6x100 Watts Amp
JBL Studio 590 for Left, Center, Right, Wides, and Rears
JBL Studio 580 for Side Surrounds
JBL Studio SCS 8 for Tops
JTR Captivator 1400 Subwoofer X 4
Panasonic DP-UB420 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Player
NVIDIA Shield Android TV - 4K
Xbox One X
HTPC Running madVR (work in progress)
Remote: URC MX-780
Mini DSP 2X4 HD controlling all subwoofers
APC S15 Power Conditioner with Battery Backup
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