High school student Sadie Harper and her younger sister Sawyer are reeling from the recent death of their mother and aren’t getting much support from their father, Will, a therapist who is dealing with his own pain. When a desperate patient unexpectedly shows up at their home seeking help, he leaves behind a terrifying supernatural entity that preys on families and feeds on the suffering of its victims.
Stephen King has had a lot of successful big-screen adaptations; “Carrie,” “IT,” “Salem’s Lot,” “Misery,” and “Doctor Sleep,” to name but a few. But many of his stories have been transformed into big-screen duds; “Graveyard Shift,” “The Lawnmower Man,” “The Mangler,” and “Children of the Corn.” Of course, these are all subject to personal preference, but it’s safe to say that his body of work, at least on the silver screen, is questionable at best.
When word came out that 20th Century Studios would be adapting King’s 1973 short story, “The Boogeyman,” for the big screen, I was very skeptical, to say the least, as many of his recent big-screen efforts, the remakes of “Pet Sematary,” “Children of the Corn,” “and “Firestarter,” were horrendous abominations, but thank God for director Rob Savage, he takes King’s short story and turns the titular character into a decidedly wicked and monstrous antagonist, one who appears to be unstoppable, even right up to the closing credits.
Sadie Harper (Sophie Thatcher) and her younger sister Sawyer (Vivien Lyra Blair) are struggling after their mother’s recent death. Their father, Will (Chris Messina), a therapist by profession, dives into his work to deal with his wife’s passing, assisting his patients and their needs but unable to help his own children with their anguish. When a strange man, Lester Billings (David Dastmalchian), turns up at Will’s home office one afternoon unannounced, Will agrees to let him in, believing him to be dangerous and hoping he might be able to talk to him.
Lester talks about the deaths of his three children and how they died mysteriously when left alone in their bedrooms; the only common thread between them was that they each cried out “Boogeyman” before dying. He also mentions that their closet door was found ajar after their deaths, even though he had closed it before he left them. Will excuses himself to call the police, but when he returns, Lester is nowhere to be found. When Sadie comes home early, she hears noises coming from her mother’s bedroom closet and finds Lester hanging from the rafters.
The police say it was suicide due to him losing his family, and Will and his daughters try to move on with their lives. Gradually, Sadie and Sawyer begin to experience strange phenomena, mysterious noises coming from their bedroom closets, the door opening by itself, and a terrifying face hidden in the shadows. Night after night, it slowly materializes, progressively becoming more and more noticeable until its true and terrifying form begins to take shape, but by the time it fully reveals itself, it may be too late!
“The Boogeyman” doesn’t waste any time getting into its story; it jumps straight in and doesn’t let up for 98 terrifying minutes. Director Rob Savage never shows the titular character in its full glory until the very end. In the build-up to its reveal, we are privy to glimpses of it in the shadows and dimness of a dark closet or a hair-raising, wraithlike manifestation in the corner of a room; the film wisely follows Spielberg’s direction utilized in “Jaws” where less is more.
“The Boogeyman” never fully explains what its titular character is, and this serves the movie well. A horror film doesn’t always have to clarify who or what its villain is; sometimes, leaving that up to the viewer’s imagination can be scarier than flat-out exposition. While it thrives on despair and depression, it also embodies a physical form, and it uses this appearance to scare and frighten its intended victims. If you love to be scared, “The Boogeyman” is for you. It will unnerve you and stay with you long after the credits have rolled.
In Theaters Friday, June 2nd
