Boogeyman
Aw, I thought this was going to be a Disco horror movie
The Boogeyman myth is found all over
the world in many different cultures. The myths go back all the way
to the middle ages and in some places, even further. Sure, the names
and specifics are different, but the main characteristics remain. The
Boogeyman is a horrible, monstrous creature that kills. He's always
hiding somewhere, usually in the closet or under the bed. It's this
reason why reviewing a movie based on him seems like a no-brainer. Of
course, it's also an excuse for me to link to a great scene from The
Simpsons where Lisa has a bad dream about the Boogeyman and Homer
acts appropriately. It's also a good excuse to listen to White
Zombie's "I'm Your Boogie Man".
Boogeyman is a 2005 supernatural horror
movie starring Barry Watson (7th Heaven, Sorority Boys) as
Tim Jensen. As a young boy, Tim was afraid of something in his closet
based off a story his father told him. One night, his father goes to
check on him and is attacked by an unknown and unseen being. His
father disappeared into the closet, never to be seen again. No one
believed his story and everyone just assumed his father ran off. 15
years later, Tim is deathly afraid of closets and keeps his clothes
in drawers. After a Thanksgiving trip to meet his girlfriend
Jessica's parents, Tim has a vision of his mother (Lucy Lawless,
Xena: Warrior Princess, Vampire Bats) in trouble. He receives a call
from his father saying she has died. He returns to his old house
where the incident with his father took place as a form of closure.
He is briefly attacked by something in a closet, but escapes. Tim
reconnects with his childhood friend, Kate (Emily Deschanel, Bones,
Cold Mountain) who still lives in town. He also meets a young girl
named Franny, who also believes in the Boogeyman. She leaves him a
backpack full of missing children's photos, all of whom were killed
by the Boogeyman. Jessica visits Tim and takes him to a motel to
relax, where she mysteriously disappears. Tim stumbles backwards into
the closet and comes out into his family's home. Worried he is losing
his mind, he takes Kate to the motel where they discover that Tim
was, in fact, at the motel. Tim meets with Franny again, who reveals
that she had been taken by the Boogeyman in 1985 and her father tried
to defeat him. Will Tim be able to face his fears and defeat the
monster?
And can they look even whiter?
I don't recall seeing a movie where I
was distracted by the poor direction and camerawork than the story.
The movie has a habit of speeding up shots and having quick zoom-ins,
complete with whoosing sound effects. Once or twice is fine, but the
movie is full of these. There are so many shots of doors and
close-ups of door knobs that you'd think Better Homes and Gardens
Magazine was involved. The action doesn't really occur until the last
third of the movie and the spiraling, shaky camera shocks are
dizzying and nauseating. A straightforward action sequence would have
been far more entertaining and far scarier than this unfortunate
camera trick. When the Boogeyman is finally revealed, the special
effects used to create him are downright laughable. They look like
they belong in a movie from 1997, not 2005. I've seen better cut
scenes from early 2000-era video games than this. You'd think by
hiding the Boogeyman for most of the movie would be for atmospheric
effect, but it's just because the monster is so incredibly
computerized and cheap looking.
All of this just distracts from the
movie itself, which is boring, unoriginal, and confusing. It feels
like there are at least 20 other horror movies that have come out in
recent years where a child experiences some horrible incident, no one
believes them, and they come back as an adult to face their fears. I
mean, I reviewed to movies just like that, Darkness Falls and Dead
Silence. The acting is fine, no one was particularly good or bad. The
house set they used was actually very good looking and should have
been used in a better movie. The action sequences are decent, but
there just isn't enough of them. The movie focuses more on
psychological mind messing, with Tim going through closets and under
beds and coming out in different places. It just doesn't work and
left me feeling confused. At least they tried something different.
Watching someone watching someone. This movie just went meta.
Using the Boogeyman as the villain in a
horror movie is a good idea. It can translate well to different
cultures and different age groups. It can be legitimately scary and
thrilling if done correctly. Unfortunately, Boogeyman is neither
scary nor thrilling. The direction and camerawork are just not good
and distract from the rest of the movie, which isn't that good. The
story is unoriginal and the special effects are downright laughable.
The acting manages to keep the movie afloat, but just barely. No need
for you to check in the closet, because Boogeyman should be in the $5
DVD bin at Wal-Mart.
3.5/10
