The Boogeyman: Impactful if Indistinguishable

Who was your monster in the closet or under the bed when you were a child? How did you feel about this monster after staring it down for years on end? Maybe a little braver? In many ways, this is how I feel about Rob Savage's The Boogeyman. Apparently, this movie is based on a 1973 short story by Stephen King, and maybe I'm being dishonest by judging a story with source material from the 1970s by today's standards of originality. Still, while The Boogeyman can be a frightening film on occasion, I was frustrated by its lack of creativity or meaningful effort to stand out from other horror movies in nearly any way. I understand that audiences tend to look for a slight variation of the same things they've already come to love when they go to watch a movie, but the way I see it, what does that say about the potential legacy of movies being made today? The movies complained about for their lack of familiarity today will be praised for their pioneering spirit tomorrow, but I can't say I'll be talking about The Boogeyman for long.

Granted, some things about this movie work, and even work very well at times. I understand that tragedy is a familiar trope of the horror genre, but I like how The Boogeyman does its best to meditate on the passing of the mother of Sadie - the main protagonist - to take that initial balance we see at the start of the movie and make every meaningful effort to create a sense of relative normalcy and even an empathy for Sadie, because once the Boogeyman himself does show up, his presence is surprisingly sinister. The Boogeyman does some things very well, and one of those things is its emphasis on the presence of an unseen monster. We're taught to fear this Boogeyman long before we actually see him, a fundamental trait for a good horror or slasher villain to have.

Again, the story of this movie plays out more or less the way you'd expect it to. The Boogeyman is a very familiar movie flirting with very familiar ideas, tropes ranging anywhere from the passing of a loved one close to the main characters to even the monster under the bed himself, and neither does this movie put any spin or twist or any other alteration on these ideas, though it's playing on safe, familiar ground and knows it. The Boogeyman is intriguing because it promises to do more of the same things we've come to love in other horror movies, though it manages to conjure up a couple of fresh scares along the way, too. And while I wish it had been confident enough to carve out its own identity, it has an extensive knowledge of horror film history and puts this knowledge to good use, even if it sometimes feels like the cinematic equivalent of a poetry recitation.

Ultimately, I feel conflicted about The Boogeyman. Its tropes are unabashedly familiar, and its foundations are nothing special to write home about. Still, even if it's not going to be winning any awards for originality or any awards at all for that matter, this movie plays the hand it's dealt viscerally and, more importantly, carefully enough to be passable, if not masterful. I can't say I'll be looking under the bed for the next few days, but I'm glad I took the time to look at The Boogeyman, even if I've seen monsters like him time and again.

The Boogeyman - 6/10

1 Thessalonians 4:14