Boogeyman DVD with Barry Watson, Emily Deschanel, Lucy Lawless (PG-13) +Movie Reviews

I thought the "Boogeyman" was supposed to keep me awake

Clare Quilty | a little pad in hawaii | 02/05/2005

(1 out of 5 stars)

"If there's one trend in horror movies that really needs to go away it's the Loud Sudden Noise, aka the "SHREEENK!"

I mean that overamplified, more-annoying-than-scary racket that jumps from the speakers during a thriller whenever anything mildly startling happens. It usually sounds like a cello being sliced in two by a guillotine and it's a sure sign that a movie doesn't have any honest scares.

You know the drill:

The hero cautiously backs into a dark room and bumps into - SHREEENK! - a coat rack.

The heroine closes a medicine cabinet and in the mirror - SHREEENK! - sees the ghost of her great-aunt.

Few recent horror flicks have relied as heavily on the "SHREEENK!" as "Boogeyman," which is often atmospheric but mostly silly and boring.

Following a childhood run-in with the title character, magazine editor Tim (Barry Watson) is left with a crippling fear of closets and other dark storage spaces. He's a mess. At 23, he still stops in for treatment at the kid's ward of his neighborhood psychiatric hospital.

"Look around you," his doctor finally tells him. "There are only children here."

I fear that scene isn't nearly as moving as the writers intended, but it sets the tone because Tim spends most of the movie walking around his dark old house wigging out - in fact, a good 60 percent of the film's running time is devoted to scenes in which he approaches sinister-looking doors/staircases/barns really... really... really... slowly (just before the "SHREEENK!").

The rest of the movie involves Tim doubting his sanity and awkwardly courting his childhood sweetheart (Emily Deschanel, who isn't given much to do but still manages to be the best thing in the movie). Eventually, they battle the fabled Boogie Man, and I could be wrong but I'm pretty sure their conflict ends as the result of a complete lack of ideas.

This is one "Boogeyman" that won't keep many viewers awake. That task falls to the "SHREEENK!"

"

A Complete Waste of Time and Money

Graboidz | Westminster, Maryland | 06/06/2005

(1 out of 5 stars)

"You know what would have made "Boogeyman" scarier? Just about anything! Truly nothing happens in this movie after the first five minutes. The lead guy walks around teary-eyed and looking mysterious at half opened doors or ceiling tiles......and then.....nothing. Don't waste your time with this thing, if you want something that sets a pretty good eerie mood, get "Fear of the Dark" instead. It's shot on almost no budget, with no stars of any kind, but at least "Fear of the Dark" gives the viewer some kind of pay-off, and packs at least a minimal fright factor."

TONS of missed potential......

H. A Huffman | Mt. Prospect, IL USA | 06/27/2005

(2 out of 5 stars)

"Boogeyman could have been a very scary film except that the director and producer wanted that all-important PG13 rating. This is killing the horror movie as an art form; Boogeyman is a clear case of shocks traded in for an imaginary audience who likes bloodless horror movies (like "The Ring").

This movie sets up an interesting story, then does almost nothing with it. And the "surprise twist" in the film was a surprise only to the 5 year olds in the audience taken to this film by their baby-sitterless parents.

I miss the old "Hellraiser" days when horror films strived for an "R" rating and wore it as a badge of honor. I hope Hollywood will start making films like that again."

Forget the critics!

Eddy Campbell | Ireland | 04/29/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I recently watched Boogeyman, and I was sooooo glad I didnt listen to every wannabe critic in every magazine and newspaper i picked up. I was told, and i read, that this film was rubbish. Whereas it's really not.

I'm not gonna summarise it, i'm just going to tell you that this film is pretty scary. I will admit that the alst half isnt really as scary as the first half. But there is interesting, but confucing, twists in the second half that will consume you. And the ending was strange too, but very watchable.

If you wanna get totally freaked out, as I did, watch this in the dark, with the volume up high and you'll get every jump and chill out of this movie...."

I Liked This Movie Better When It Was Called "Darkness Falls

Kenneth V. Cockrel | Detroit, MI USA | 08/25/2005

(1 out of 5 stars)

"Is it just me or did anyone else notice that "Boogeyman" is almost a scene for scene rip off of the much better 2003 movie, "Darkness Falls"?

Don't believe me? Check it out:

1) Both movies open with a young boys in their bedrooms at night who are afraid to go to sleep because they fear that mythical beings from folklore will come and harm them. In "Darkness Falls," it's a vengeful Tooth Fairy. In the Boogeyman it's well, duh, the Boogeyman.

2) In both movies these scenes end with the young boys watching in helpless terror as said mythical beings slaughter a parent. In "Darkness Falls," Mom buys the farm. In "Boogeyman" it's Dad that gets it.

3) After the previous scene, both movies jump forward several years to the same boys as young men. In both cases, they remain so traumatized by the prior events that they've even adapted their living quarters to fend off future attacks they believe will one day come. In "Darkness" hero Chaney Kley's apartment has more lights than the Las Vegas strip since the Tooth Fairy can only exist in darkness. In "Boogeyman," every closet or cupboard in Barry Watson's apartment is windowed so that he can see if the Boogeyman is hiding inside before opening.

4) In both movies, the young heroes are forced by a tragic events to return to their hometowns where they must face the evils that have haunted their dreams since childhood. And once they hit town, both young men immediately reconnect with old childhood flames who've not surprisingly grown up into serious hotties.

5) Lastly, both movies also end with frantic, climaxes where the young heroes use their wits to dispatch their supernatural enemies in explosive finishes.

Seriously, I could go on but what's point? There is one significant difference here though. "Darkness Falls" is actually an okay movie where as "Boogeyman" kinda sucks.

To its credit, the opening scene(though as I said it's a ripoff) is a killer and had me genuinely creeped out. But after that the movie descends into scene after scene of Watson moping around.

The few original story elements the movie does try to use like the Boogeyman and his origins don't work. The movie doesn't really explain who or what the Boogeyman is though there are suggestions that any child who fears the Boogeyman deeply enough can make him real.

Bottom line this one's not only a loser but also such a blatant ripoff of "Darkness Falls" that if I were the attorney for the scriptwriter of that film I'd probably recommend filing a copyright infringement lawsuit.

"

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