Without a doubt, one of the greatest authors of my generation is Stephen King. Whether you like his types of novels or not, it is hard to deny his impact in the literary world, especially with the sheer numbers of his works that have been adapted for both the big and small screens from Carrie to The Shawshank Redemption. Even though he is considered the current “king of Horror” (pun intended), very few of his adaptations have captured the level of “jump scares” he has written, but with The Boogeyman, that may have changed.
Directed by Rob Savage (Host), this cast includes Sophie Thatcher, Chris Messina, Vivien Lyra Blair, Marin Ireland, David Dastmalchian, Madison Hu, and Daniel Hagen. This story involves the Harper family in psychologist father Will (Messina), and his daughters Sadie (Thatcher) and Sawyer (Blair) who are dealing with the recent loss of their matriarch. Chris has a walk-in patient named Lester (Dastmalchian) who needs to get some horrible events off his chest because he feels he is cursed. As a result of this, his curse winds up with Will’s family which adds to their issues and struggles that much more.
At just under one hundred minutes, this film moves along and did not feel like I was watching the clock the entire time. The cast does a good job with my standout performance going to Blair, who does a very good job as the young child who uses her ingenuity and spunk to deal with a creature who is trying to take her and her family out.
In comparison to some of King’s other adaptations, this one is WAY ahead of the curve in it’s “don’t turn around” moments. While some of his other works have a tense moment here and there, this one has a lot more and works REALLY well. These moments are done so well that I actually had a few times where *I* didn’t even want to turn around in my seat in the theater: it’s THAT effective.
The trailer does a good job showing what this movie is about, so that might be a good suggestion to check out before going to the theater to understand what you are about to deal with going into the theater. The Boogeyman kind of fits into that same category for me that the Paranormal Activity films do: the experience you will get from watching it for the first time at home on DVD in the middle of the day versus watching the film in a dark crowded theater where the audience reaction are completely different. So, given that I did like this film for what it is and recommend seeing this film opening weekend at a time when the theater will be packed.
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