THE BOOGEYMAN: You’ll Sleep With The Lights On

There have been so many adaptations of the works of Stephen King over the years and they usually fall into two categories. The first and most common outcome is that the filmmaker strayed too far from the source material and turned in something that wasn’t very good by anyone’s standards. The second (and my favorite) is the people involved were relatively faithful and presented us something that was full of scares, heart, and thought. They leave us with something to chew on and think about while also entertaining us. The Boogeyman, while absolutely terrifying, sits comfortably somewhere in the middle of both.

When we begin the story we find our three main players in mourning. Will (played by Chris Messina) is the father of two young daughters, Sadie and Sawyer, played by Sophie Thatcher and Vivien Lyra Blair (Obi-Wan Kenobi), who have all just felt a terrible loss with the death of his wife and their mother. The trio are still feeling the hurt and each one are dealing in their own way. With Sadie and Sawyer headed back to school opening up time for Will to get back to his in home job as a therapist, it isn’t long before a mysterious stranger shows up seeking council. Lester isn’t in the film for very long but he was brought to life by David Dastmalchian and his short time on screen set everything about the story in motion.

Stay in the light

Will agreed to see Lester even though he hadn’t had his phone consultation and it turned out to be a huge mistake. Will began getting the willies (I couldn’t help myself) and decided to excuse himself to call the cops. Of course this lead to a tense moment of “stranger loose in the house” until Lester hangs himself in one of their closets. This allowed the darkness that was attracted to Lester to become trapped in their home, first becoming Sawyer’s problem, then everyone’s problem. The Boogeyman is attracted to loss and pain and the three of them are too ripe to pass up after their recent trauma.

The movie really does a good job of making every shadow into a trap, bringing with it a sense of dread and foreboding. We never really know where the monster is going to pop up next and anytime the lights go out we instantly get on edge. This is due to the great direction by Rob Savage (Host, Dashcam) and his use of interesting angles and camera moves. In a way the camera is the silent narrator, showing us what we need to see while always hinting that something is just beyond our vision. It was great to see him stepping out of the found-footage genre and handling a more straightforward horror experience. He definitely gets it.

Of course in a Stephen King horror story involving children, much like IT, they become the heroes of the piece. Sawyer really gets the worst end of the stick when she is the first to be attacked causing Sadie to have a very Evil Dead Rise hero turn where she wasn’t going to take any prisoners. One thing that I really liked is that it went against the usual grain of “older sibling just not having time or patients for the younger” and made Sadie really care about and for Sawyer. It was a nice change of pace in a genre that can sometimes be too predictable.

And out of the shadows

This movie was rescued from a direct-to-streaming release and I think that was definitely the right call, the scares are too big for a home experience alone. Watching something like this in a crowded theater with a bunch of other folks who are also there to be scared and have fun was the right way to go. As much as I’ve praised this film so far, it wasn’t without its problems as well. The biggest issue (that isn’t really that big) as that a few of the earlier scenes seemed to drag along. It was in a way perfect though for setting up what was to come because once things got tense, it didn’t let up until the closing credits.

One thing a movie like this runs the risk of is showing the monster too much or too little. It’s a fine line that needs to be walked in a movie that teaches us that the shadows are our enemy. In The Boogeyman they seem to really nail that balance in my opinion, showing just enough to creep us out then showing it all to us in the fiery climax. The design was also something I really liked, it was familiar in a way then as new things began to happen I realized I’ve never seen anything quite like it before. It was animalistic and human at the same time but somehow still straight out of someone’s nightmares, that person, I feel very sorry for.

I want to take a moment to really compliment the young lady who played Sawyer, Vivien Lyra Blair. She was outstanding in this role of a young girl who becomes the target of a supernatural force that can’t quite be explained. I think most people would have expected great things from her after her turn as a young princess Leia in the Obi-Wan Kenobi show but she brought it again in this. She was the brightest spot in what was a very dark movie that dealt with more than just monsters but also the grieving process after the loss of a parent. If she sticks with it, she’s going to go a very long way.

Conclusion

This film was delayed a few times for a couple of different reasons but I’m glad that it finally got to see the light of day so to speak. It was a fun time riding through familiar territory but with a unique take that felt really fresh. There aren’t many movies out there that really scare me or are able to instill in me that sense of tension but this one really pushed all my buttons. I didn’t quite find myself watching through my fingers but I’ll tell you I wasn’t far from it.

If you like the stories of Stephen King or you just like to be scared, this is something you should really be checking out. It doesn’t take long for the horror to start and once it does you’re really not safe from it again until you see the credits roll. It ended with a bit of a setup for more and I could see this becoming a bit of a franchise. A trilogy would suit it quite nicely. So, get to your local theater and get yourself a ticket and some popcorn but I warn you, be prepared to sleep with your light on. This one sticks around.

The Boogeyman was released in theaters on June 2, 2023!

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