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The Boogeyman, Stephen King
The Boogeyman (Image via 20th Century Studios)

The Boogeyman review roundup: Generic and stale or nerve-jangling?

Raya AroraBy Updated:5 Mins Read Movies & TV

In 1973, Stephen King published a story about a threat we’re all too familiar with – the Boogeyman. There have been countless recreations of the monster since, and the latest one is all set to hit theaters this week.

Directed by Rob Savage, The Boogeyman follows the Harpers as they try to save themselves from the supernatural monster. Sadie, her younger sister Sawyer, and their father Will are all trying to cope with the death of their mother. Will, a therapist, starts working with a patient who’s terrified and claims that a supernatural entity has killed all his children. Little do the Harpers know – the patient has unknowingly brought the monster right to their door.

The cast of the film includes:

  • Sophie Thatcher as Sadie Harper
  • Chris Messina as Will Harper
  • David Dastmalchian as Lester Billings (The patient)
  • Vivien Lyra Blair as Sawyer Harper
  • Daniel Hagen as The Creature (voice)

Early reviews for the film are out, so let’s see what they have to say!

The Boogeyman has divided critics

Variety – “Bleak tale of trauma and terror”

“Savage’s King adaptation qualifies as one of the best films in history bearing that title so far, delivering scares that surpass its PG-13 rating even if they’re not especially inventive. Then again, it bears the namesake of one of the oldest and most recognizable myths of the last two centuries, so why not play the hits, cinematically speaking, when rekindling it for contemporary audiences?”

For Variety’s Todd Gilchrist, The Boogeyman proved to be somewhat of a formulaic horror film composed of a very familiar monster and even more familiar jump scares. While the movie initially started as a deep dive into the Harpers finding their way through the trauma of losing a family member, it ended up a face-to-face fight with the monster.

The tactics used by the film may have been familiar, but the impact they delivered was just what the production needed. Sure, you expect the monster to show up whenever the camera zooms into a shadow, but that doesn’t mean the end result fails to “frighten and unsettle, discomfit and shock” you.

Sophie Thatcher outshone the story and her co-stars in this film for Gilschrist, as she successfully portrayed how her character “nimbly dances on an edge between desperation and fearlessness”.

The Hollywood Reporter – “Minor but effectively nerve-jangling Stephen King adaptation”

“For much of its running time, The Boogeyman ratchets up the tension so tightly, abetted by a judicious and very effective use of jump scares, that it becomes truly nerve-jangling. It’s only when the boogeyman becomes fully exposed in the final act that he loses his power and the film becomes more of a rote creature feature.”

For THR’s Frank Scheck, the Rob Savage directorial turned out to be a combination of predictable horror movie elements. However, the film had several things working in its favor – Stephen King’s story, a powerful cast, and atmospheric scares.

“Even minor King is major scary”, so the job was already half done when the filmmakers stuck to the plot of King’s story, to some extent. Moreover, Thatcher (Sadie), Blair (Sawyer), and Messina (Will) were all so convincing in their performances that you root for them at every step.

In Scheck’s opinion, the film greatly benefitted from a theatrical release as opposed to a streaming platform release (which was the original plan), as it packs several jump scares and scenes that are best delivered through a movie theater’s massive screen and speakers.

Mashable – “Summer’s scariest movie”

“The special sauce that makes this movie one of the most fun and thrilling of the year is the combination of a truly unnerving creature design paired with Savage’s downright savage employment of it.“

For Mashable’s Kristy Puchko, The Boogeyman had everything you want in a horror movie. The plot may be a done-and-dusted Babadook-esque one, but the “gnarled critter of flesh, bone, and darkness” of a monster and how he lurks in the shadows position this movie well above others.

This movie set out to be a horror movie, and that is precisely what it did to Puchko – horrify.

Game Rant – “Generic and uninspired”

“There have certainly been bad Stephen King adaptations in the past, but at least those movies were trying to recreate the man’s stories, rather than using them as a jumping-off point for something entirely different and much worse. Any of those projects would probably be a more enjoyable watch than The Boogeyman.”

Game Rant’s Colin Leggett found The Boogeyman to be a compilation of roughly every single horror movie trope in the books, from the spooky squeaky door to faulty lights. The movie lacked a solid narrative, and the characters – including the monster – were nothing like they should be.

TheWrap – “Stale translation”

“No matter how frightening the individual moments may be, and no matter how impressive it is that we only ever see enough of the monster to excite our imagination, and no matter how exceptionally the eerie sound design turns out to be, ‘The Boogeyman’ never quite gets under the skin. Kudos to everyone responsible for all the individual pieces — cinematographer Eli Born, you brought your A-game and thank you for it — but not so much for the generic way they came together.”

For TheWrap’s William Bibbiani, this movie features about five minutes of cohesive, scary, quality storytelling – and that comes in the first five minutes of the film, the only part that sticks to King’s original story.

David Dastmalchian (Lester) is “rivetingly haunted” when he first brings the monster to the Harper household, but beyond that, the movie is interspersed with exciting, scary elements that deliver negligible impact once combined.

All in all, Rob Savage’s The Boogeyman certainly seems to be a divisive movie. You’re either going to love it or hate it. Well, there’s only one way to find out!

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