Boogeyman (2005)

A Film Review

Copyright Dragan Antulov 2005

In not so distant past horror films used to scare or, at least, excite people. This appears to be beyond comprehension of most contemporary Hollywood executives. BOOGEYMAN, 2005 film directed by Stephen M. Kay, appears to be an attempt to change this state of affairs.

The protagonist of the film is Tim (played by Barry Watson), young man who, as a young child, saw his father consumed by mysterious dark force hidden in the closet. Fifteen years and many visits to child psychiatric hospitals later, he convinced himself and others that his father had simply abandoned family, thus leaving young Tim to find explanation in the form of childish imagination. However, Tim still has irrational fear of closets and dark. Ehen his mother (played by Lucy Lawless) dies, he returns to his old house where he would have to face his demons.

Authors of BOOGEYMAN made very little effort to be original. The basic premise, together with opening sequence, is "borrowed" from DARKNESS FALLS. The screenwriting trio of Eric Kripke, Juliet Snowden and Stilles White filled the rest of the film with material taken from many other recent horror films, so BOOGEYMAN also features ghosts and teleportation. This strange combination, however, resembles something like coherent plot and director Stephen M. Kay tries his best to truly scare audience. His efforts are mostly satisfactory, despite rapid MTV-style editing, overuse of zooming and miscasting Barry Watson for the role of protagonist. The disappointment for viewers comes at the very end - the monster is revealed in one of the cheapest-looking CGI shots, only to be disposed in one of the most confusing and least cathartic ending in recent Hollywood history. However, it could be said that such abrupt and unexpected ending worked to film's advantage by hiding the authors' lack of inspiration. Few films benefited that much from being so short.

RATING: 3/10 (+)