Lights Out
‘The Boogeyman’ inserts itself on the list of good King adaptations the old-fashioned way: with jump scares and dark corners.
The Boogeyman
Director: Rob Savage • Writers: Scott Beck, Bryan Woods, Mark Heyman, based on the short story by Stephen King
Starring: Sophie Thatcher, Vivien Lyra Blair, Chris Messina, Marin Ireland, Madison Hu, LisaGay Hamilton, David Dastmalchian
Taiwan • 1hr 38mins
Opens Hong Kong June 1 • IIB
Grade: B
Sometimes test audiences can be a good thing. It’s been said that after a test screening, The Boogeyman – which had been slated for straight-to-streaming – rated so well it convinced producer 20th Century Studios (AKA Disney) to go for a theatrical release. And yup. The Boogeyman is the kind of creaky floor chiller that works best in a pitch black auditorium surrounded by fellow horror hounds. That and the movie is so fuckin’ dark you need the biggest screen you can find to see what’s going on. Which is not a knock on the film. It’s just a statement of fact. Considering it’s based on the short story “The Boogeyman” from Stephen King’s 1978 collection Night Shift (right behind Skeleton Crew as one of his best) – and pivots on the beastie that only comes out at night when you’re in bed and the lights are off – dark is kind of the order of the day. On a smaller screen with a more compressed image, like a TV or a computer monitor, it’s going to trigger Game of Thrones acid flashbacks. But in a theatre, director Rob Savage and, hugely, cinematographer Eli Born (the 2022 spin on Hellraiser) give the dark meaning, and make the light more, erm, uh, illuminating than normal. Savage and writers Scott Beck, Bryan Woods (the duo behind A Quiet Place and 65) and Mark Heyman (Black Swan) aren’t reinventing the wheel here – it’s a B creature feature in its way – but like any classic concept, if you do it well it doesn’t really matter if it’s not quite as fresh as it could be. Not all horror need be “elevated” (god, I hate that word).
Check your damn breakers
Savage is known for formal and narrative creativity though, like his girls-doing-a-séance movie Host, set during the height of ’rona and unfolding via Zoom, and for the incredibly divisive Dashcam, which asked us what true horror is circa 2021. Is it the seemingly supernatural car passenger or the car’s driver, Annie, the right-wing, COVID-denying, anti-mask Trumpette. The Boogeyman is decidedly more traditional, and so Savage gets a chance to flash his creepy bona fides by deploying carefully planned jump scares, and prove he knows how to make closet doors menacing.
In a radical departure from the monologue-ish source material, therapist Will Harper (Chris Messina, fine but not nearly as awesome as he was in Air) works and lives in a sprawling-yet-cosy New England mini-manse, the kind that only King can conjure, with his daughters, Sadie (one of the teenaged Yellowjackets, Sophie Thatcher) and Sawyer (Vivien Lyra Blair, much better here than as the shrill, bothersome young Leia on Obi-Wan Kenobi), all of them dealing with the recent death of their wife/mother. Sawyer sleeps with a glowing white orb, Sadie is withdrawn at school sparking mean girl energy from her dicky friends, Will is not dealing at all. One afternoon just before closing, Lester Billings (David Dastmalchian, spotted guy in The Suicide Squad) comes in, pleading for help from Will, and obsessing about how “it” killed his children. He leaves with a warning about how it gets them when you’re not paying attention. In classic King fashion, this is when we get Group A thinking the boogeyman is a psychological manifestation of anxiety, and Group B knowing this shit’s real. Also, is it me or does it seem as if all strange King dudes are called Lester?
As I said, this movie is dark. And for better or for worse, The Boogeyman is at its best when it’s darkest. It’s a monster under the bed/in the closet story, so the less we see of the monster the better. When the boogeyman is a fleeting shadow, or creeping, inky blur it’s very nearly white knuckle in its tension. The tension, of course, is rooted in the clash between what Will and Sadie are sure is true, as well as the way each reconciles their loss. When, during an argument, he snaps “You don’t know how I feel,” her response is “Then tell me.” Worst therapist ever. Point is, the personal arc and the spooky one sometimes clang, ironically the former getting stronger the more it’s brought into the light, while the boogeyman loses its potency under the same circumstances. The Boogeyman is still a swift shot of summertime heebie-jeebies, and Beck, Woods and Heyman’s narrative tweaks make for a better movie. But no matter how well Savage plays in the dark, King remains the master of mixing the emotional gut punch with the chills. Read the story after. — DEK