The Boogeyman

50 years after the short story’s initial publication, Stephen King’s The Boogeyman finally sees its first feature-length adaptation. At only 17 pages in length, it is one of the horror maestro’s shortest pieces overall, but is all the more effective in its brevity, and any King fan will be quick to list it among his most scary works. Previously subject to more than half a dozen so-called “Dollar Baby” short film adaptations (and even a stage play version that was performed at Edinburgh Fringe in 2005), Host director Rob Savage has bravely ventured forth and created a 99-minute blockbuster variation of the beloved tale.

What made The Boogeyman such a popular story for film students to adapt was the simplicity of its scenario: two characters in a room, talking. Desperate and paranoid, Lester Billings confides in psychiatrist Dr Harper that he feels responsible for the deaths of his three children, as he did nothing to protect them from the boogeyman who came for them, one by one.

Savage’s film flips the narrative and introduces Will Harper (Chris Messina) and his daughters as the protagonists. Having recently lost their mother, Sadie, Sawyer and their father are still dealing with their own trauma, when one of his patients (Billings, played by an extraordinarily eery David Dastmalchian) supposedly commits suicide in Harper’s office, bequeathing a strange presence in their family home.

What is great about The Boogeyman is that the film works on two planes: it is both a stalwart family portrait about coping with bereavement, as well as a snappy creature feature. In a manner very characteristic of King’s work, the audience is introduced to very tangible and three-dimensional characters, ensuring investment in their fate. Messina, Sophie Thatcher and Vivien Lyra Blair create a palpable family dynamic that immediately wins the viewer over in their fight against whatever may lurk in the shadows.

Viewed solely as a horror film, the execution doesn’t take enough risks to stand out from the likes of Smile and relies on its audience’s pent-up tension, which is then released in rather commonplace jump scares. While the monster itself is well designed and not shown in excess, the appearance of a universal entity such as the boogeyman can be so subjective to personal fears, one could argue that it would have perhaps been more effective not to show its form at all and rely on the superb sound design to evoke its gruesomeness.

Overall, the film creates a spooky atmosphere and may have viewers flinch once or twice, but The Boogeyman is most compelling seen as a metaphor for the darkness that builds up inside its characters who refuse to face their grief.

Selina Sondermann

The Boogeyman is released nationwide on 2^nd June 2023.

Watch the trailer for The Boogeyman here: