Hey folks, Harry here at the Geek Halfway House working my way through the prison sentence of a broken leg. But in a far far far better locale. Just got back from the AICN screening of ONG BAK, which is rated R, and holy shit does my leg hurt. Fuck ouch. As for BOOGEYMAN - I had high hopes for a LONG TIME regarding this film, and am still looking forward to checking it out. The press screening took place while I had tubes in me... dagnabbit - so I'll have to catch it with my nephew this weekend maybe. Anyway - sounds like it's pretty good for most of the film, but has that typically hard to nail issue with good suspense/horror films... mainly - getting the ending right...
Hey Harry,
Just got out of an early screening of Raimi's Ghost House movie Boogeyman. I hadn't seen a review on the site yet, so thought I would send one in. I'll try to keep it spoiler free. I think everyone knows the basic premise of the movie. Young Timmy believes in the Boogeyman, young Timmy grows up and now adult Timmy is still scared of his childhood monster. This of course sets up adult Timmy returning to the house that is home to his greatest fear, The Boogeyman, or is it?
The story uses to plot ideas to keep the movie going, and to keep the audience guessing. The first is that the Boogeyman is real and that he snatches children and puts them on the back of milk cartons. The second is that Timmy is out of his mind and everyone was right about the Boogeyman being a mental device that was created when he was a kid to help him cope with stress. Throughout the movie, they bounce these two plots back and forth, giving a little of one, then a little of the other to make you wonder which is really happening. Towards the end I started to get a Fight Club-esque Tyler Durden vibe.
The movie tends to move along at a fairly decent pace. I never stopped to check my watch to see how long I had been there. And once it gets rolling in the final act, it doesn't let up. It moves along faster and faster, picking up pace as the climax builds. And I think that ultimately, that's where the movie falls flat, the final scene. I couldn't help but think of 2 movies when the credits rolled. Each for different reasons. The first movie that popped into my head was 28 Days Later, and how after the initial test screenings, a "happy" ending was forced to be shot because the test screeners hated the ending. The other that now comes to mind is Riddick. I include Riddick because after leaving the movie, the only part of the movie I talked about was how they killed off a character that was as bad ass and cool as the Riddick character, Kyra. I left Riddick literally enraged. In those 2 instances, the ending of a movie sparked emotion. In The Boogeyman, for me at least, I felt nothing. The credits rolled and I left, listening to other peoples qualms.
In the end, The Boogeyman is a great psychological/supernatural thriller that falls flat in the most important part, the end. The movie has a lot of great "Boo" moments along with a tension filled final act. I thought it was shot well, mimicking a few of the trademark Raimi shots. It has good atmosphere and was well lit, even in the dark shots. Overall, I would say see the movie, its worth the price of admission and then some. If you use the review, call me...
-Whiteboy
