Horror Movie Night

Boogeyman

(2005 / R)

OK. I would like everyone to give me a little break on this one. This is the first movie review that I have written since high school.

Anyway..... The other night my wife was in Chicago. My friend wasn't getting off work until 10:30 and I had already spent the majority of the day working on a whole cabinet full of servers, driven the 40 or so miles back home, picked up White Castle, and fed the dogs. It's was only 6:30 and I'm thinking, “what the hell can I do until my friend gets off work?” I don't want to get involved in working on anything or I won't end up meeting my friend. “Ah,” I say to myself, “I've got it! I'll go see a movie, in the theater no less.”

I drove over to the theater, completely intending to see “Constantine”. I see the marquee says that “Boogeyman” is also playing, and it starts earlier. I thought, “ Well, my wife wants to go see 'Constantine'. The previews for 'Boogeyman' seemed alright. What the hell?!”

So, if you've seen the previews (if you haven't I will try not to spoil too much, but I sort of suggest that you go read something else like Harlan Ellison Webderland: Home Page ; come on, you a little Harlan will do your brain some good)....err... OK... I'm getting back on track here.

So, if you've seen the previews, you know there is a guy whose father disappeared in his childhood home. This guy, has to go back and “spend one night in the house”. Yes, I know that this premise has been played out so many times that one thinks “Why the hell is anyone bothering to foot the production dollars on another crappy 'spend-a-night-in-the-haunted-house-movie'?”

Here's the kicker.... it wasn't just another one of those movies.

Let me give you a better idea. Please forgive me, but I had no intention of writing this review when I saw the movie last Saturday and I am feeling a little too lazy today to go a get the actors/characters names to put in this review. [WEBMASTER'S NOTE: Welcome to my world Daniel!]

The main character, Tim, is lying in bed one night when he is about 12 or 13. The window is open, there's a thunderstorm rolling in, and he seems to be seeing things in the shadows of his room. I don't know about you, but this is definitely something that freaks out a kid that age. Tim, thinks that he actually sees “somebody” in his room. He flips on the light, but nothing is there. Then he is startled by a sound outside and knocks his lamp off of the bedside table. In the darkness, he sees his closet slowly open. Before anything can happen his father enters, coming to check on him after the sound of the lamp hitting the floor. Dad explains to Tim that he doesn't need to be afraid of the “Boogeyman”, that he's sorry for scaring the beejeezus out him, and even steps into the closet to try to calm Tim's fears. But....(that's always where they get you) Dad is wrong; the Boogeyman takes him.

Tim spends the next 15 years of his live checking closets, checking under the bed, and being a regular basket case when it comes to being alone in the dark. The family has written Dad off as a bad apple for “running out” on Mom and Tim, for that is what they all think happened.

Thanksgiving weekend, Tim heads to his girlfriend's house to meet her parents and gets a call from Uncle Mike that Mom has died. Tim, feeling guilty about not going to see her on Thanksgiving, bugs out and heads back to his hometown. After the funeral, per the suggestion of the therapist that he saw for years after Dad's disappearance, Tim decides to go to the old house and go through Mom's and Dad's, sort out anything that should be thrown in the trash or should be kept, and spend a night in the house.

So up to there, the movie is set up. I haven't spoiled the tale (I hope). What follows is a tale of a man that has to face his memories and his fears. He has to sort out what he remembers of Dad and what people have tried to get him to remember. What happened to Dad that night anyway? Along the way, he has to deal with his big city girlfriend, his childhood gal-pal, and his uncle.

Fine, the plot itself is kind of predictable. Where this movie really succeeds is not in its originality of script (although it does a decent job keeping it fresh), but in the way the camera tells the story. Hell, this is a PG-13 flick!!! You know there is not going to be guts-n-gore; the censors won't allow it. Instead, the keep it all just out of your reach. It is suspenseful. The fact that they hint at what is happening, instead of showing you graphically, actually makes it creepier. It shows a camera skill and a directing skill. Ten years from now, I am not going to be putting this movie on my most memorable list, but at least for now I left the theater satisfied. Maybe I wouldn't have been if I wasn't alone. However, by myself, in the dark, I was able to release to the suspension of disbelief and let the story take over. By the end, I knew what was going to happen, but I didn't know exactly how. And even if you do figure that out, the film still draws you in enough to make the story enjoyable and not make it cheesy.

See this in the theater, probably the cheap-show though (where you only have to pay $2.50). I really think it is going to be more enjoyable on the big screen than at home.