Welcome back to the blog readers. Recently I saw the "new" horror film The Boogeyman, and I wanted to share my thoughts (I quoted new because it has been in theaters for four weeks already, and I am aware that I'm late to the party). As we talked about multiple times so far this year, I approach every horror film with the same hesitation. I expect each one to be bad unless it is one I genuinely developed an excitement for. So would we be heading further in the right direction this year, or did all the momentum of Scream VI and Evil Dead Rise come to a halt?
The Boogeyman was directed by Rob Savage from a screenplay by Scott Beck, Bryan Woods and Mark Heyman; and from a story by Beck and Woods. The film stars Sophie Thatcher, Chris Messina, Vivien Lyra Blair, Madison Hu, Marin Ireland and David Dastmalchian, and sees a young girl and her sister terrorized by a demonic entity that preys on children after a family tragedy.
Remember what I was saying about the hesitance I have going into these horror films? Well, for films like these that hesitance is completely justified. Because this film is so...mid. Surprisingly, it was not as terrible as I thought it would be. And unsurprisingly, it is not as good as I wanted it to be. There were some elements that I enjoyed, but the issues I had were major.
Let's start off with what I enjoyed: the performances of Sophie Thatcher and Vivien Lyra Blair.
Starting with Thatcher, I have not seen Yellowjackets (2021-present) yet (although I have heard how good it is), and she was okay in her limited screen time in The Book of Boba Fett (2021-22) . But here, I got to see a new side to her that I have not seen before: the side where she shows that she can actually act. I gravitated towards her character almost immediately (who I will argue is the lead), and was rewarded with an honest and chilling performance as the eldest Harper daughter.
And now we get to Vivien Lyra Blair. The child actor that took the world by storm with her heartfelt and uber-charming performance as a young Leia in the Disney+ series Obi-Wan Kenobi (2022), Blair actually delivers the goods this time. She portrays a genuine fear that will seriously leave you reacting to things that happen with her character. I think Blair is definitely going places, and soon before long she will show everyone how gifted she really is. I predict a lot of success for her young career.
One more thing I wanted to point out as a positive was how director Rob Savage is able to create a tenseness and a dreadful atmosphere in every scene. You could feel the eerie tone, and the frightening aura about. And I did appreciate the cinematography by Eli Born and the score by Patrick Jonsson, both of which I feel tie into the tone and atmosphere.
That is where the positive reviewing ends. Everything else is just mid. The one big glaring issue I found was with the pacing. The film felt like two different films at certain points, and that made the experience very disjointing. Pacing issues can sour an entire film for me, and this was as clear an example as any.
In conclusion, The Boogeyman tries to be a good time, but poor pacing outweighs some good acting and tone. Thank you all so much for reading and I will see you for my review of episode 2 of Secret Invasion.
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