Good morning, House of Madness bed wetters:
It seems that ever since we were old enough to be scared, there's always been one universal monster who terrorizes children night after night. Although I'll admit they're terrifying in their own right, no, I'm not talking about old Wham! videos on MTV, I'm talking about the boogeyman. Everyone's rendition of the boogeyman is different, and perhaps that's what makes it so scary; it seems to have many forms, but the one constant is that it lurks in the dark, under your bed or in your closet and then BOOM!, you're yesterday's news. In the film we're discussing today, this formula is followed to a T which probably sounds perfect, but ends up being far from such.
Will Harper (Chris Messina) and his two daughters Sadie (Sophie Thatcher) and Sawyer (Vivien Lyra Blair) are a grieving family fresh off the death of their mother who was killed in a car accident, and are struggling to cope. Sadie goes to therapy to help her deal with her issues, while Will is a therapist himself, yet can't bring himself to come to terms and deal with his recent loss. While they try and move on from their tragic loss, little Sawyer is having a problem on top of her grief, and her little monster in the closet fantasy seems to be coming to fruition. Of course nobody believes a little kid claiming to be having monster problems, so it takes some time for everyone to experience the manifestation for themselves before any real action can be taken; the question is whether Sawyer will be believed in time, or will it be too late?
"The Boogeyman" is a decent film focusing mainly on a monster in the closet, while subtly dealing with family grief and loss. When the tension is building and we want our monster movie, we get it to some degree, yet there's always something lurking behind the monster, leaving us questioning its true identity. Don't get me wrong, there are definitely some legit scares in the film, it's just that it plays everything so by the rules, that the film doesn't really excel at any one thing, but does a whole lot of things very plainly and average. Just when you want the story to take a leap and scare your face off, it plays by the book and falls victim to several cliches which we see coming from closets away. You can definitely find worse ways to spend 90 minutes rather than watching this, but all I'm saying is after watching a film about a monster that makes things go bump in the night, I slept like a baby, and didn't feel the need to check under my bed before doing so.
Madness Meter: 5.6/10
NB
