The Boogeyman (2023)

The Boogeyman (2023)

Why did I decide to watch this movie? Simply because I was starting to miss Sophie Thatcher! I’d discovered this talented young actress in the fabulous Heretic (2024), and I’d also really enjoyed Companion (2025) afterward. On the other hand, I didn’t like the Yellowjackets series. That said, I watched two full seasons mostly for Sophie, even though the excellent Melanie Lynskey and Juliette Lewis were also in it. As for Christina Ricci, I thought she was incredible in it. Her performance was probably my favorite, and it was one of the main reasons—along with Thatcher—that I stuck with it for quite a few episodes.

At this point, I could have jumped into the other series, When the Streetlights Go On. But I’ll do that when I have a little more time! Sophie also starred in a Star Wars spin-off, The Book of Boba Fett, which is a sequel to The Mandalorian, but this time centered on the bounty hunter Boba Fett.

I wasn’t too keen on this Boogeyman, but when I love an actor or actress, I want to watch as much of their filmography as possible. With Sophie, there aren’t too many options right now! So I ended up watching it.

It’s not the kind of movie that gets me excited anymore. I’ve seen too many of them; it’s always the same formula, the same kinds of scenes and plots. And the exaggeration always reaches its peak.

Rob Savage had previously directed Host (2020), which is even better than Unfriended (2014) and Unfriended: Dark Web (2018)—the latter of which was already better than the first. These films are similar in that they feature people who spend the entire movie chatting on a computer, yet witness disturbing, even terrifying, phenomena or events.

On the other hand, Rob Savage also directed Dashcam (2021), which is truly terrible.

The Boogeyman is a creature I first encountered as a child, primarily in the 1980s animated series The Real Ghostbusters. It was one of my favorite episodes, which I watched over and over again.

The actress playing the adorable little sister, Vivien Lyra Blair, is also naturally unsettling. She made a name for herself in the series Obi-Wan Kenobi (also a Star Wars spin-off, alongside Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen).

David Dastmalchian also has a very small role. I’ve always found his face fascinating. Is it because he’s an American actor of Iranian, French, and British descent? His charisma is fabulous, and that same year, 2023, he also had a small role in Boston Strangler, which I really enjoyed.

As for superhero roles, he appeared in Marvel’s Ant-Man and DC’s The Suicide Squad (2021), which is the sequel to Suicide Squad (2016). He recorded his voice for the latter shortly after voicing Julian Day / Calendar Man and Oswald Cobblepot / The Penguin in Chris Palmer’s Batman: The Long Halloween.

He has also appeared in major films such as Oppenheimer (2023) and Dune (2021). But I especially remember his small role in the excellent Prisoners (2013), which already boasted an incredible cast including Hugh Jackman, Jake Gyllenhaal, Viola Davis, Maria Bello, Terrence Howard, and Paul Dano.

Dastmalchian is also known for the series MacGyver (2016–2021), where he plays the recurring antagonist, often considered the arch-enemy: Murdoc! A pretty good choice, I must say.

The actor playing the father—a psychiatrist who’s a bit absent from his children’s lives—is Chris Messina. I can’t say I’m familiar with him, but apparently I’d seen him ages ago in You’ve Got Mail (1998), which I saw in theaters, just like Vicky Cristina Barcelona, ten years later, in 2008. He never really stood out to me, not even in Birds of Prey (2020), which I didn’t like, or in Juror #2 (2024), which I loved. It’s crazy! It’s as if he’s some kind of ghost actor who’s so discreet that I quickly forget him…

Note that he’s in Argo, directed by… Ben Affleck!

It sounds like I’m talking about all these actors just to avoid talking about the movie!
Anyway, The Boogeyman isn’t totally bad, but I found it dragged on forever while I was watching it. If anything, there isn’t any extreme violence. It’s a little scary, but not too much. It doesn’t rely too much on jump scares, but rather on the fear of the dark. Obviously, if you have a phobia of the dark, I don’t think you’d even consider watching this movie.

You can’t really see this creature very well. It moves very quickly, and I think that even if you pause the video, it’ll still look blurry. It’s not clear whether it’s a spirit, a giant insect, or something else. We don’t know if it can teleport, pass through walls, or disappear only to reappear in the dark, since it avoids light.

There are some somewhat unnecessary characters, like one or two friends from the high school or middle school group—I can’t remember which. The mold that starts appearing everywhere is pretty well done. The absence of the deceased mother is palpable.

It falls into the category of quite a few movies I didn’t like at all, like Mama (2013) and Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark (2010). The best movie in the genre remains Before I Wake (2016). The Boogeyman falls somewhere in between.

Until the end of the movie, I had no idea it was based on a very old short story by one of my favorite authors and masters, Stephen King himself!
Honestly, I didn’t sense his style, signature or atmosphere. So I never would have guessed it was him. I wonder if the book is better or not.