Boogeyman begins like most post-1996 horror flicks with immediate action meant to thrust you into the storyline. Believe it or not, this trend wasn't popular in the horror genre until the first Scream's debut in 1996 when Drew Barrymore's character found herself fiendishly trapped in the masked-killer's twisted mind game. From that point on, virtually all horror films began with a similar opening sequence that gave a flash of the story's plot. With that said, Boogeyman is moderately predictable and adequately entertaining.

There are 3 elements which make a horror film scary in my opinion: reflex factor, reality factor, and blood-gore factor. Reflex factor consists of the loud noises that scare you, or the sudden movements or leaps from dark areas. Reality factor is the element that makes the plot of a movie possible in real life. Finally, blood factor is the amount of "scary" special effects used in the movie. To me, what makes a scary movie truly scary is the reality factor, followed by the reflex factor, rounded out by the blood factor. Boogeyman relies too heavily upon reflex factor to achieve it's "scares" and "thirlls". It's a cheap way to get people to react, rather than relying upon s well-scripted story-line. In either case, even though they over-used the reflex factor, the director's timing was excellent, which prevents die-hard movie fans from anticipating the jumps. He did a good job there.

The story-line of Boogeyman is simple enough: a kid is traumatized by something dark and ominous in his closet, then returns to the place of his torment to face his "fear". There are a couple of plot twists, albeit you could see them coming a mile away. And, any hopes of a spectacular ending--a La The Sixth Sense--is out of the question; forget it. Overall, this movie was unique and fun, but lacking in depth and complexity. I would recommend waiting for the DVD, or download it off the net. It makes for a good movie to watch with your girl/guy on a cold winter's night.


Rating: 2 stars
Rated: PG-13
Length: approx. 90 min
Worth a look: Yes, but on DVD



NUFF SAID.