The Boogeyman: Let’s start off by showing y’all the trailer shall we?

So to start off by mentioning, What I really appreciate about director Rob Savage’s approach to The Boogeyman is that he didn’t try to force a direct adaptation of Stephen King’s short story. The original story is incredibly brief—barely a few pages long, mostly a single monologue—and simply doesn’t lend itself to a full feature film. Instead, Savage treats the film as a kind of pseudo-sequel. He takes the events of King’s short as something that already happened and builds the movie around the idea of that horror spreading to someone new.

That decision works because it keeps the core myth intact while expanding the scope in a way that feels natural. The Boogeyman becomes less of a one-time encounter and more of a curse—something that feeds on grief and passes from one household to another. David Dastmalchian’s appearance as Lester Billings, the man from King’s original story, bridges that gap perfectly. His role isn’t just a throwaway cameo; it anchors the movie to its literary roots and gives the opening act real unease before the story evolves into its own modern nightmare.

Savage’s direction shows an understanding that adaptation doesn’t always mean translation—it can mean continuation. By treating King’s story as a prologue rather than a blueprint, The Boogeyman manages to honor its source while carving out its own identity.

From what I’ve heard this film doesn’t stick 100% accurately to the short story…..u know they have to alter things to make it fit for a movie format….or for a Stephen King story to make any form of sense because let’s be real folks 99.9% of the stuff he writes is an incoherent mess of just random stuff happening.

There’s a reason for that, it’s because when he wrote his books back then, he was always high on cocaine….yes, I kid u not his 2 inspirations for his books were,

•Growing up in Derry Maine.

•Being high off of cocaine.

•oh and let’s toss in a bit of inspired to make horror stories because he wants to.

Blend that all together and what the heck do u expect is gonna happen? If some of y’all say a story that makes sense….if that’s the case then do me a favor and plz go read IT, some parts of that book are just 1 giant WTF were u even thinking old Stephen?

Also sometimes in interviews when he’s asked…so tell me Stephen King what in the absolute heck inspired u to write this book? Along with half the content in here? His answer seems to always be, wait I wrote that? Sorry I don’t remember, in fairness, I was high on cocaine…

Yeah go figures, guess now we know how much of that writing inspiration was from cocaine.

I’ll say in a way this film feels like a continuation of the short story….where in the short story it focuses on a patient visiting his physiatrist….who he’s trying to tell him the creature killed my family, but the physiatrist doesn’t believe him of course. Also, there’s a hook at the end which I won’t spoil.

In this film, we follow the physiatrist and his family, also we get to see the patient in this film as well….so in a way it’s a continuation.

But I digress, the better question is does this movie hold up there with some of the most iconic Stephen King adaptations? Well let’s not beat around the bushes, I do have some good news for u and some bad news…which are in the form of positives and negatives.

Positives: Well firstly I think the actors do a great job with what they’re given. We’ve got in this film,

Sophie Thatcher as Sadie Harper (this actress was in The Book Of Boba Fett as one of those bike gang, the less said about that show the better. But I do recommend checking my review out on that show)

Vivien Lyra Blair as Sawyer Harper (this actress was in The Obi-Wan Kenobi show as young Princess Leia, the less said about that show the better. But I do recommend checking my review out on that show)

Chris Messina as Dr. Will Harper

David Dastmalchian as Lester Billings (he’s a patient of Dr. Will Harper) (also by now his name must seem familiar to y’all since I’ve reviewed films with him in it)

So yeah u got a pretty decent casting, and the cinematography is good….when ur able to see anything (keep that in mind for when we get to negatives).

The creature design is actually what’s the word, scary….I’ll place an image of the creature here.

The film deals with drama and grief, now is that fully done well? Ehhhhh nope definitely not.

Uhhh that’s about all the positives I can think of…now time for the negatives.

Negatives: the script is very generic, it’s the type of script we’ve seen multiple times….hey here’s a rundown and y’all tell me if u seen this film already “Sadie is a depressed angsty tren because she lost her mother, she hates her dad because he’s trying to move on but she can’t.

She’s distant from her sister, but thanks to the creepy encounter they will go through, it ends up bringing them together closer as a family” Yeah let’s add that to the pile of overused scripts.

I have seen that cliché done so many times to the point it’s now becoming numb to me, that’s how I felt while watching this film’s plot progress….I felt numb.

The final issue I have with this film, our main characters are stupid….now before any of y’all say pffft tell me something Idk….or that’s old news, I want y’all to hear me out….what I’m about to tell u will either break this film for u or make this film…

So in this film The Boogeyman, the creature itself (get this) is allergic to light….yeah it only functions in the dark, as soon as any light source turns on…the creature leaves. And guess what? At no point in this film does any of our main characters ever turn on a freaking light?

That right there is what broke this film for me, I was like u got to be goddamn kidding me right? So let me get this straight, so the main monster’s weakness is light (y’all have access to light! This film takes place in their house!) They can turn on a light switch at any moment.

But none of y’all ever thought it is best to turn on a light? That would defeat the enemy a whole lot quicker. Yeah, this by far has got to be the most idiotic part of this film….heck it’s the most frustrating thing about this film. I just kept screaming “Turn ur Fucking lights on!”.

Also, it’s thanks to the whole film having no lights (except this light orb Sawyer has) this film is often hard to see anything happening, gee thanks not like I’m going blind already.

Also, this film is PG-13 btw, I forgot to mention….yeah, I still don’t know how I feel about a Stephen King horror story adaptation being PG-13….but I won’t harp on it, anyways let’s get the rating out of the way so we can spoil the ending of this film because I’ve already kinda spoiled the entire main premise of this film already…

Overall I’ll say this isn’t the worst Stephen King adaptation I’ve seen, it’s not the best either…..I’d say that Salems Lot 2024 is leaps better than this film….also with the cookie-cutter story, the uhh what 254th cliché angsty sad teen because they lost their mom kind of a character, is that really just didn’t work for me….

Also on top of that, with the cheer stupidity we have to witness of seeing our main characters never turning on a light, even after they find out the creature’s weakness and existence.

Now I know I’m being hard on this film already, but I just have one more issue as a whole. See I believe that adaptations don’t need to stick 100% faithful to their source material (anyone who disagrees and wants to fight me, leave now), but I feel if a film or show adaptation keeps the heart and spirit of the source material intact….while adding new unique different ideas/storytelling, then u can very much make a very fun faithful adaptation.

The unfortunate reality is this film does none of that, there’s no originality here to be seen, it’s the most (I know I’ve said this already multiple times) cookie-cutter story u can ever think of….if u have seen a film already do a story like this then u already saw this film.

So I’ll give this film a solid 5/10.

It’s a shame really because they could have done so much more here….there’s a lot u can do with the freaking Boogeyman, it’s one of the more iconic creatures in pop culture.

But what this feels like is that they wanted to create a film ASAP so they could slap the name Stephen King onto it and send it out there to make money for them….what a shame.

Warning spoilers ahead y’all been warned.

Wait hood up, before we get to the ending I should just give a bit more context to the rundown…..so remember how I already mentioned the plot? Well, I forgot to mention in this film Sadie is this completely upset woman who is just a douchebag to everyone.

Like a complete douchebag, in fact she’s the most unlikable character…look I understand she’s depressed because her mom is dead, but I want u to understand this she’s a complete douchebag to everyone…

Her dad, her sister, and her friends who try to help her….they be like hey we just want to help u…while her response is like “THE FUCK DID U SAY TO ME! IM DEPRESSED! OH WOE IS ME!” It’s almost like she thinks because her mom is dead…means it gives her a pass to be a complete douchebag, news flash it doesn’t.

Anyway, Sadie’s dad is trying to move on, he’s getting rid of all the dead wife’s belongings. But Sadie doesn’t want him to do that…also he’s been focusing on doing his job (which is being a physiatrist) (which he has patients come into his own house to do the sessions).

As for Sawyer? Well clearly she never cared about Mom, and she never once expressed any emotion for the loss of Mom…she’s just like huh I like treats, also she’s the character who sees the Boogeyman…

Heck, she’s the one trying to tell her dad and sister about the Boogeyman, but no one believes her because she’s a kid.

In a way, it kinda reminds me of kids who usually have a fear of monsters under their beds or in their closets.

There is one scene I do like however but it’s also a cliché, it’s when Sawyer looks under her bed and doesn’t see anything…..so she uses the light ball orb and drops it….we then get to see w glimpse of the creature before it runs off……won’t lie that scene was Spoopy, that scene resembles kids thinking there’s monsters under their beds. Also I’ll put image of that shot here. Oh and a clip, enjoy the nightmares.

Yeah ur welcome for that, u to now can have nightmares for the price of one….but wait there’s more. While we’re at it we can toss in another nightmare for u for the price of 2. Call in now. Don’t hesitate.

Anyways, speaking of the Boogeyman, idk what his motivation is…from what I understand it’s that he wants to eat them. But if that’s the case he has so many opportunities to do so….but he never does, also btw fun fact in the original story…this creature was a prelude to Pennywise.

There are some similarities between the both of them, but this film doesn’t go into any of those characteristics of the creature….here he’s just I guess a mindless creature that wants to eat them. Although idk if he’s mindless or not.

But the creature design is cool, that I won’t deny. Anyway, let’s skip to the ending of this film.

Btw the way I interpreted this creature is that he feeds off the depression this family is going through and the grief….but hey that’s just me, maybe some y’all will have a completely different take on this film’s creature.

Anyways, Dr. Hill Harper’s patient tries warning him about the creature, heck he gives him a drawing…..which Harper asks what is this? Which the patient says it’s the thing that comes for the kids when ur not paying attention…..well that doesn’t sound ominous at all, no sir not one single bit.

So come to the third act now the dad believes them with the whole Boogeyman thing because when he tries to take Sawyer out of the house…the creature yanks them back in…

So the entire third act takes place in their home, in the pitch black….again even when they find out about this creature, plus its weakness they still refuse to turn on one single lamp! Or house light! Nah why do that, when u could just act like a bunch of headless chickens….yep totally makes sense.

Anyway, they eventually defeat the monster with the power of the light ball, again why don’t y’all just turn on a light in the house?!

Anyway enough said about that, I ain’t gonna harp on that anymore. So they defeat the monster, and the day is saved.

The way this film ends does baffle me though, so the film ends with the 3 of them going to therapy and their therapist hints at that the Boogeyman is in the other room waiting for them…..uhhhhh huh, sorry what?

So then they leave the house but Sadie goes back in, walks into a dark closet, and closes the door….uhhhhhhhh huh, sorry what?

Anyways, the end….what an ending? Yeah I’m as confused as any y’all are. Anyways hope y’all enjoyed this review and I got more posts coming. Until next time.