Beware The Boogeyman

When i was 8 years old in early 1986 i remember having nightmares after i stayed up at my grandmother´s Maj home since she let me watch the sci fi horror TV series known as V ( yes the TV series with lizards taking over planet Earth with Marc Singer, Robert Englund and the gorgeous hot woman Jane Badler as the evil character Diana ). At that time i had never seen anything like this TV series i usually watched The Incredible Hulk with Lou Ferringo during that time. I would dream about being attacked by one of the lizard soldiers on board one of their space ships and even though this TV series did manage to make me scared ( at that time ) i would still keep watching. As i got a bit older i would eventually make sure to get TV series V on VHS since i was a huge fan and i also remembering getting my own V cap that were sold in certain VHS stores. I am pretty sure most of us have memories of a film that scared us a children or a TV series. For some small children they might have heard about the story of Boogeyman. For me the first time i heard about the Boogeyman was through the short story The Boogeyman from author Stephen King that´s in the collection of stories in a book called Night Shift. I read that story in late year of 2000 and i had no idea that they were going to make a horror film 5 years later simpy called Boogeyman from director Stephen Kay ( director of 15 episodes on the popular Kevin Costner TV series Yellowstone ). Boogeyman is a horror film that clearly tries to capture the idea of a evil creature inside a closet who comes out at night to attack chosen people. This is actually not bad horror film although i think i did enjoy the 2023 film version of The Boogeyman more. If you have not seen the 2023 film version check it out on Disney +. I know they made 2 sequels to the 2005 film Boogeyman but i only saw the first film, probably because the trailers of the sequels felt like they were just repeating the first film. Since we are talking about the Boogeyman earlier this year i saw a poster of a indepenent horror film calle Beware The Boogeyman. I found out later that this is an anthology horror film and i am definetely a fan of this genre so i decided to check this film out. Is this a horror film that should be seen by a larger audience or is Beware The Boogeyman a film that will most likely be forgotten among other similar low budget films?

For her first day of orientation, Dr. Tristan Mackenzie ( Elissa Dowling ) makes her way to the Silverdale Psychiatric Hospital for the criminally insane, where she learns of the strange series of cases from the smiliary strange Dr. Gabey Moon ( Airisa Durand )

Since i have seen several releases distributed by Breaking Glass Pictures over quite many years i can honestly say that Beware The Boogeyman is their best release so far. Not only is this film more professional made with everything from cinematography to interesting characters, i also feel that this film have surprisingly good stories for being an anthology horror film made on such a limited budget. If you are making an anthology horror film one of the most important details is to make sure you connect the stories somehow. If you don´t connect the stories, it means the anthology concept might loose it´s charm and loose it´s purpose of the film itself. Thankfully there is a connection with the stories of Beware The Boogeyman and i do enjoy the creature design of the Boogeyman. Without giving away too much details he kind of looks like a mutated version of the 1987 character Emil M. Anton in the film Robocop right after he get toxic waste covered all over him. I wouldn´t say that Boogeyman is really scary but the creature design definetely fits well with his entrance scenes, before he approach each chosen individual. When it comes to the characters i especially enjoy the performance by actress Nicolette Pullen as the character Olivia. She seems to be a wonderful woman but is clearly struggling with her past. The best acting performances comes from actors Khail Duggan as the character Tommy and James Luster as the character Ethan. They portrait two brothers who is on the run from the law, and towards the end of their story we see especially one of them loose their minds. The fact that some of characters that are patients in this Psychiatric Hospital is connected to their own stories with the Boogeyman is a pretty cool idea. Speaking of the Psychiatric Hospital i have to mention actors Elissa Dowling and Airisa Durand who both have an important connection to the patients. Beware The Boogeyman nicely combine a classic Boogeyman concept of dream sequences and combine it with what seems to be illusions. The simple but effective horror details regarding the Boogeyman find a way to fit well into the plot. Anything i feel could have been better with this film? Since i know this is a low budget film i feel they did a good job in general so i can´t really complain about anything. All 5 directors contribute interesting stories and make Beware The Boogeyman worth a watch if you appreciate anthology horror films just like me. Hard to find anything to watch on VOD? Give this film Beware The Boogeyman a chance and you might actually enjoy it.

Rating: DDD