The Boogeyman ****

Earlier this year I reviewed a delightful short fantasy film titled The Stolen Wings by Irish writer and director Gerard Lough. For his next film The Boogeyman Lough has taken on the horror genre and aimed a bit bigger, making a film with a much longer (but still short at only 26 minutes) running time and that is not an original piece but rather an adaptation of a short story by Stephen King which was featured in his anthology book Night Shift.

In a psychiatrist’s office, Andrew (Simon Fogarty) claims that his children have been murdered and that he is responsible but that no one will believe him. He recalls the events to the psychiatrist (Michael Parle). “The Boogeyman killed them”, he says, “The Boogeyman killed them all.”
The Boogeyman is very clearly a film made on a low budget but it wears its low budget on it’s (suggestively but not literally) blood soaked sleeve, the low tech approach on display here being as much a charm as it is a hindrance. Sure, the digital video camera work does occasionally give the film a slightly amateurish look (something that is hard to avoid when filming in this particular medium) but it often gives the film a rather distinctive glow as well. Just as with The Stolen Wings there is some very beautiful cinematography on display here with simple camera techniques being utilized in place of the gimmickry that tends to be front and centre in the majority of Hollywood scare flicks. Additionally, sound is used to great effect, with sound effects and the score by Cian Furlong both creating a suitably eerie atmosphere. There are no jump scares to be found here and no gore either, a sense of menace being built up as the film progresses towards it chilling, if perhaps somewhat anticlimactic, finish. Lough wisely avoids actually showing The Boogeyman to us for the most part, the entities absence more chilling than his constant presence but when it does appear to us it is a well realised creature of fear even if it isn’t exactly one of the greatest horror creations ever. On the writing front, the film boasts a well structured plot with the approach of the protagonist recalling events proving very effective and the dialogue is also strong if not wholly remarkable. The performances are also quite decent, Michael Parle being suitably cold, uncaring and disbelieving and Simon Fogarty being competent as the guilt ridden father who’s lost his children, even though his despair isn’t as blatant as it could really do with being. All in all, The Boogeyman is perhaps not a horror film in the conventional sense, in that it doesn’t offer up a scare a minute, nor is it one of the scariest films you will ever see, but it is a film that may well linger with you and has more chills and visual flourishes than most of the horror dreck that Hollywood churns out. After seeing this film, you may not want to go near a closet again.
The Boogeyman is currently going around the festival circuit. The trailer can be viewed here:

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Review by Robert Mann BA (Hons)


EDIT – Here is the poster – 

EDIT – Dream sequence clip – 





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