Film
What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases
Bookmark this pageBoogeyman (2005)
Director: Stephen Kay
Movie review
From Time Out London
The second film from Sam Raimi’s Ghost House label shares the aspirations of its ‘Grudge’ remake: an old-fashioned B-horror movie, it also aims for the psychological depth of contemporary Asian chillers such as ‘Dark Water’ and ‘The Eye’. Director Kay competently delivers the formulaic frights, but Barry Watson’s log-like lead performance stymies any hope of a deeper undertow.Traumatised at the age of eight by the disappearance of his father, the now twentysomething Tim (Watson) returns home for his mother’s funeral. Still a closet scaredy-cat, Tim believes the Boogeyman is real, that he took his father, and will one day return to take him. Despite this, he decides to spend the night in his mother’s spooky old gothic house and confront his fears head-on.
Tim’s creepy scenes with young country girl Franny (Skye McCole Bartusiak) effectively exploit the slippage between Tim’s distorted imagination and our grasp of solid reality. Then, suddenly, the entire conceit evaporates and we slide into a Stephen King-style ‘monster’ movie. Disappointing and daft.
Author: NF
Time Out London Issue 1802: March 2-9 2005
User reviews of this film
-
- Patia said...
-
Posted on Feb 23 2009 02:32
It is healthy, I shall come on your site more often, thank.
I am from Darussalam and also now teach English, give true I wrote the following sentence: "If you are trying to lose weight, the holidays literally are the heaviest time of the year."
Thanks for the help :o, Patia. - Report as inappropriate
-
- Ashley said...
- Posted on Mar 22 2008 18:22 I DID NOT GET IT THE BOOGYMAN 2 HAD NOTHING TO DO WIT THE BOOGYMAN IM SO CONFUSED
- Report as inappropriate
Cast & crew
Director: Stephen Kay
Producer: Sam Raimi, Rob Tapert
Cast: Barry Watson, Emily Deschanel, Skye McCole Bartusiak, Lucy Lawless, Robyn Malcolm, Charles Mesure full cast
Rated: 15
Duration: 86 mins
UK Release: Mar 4 2005
Most popular on this site
Top Stories
Time Out's 101 Films of the Decade
Ten years, thousands of movies and millions of dollars in international box office, and it all boils down to this
Jim Jarmusch on 'The Limits of Control'
Jim Jarmusch has followed ‘Broken Flowers’ with an esoteric crime mystery. Dave Calhoun speaks to him from his New York office
Richard Linklater on 'Me and Orson Welles'
Dave Calhoun meets the 49-year-old, Houston-born filmmaker Richard Linklater to discuss his new comedy
Our verdict on Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones
Peter Jackson ends a triumphant decade with a sentimental misfire with this lush Alice Sebold adaptation
On the set of Ken Loach's 'Route Irish'
Dave Calhoun meets Ken Loach on the set of his forthcoming Iraq war movie
Is 'Paranormal Activity' the new 'Blair Witch'?
How does a film go from DIY experiment to box-office smash? 'Paranormal Activity' director Oren Peli explains
A gateway to all things 'New Moon'
In anticipation of 'The Twilight Saga: New Moon', Time Out is offering the chance to pick up a limited edition pack with three exclusive magazines and a free poster.
The films that deserve a TV spin-off
With Roland Emmerich suggesting he'd like to make a '2012' TV spin-off, we propose some more movie-to-TV serialisations
Time Out's 50 greatest animated films with commentary by Terry Gilliam
In celebration of the release of Pixar's 'Up' and Wes Anderson's 'Fantastic Mr Fox', read our rundown of fifty classic feature length animations
What do you think?
Post your review now