Monday 13 March 2017

Video Nasty - The Boogey Man

The Boogey Man

(1980)

The Jerry Gross Organisation : Anchor Bay Entertainment / 88 Films

4.25 / 10


This another one of those movies that make me feel sad as it could have been so much better had the writer, director and producer, Ulli Lommel, spent a little more time on it.  I can say this in fairness as the story is pretty sound and there are some good original bits in the movie.  Though what you get is a lacklustre movie which steals shots and feeling from other movies to ignite the viewers fear.  The opening panning shot to the front of the house is very reminiscent of John Carpenter and Halloween, even the soundtrack is very similar to Carpenter's style, as well as the Phantasm movies.  The two protagonists of the film move in with their aunt and uncle on their farm... the farmhouse looks to have had the same architect as the Amityville house and in the end sequence all the windows glow red.

These rip-offs scream of laziness.  However, I liked the idea of a killer trapped in a mirror until the mirror is smashed and his soul is released to kill again.  I think Lommel missed a major scene here.  Instead of starting the film with the mother and her lover getting frisky as the kids spied on them.  He should have started with the lover killing somebody on the way to his rendezvous with the mother.  This would have added a depth to the "killer" character.  As it is he's just a man wearing a stocking over his head... not really boogey man material... would he really go on a killing spree?  This actually weakens the story as it's hard to believe.

As for the special FX, these are hit and miss and I think the budget was spent on the more gruesome FX, though on the whole, they're more than passable.  I particularly like the bathroom death sequence, especially the death by scissors, and the teenagers "kiss of death" in the mustang.

The direction, for the most part, is okay.  Lommel does create tension at times, there could have been more of it though.  Some are obvious so it doesn't really work, like when Will is in the barn as a pitchfork gets ready to impale him.  The pitchfork raises and hangs in the air for an eternity before his sister Lacey arrives to save him.  If this had been trimmed down it would have worked much better, it's just too long.

As for the acting... well, the best actors are the three kids who are in the original house where the murder took place.  They actually do a good portrayal of brother and sisters.  Their interaction is spot-on, each has their own life but still interact with each other.  They're in the movie for only a few minutes, though this section is the best in the whole film.

Lacey is portrayed by Suzanna Love (who also part scripted the screenplay), who takes woodenness to a new level - Suzanna Love Oak.  The only person worse than her is the guy playing her brother, Will, Nicholas Love.  For most of the movie he's mute, a psychological reaction to the murder, so you would think he would act using his body and facial expressions...  Don't be silly.  At times it looks like he's taken root.  His stand-in could have been a store mannequin.

The other actors are average and really try to do their best with speeches, which at times, are awkward and unconvincing.  Even John Carradine cannot add any credence to this film.

This is a movie for die hard horror fans.  I watch films like this to find the hidden treasure in a quagmire of rubbish.  It could be a good actor, an outstanding scene, or an effect that is well thought out and executed.  Sometimes there's no treasure... but most of the time, like this film, there a couple of things.




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