Plot

As a young boy, Tim’s father used to tell him bedtime stories filled with haunts and spooks. Often, they leave Tim so traumatized that he asks his father to check under the bed and in the closet for reassurance that nothing is there.

Then he sees the dreaded Boogeyman suck his father into his closet. He’s plagued by nightmares and panic spells that follow him into adulthood.

Fast forward a few years and we find Tim a functional (if damaged) adult living a decent life with his new girlfriend Jessica. But then his panic attacks threaten to return when he and Jessica are invited to her parents’ to spend Thanksgiving. At the same time, Tim gets a phone call with the news that his mother has died, after years living in the same house in which his father was done in. Tim returns to his boyhood home to confront his old fears, in hopes that he can finally reach closure over his father’s death.

But as darkness crowds in on his first night back, a mysterious girl, Franny, begins to follow Tim around. Also paying him a visit is his childhood friend Kate. As Kate and Tim team up to pursue the true meaning and methods of the Boogeyman, it strikes, snatching Kate as she takes a bath in a local motel.

As Tim’s search continues he comes upon a backpack belonging to Franny — which contains thousands of photos of missing children. When their ghosts begin to manifest themselves in the rooms of his old house, Tim suspects they are tied to the Boogeyman. It turns out that Franny was also a victim of the Boogeyman and Tim comes to understand that Franny has sought him out in hopes that he can put an end to him.

Main Characters

Barry Watson… plays Tim, a young adult traumatized by the paranormal events of his past including the auspicious Boogeyman

Emily Deschanel… plays Kate Houghton, Tim’s oldest childhood friend who tires to help him deal with his loss of his mother and his recurring paranoia. She is a testimony to the proverbial saying “curiosity killed the cat”.

Sky McCole Bartusiak… plays Franny Roberts, the mysterious little girl who aids Tim in solving the mystery behind the Boogeyman and all those missing children.

Tory Mussett… plays Jessica, Tim’s girlfriend, is a young girl living high on life ignorant to the devilish ways of the evil Boogeyman about to make her his next prey.

Andrew Glover… plays the Boogeyman, who haunts the dreams and nights of innocent victims worldwide.

Memorable Lines

Tim: For fifteen years, everybody told me I was making it up. Everyone said it was just a story. There’s no such thing as the Boogeyman. But I was right.

****

Tim: When you’re afraid, close your eyes and count to five. Sometimes it works for me.
Franny Roberts: What happens when you get to six?

****

Tim: One, two, three, four, five, SIX.

****

Tim: Do you want to tell me why you’re following me around?
Franny: I wanted to ask you something. Is it true, the Boogeyman took your Dad? Are you scared?

****

Thoughts from the HauntedHouses.com team

Boogeyman, sad to say, is pretty much a substandard horror flick that tries too hard to scare, and ends up being about the same as most other garden variety horror flicks.

Barry Watson stars as Tim Jensen, who’s feared the Boogeyman since childhood. We get a decent scare at the beginning, when young Tim sees his father done in by the evil bugger. From then on the movie is basically Tim running from shadows in a Darkness Falls kinda way.

Boogeyman does do some things right. It makes you wait until nearly the end to see its villain face to face — but even this, sadly, is anti-climactic. When you finally get a clear look, the baddie looks an awful lot like an actor painted black. Not much to it really. The feel of the movie is sometimes spooky-good, with creepy sound effects, whistling wind, and a suitably creaky house. Unfortunately the film relies too heavily on these, and they grow tiresome. Other than a few jump scares, there’s not a lot to it. The ending leaves you less than satisfied, and worse, not even sure what just happened.

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