Don't Look Under the Bed (1999)

Fresh and Exciting

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

I've detailed in previous posts my feelings about the current state of children's television. And while the Disney Channel is the main culprit, I do long for 1999 again when Disney Channel Original Movies (DCOMs) were at their peak. Sure, they were cheesy and full of head-scratching character decisions, but we loved them anyway because the protagonists were just like us.Don't Look Under the Bed follows Frances (Erin Chambers), a teenage girl living in a small town where, one day, strange things start happening. Dogs are on the roof, the high school's pool is filled with gelatin, and the letter "B" is spray painted all over town. Everyone is convinced that it's Frances who's pulling these pranks, but she befriends Larry Houdini (Ty Hodges)--an imaginary person who only she can see--who informs her that the Boogeyman is framing her. So she tries to figure out why he seems to have a bone to pick with her.The film is full of twists and has some fun scenes that actually hold up fairly well considering the age of the movie and the target demographic.Not that it's not without a little schmaltz, but believe it or not, compared to its counterparts, Don't Look Under the Bed isn't terribly cloying at all--possibly due to the fact that it's directed by Kenneth Johnson--the creator of The Bionic Woman and The Incredible Hulk TV series. Whatever the reason, if you saw this movie as a child, chances are it stuck with you.It's Disney Channel's only PG-rated DCOM--and for a good reason. The scenes with the Boogeyman are seriously creepy. They still haunt me to this day. However, they never make the film lose its youthful essence. Rather, it may be more appealing since it fails to insult its young audience. There's a good enough balance between the macabre and the jovial to maintain its fun nature.The issues it deals with may not be the deepest, but it's no Dude, Where's My Car either. The themes include deep-rooted denial and growing up too fast. It gets its point across without feeling overly preachy. And even older audiences will find the intrinsic emotions relatable and may cause them to conjure up fond memories of their own childhood--much in a Toy Story type of way.In the last 15 minutes, the characters venture into Boogeyland, which is a real highlight to this movie. The world that the filmmakers create is so spooky and detailed that we feel like we're there too. We wait throughout the whole story to find out where the Boogeyman goes when he's not creating chaos, and the answer definitely lives up to our expectations.The film's biggest pitfall is its lead actress. She's alright when she's just conversing with other characters, but as soon as she shows any kind of grand emotion, her conviction is nowhere to be found.But the plot holes are scarce and mostly towards the beginning, so we grant it forgiveness during its final act--which may the single greatest ending to any DCOM. In Don't Look Under the Bed the characters have a lot to lose, and while so many others of its kind take the easy way out, this one really works for it.Twizard Rating: 84

I despise Disney stuff. I think it is way too happy and commercialized. But this movie was an exception.Francis is a high school girl whose little brother Darwin has just recovered from leukemia, which has left the whole family in fear, wondering if he'll be alright of if he'll ever get sick again. When bizarre things begin to happen at the high school and then all over town like gelatin being dumped in the school swimming pool and a teacher's car being egged, no one knows what to think. Soon the suspicion is aimed towards Francis and she blames a strange boy, Larry, who tells her he is an imaginary friend. Trying to prove he exists, she only makes a fool of herself in front of her peers and blames him for the strange events in town. He tells her it's not him, but the bogeyman, and she just remains skeptical. It isn't long before, as in most cases with imaginary friends, her parents decide she needs professional help, but she has more on her mind to worry about. As it turns out, Larry is Darwin's imaginary friend, and Francis convinced Darwin to stop believing in him, and any imaginary friend with a creator who drives them away becomes a bogeyman. Also, Francis drove away her own imaginary friend, Zoe, who is a British girl with blonde hair and a pink dress, now the bogeyman responsible for attacking the town as revenge against Francis for abandoning her.This movie proves that you are never too old to have imaginary friends, and that to be smart and logical you don't have to stop being creative. It was sort of a combination of Drop Dead Fred and the Secret World of Alex Mack, and it was comedic without being crude or vulgar. My only issue with it is the common stereotype that if you aren't a little kid but still have an imaginary friend, you could be crazy. That is an outdated and unfair assumption to make, whether its a movie or not. Also the "fighting the bogeyman" scene towards the end stretched out a bit too long, it became annoying. In the end Francis learns that nothing, no one, has the right to take away your imaginary friend, and that her brother's cancer and school didn't have to stop her from being imaginative, and you can still be grown-up and have pretend friends. There are very sad and memorable parts, in the end Francis even has a romantic interest in Larry and when she reunites with Zoe it is an amazing scene. The acting was pretty good, especially the role of Larry. Definitely worth watching.

Eric Ty Hodges is pretty cool so I thought I'd watch it to see how he was. And it wasn't half bad. The jokes are funny and it's kind of spooky at times. Not like "having-nightmares-for-a-month" scary, but fun-scary. The whole boogey-man thing was a stretch, but the "boogey-goo" thing was hilarious. In the end, (SPOILERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!) when they find out that the boogey-man was really a fairy that the girl didn't believe in anymore, the fairy/boogeyman was pretty dang hot. Too bad we didn't get to see more of her. That was probably the best part of the movie. But if you ever see this showing on Disney Channel, it's actually worth watching. So watch it. You'll have fun.

this movie was stupid in my opinion. Im 14, i watched this movie when i was 12, i hated it and so did my 2 younger brothers, i advise any of u that havent seen it to never ever see it, its an hour and a half of complete dullness