The Boogey Man (1980)

Good , But It Is Overrated By Some

Fresh and Exciting

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Sadly I do recall seeing this film in the 1980s after *trying* to re-watch recently. I forgot all about see this film back then, now I recall it. The only reason I *tried* watching it was for John Carradine - I like him. The film is terrible, stupid but Carradine is good as always.Nothing to see here but some cheap, cheesy murders - if you like that sort of thing thing this film might be up your alley! I'm not into that so this film did nothing for me.Why give this film 2 stars? Number one reason: John Carradine, number two reason it held my interest a little bit in the beginning but after the first half hour I really lost all interest - it started out fine and kept going down hill from there. The idea behind the film could be fine but needed some major work on the script to make this mess work well.2/10

After witnessing her older brother "Jake" (Ron James) being tied up and gagged by his mother's lover, a young 3-year old girl by the name of "Lacey" (Suzanna Love) gets a knife and cuts him loose. The boy then goes into his mother's bedroom and stabs the man to death with that same knife while his sister watches everything through a side mirror on the wall. Twenty years later neither Jake nor Lacey have recovered mentally or emotionally. It's at this time that a letter from their mother—who they haven't heard from in twenty years—triggers an incident which causes the dead man's ghost to appear and start killing everybody he comes into contact with. Now rather than reveal any more of this movie I will just say that it had an interesting premise. Likewise, borrowing heavily from recent movies like "Halloween" and "The Amityville Horror" this movie definitely came out at a propitious time. Unfortunately, some of the special effects were so bad they were laughable and this seriously affected the film as a whole. As a result I have rated the film accordingly. Below average.

This is pretty much a forgotten horror film from 1980, around the time when everyone was making films reminiscent of the classic Halloween, which was from 1978, and you just know The Boogeyman borrowed the title from the more celebrated John Carpenter film. I'll give this film some credit for originality, as the killer is unseen for the entire film, but it's easily assumed the "boogeyman" is the lover of Lacey and Williy's mother, who was stabbed to death by Willy after he tied the young boy up after he spied on them fooling around. Suzanna Love was pretty good as Lacey, and her real brother Nicholas not as much as the mute Willy; he didn't have much screen presence, even though he finally speaks near the end. John Carradine adds some credibility as Dr. Warren, who is Lacey's therapist, and the 2 share a rather creepy session in his office, where Lacey is hypnotized and yells in a creepy, deep voice. A highlight was the nice atmosphere of Maryland of all places, not a usual location for a film, but it added a nice touch, especially the Chesapeake bay. Watch for a cool looking Mustang, and some neat shots of the farm and barn. There were some aspects which weren't that good, such as senseless killings just for the sake of it; it's also puzzling why Lacey would allow the mirror to be brought to her home, or her aunt and uncle's house to be exact, considering that's where the killer lives(the mirror, that is)and it freaks her and her brother out. If you can get past these factors, and try not to dissect this film for what it's supposed to be, then you should be able to enjoy a forgotten little horror film with a decent music score as well.

Dismal tone, terrible effects (for that time), cheesy acting. One of the worst films I have ever witnessed and never wish to view again. Seems like the film was made on a pocket change budget, I will give the director credit for trying, but this is a gigantic failure of epic proportions. Not scary, nor intimidating, nor intriguing, nor artistic in any sense of the terms. I urge everyone to steer clear away from this garbage. I wanted to stop the film as soon as I saw the stabbing (which looked like he was stabbing a pillow) scene but my tenacity to always watch from start to finish overcame me. I regret doing so.The movie depicts a little girl cutting her brother free from his binds after their mother's lover tied him up. The boy then murders the man in front of a mirror, and the mirror is haunted by the man he killed. Loving this so far, eh? Over time a shard of the mirror causes weird phenomenon among those it is closest around, ending with their impossible and cheesy demises. In the end, they run it under a faucet after a priest has blessed it, turning it into holy water, and apparently ridding the curse from the shard or some other such nonsense.But wait... Earlier in the film, a boy had stepped on an alternative piece of the mirror and it got stuck on his shoe, and at the end of the film, it lets up. As they walk away into the bleak conclusion, the other piece unconvincingly glows red. Dun dun dun, I guess.This movie is terrible, I hated everything about it, the premise, the acting, the effects, the ending, everything. It saves itself from a 1/10 only because... while it is dreadful, it is original.