The Boogeyman movie review & film summary (2023) | Roger Ebert (2024)

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What is The Boogeyman 2023 about? ›

High school student Sadie Harper and her younger sister, Sawyer, are still reeling from the recent death of their mother. They're not getting much support from their father, Will, a therapist who's dealing with his own intense pain. When a desperate patient unexpectedly shows up at their house seeking help, he leaves behind a terrifying supernatural entity that preys on families and feeds on the suffering of its victims.

The Boogeyman / Film synopsis

The Boogeyman is intent on killing Sadie and Sawyer, and uses Will as bait after killing Rita, Lester Billings' wife. After a few violent attacks, Sadie and Sawyer set fire to the terrifying creature. Seemingly dead, the house also catches fire, but Sadie and her family are able to make it outside to safety.

The last review by Ebert published during his lifetime was for the film The Host, which was published on March 27, 2013. The last review Ebert wrote was for To the Wonder, which he gave 3.5 out of 4 stars in a review for the Chicago Sun-Times. It was posthumously published on April 6, 2013.

Therapist Will Harper is struggling to overcome the death of his wife, who died suddenly in a car crash. His daughters, Sadie and Sawyer, are likewise struggling to deal with their mother's passing. One day, a disturbed man called Lester Billings visits Will's office.

The story talks about being afraid of the unknown and being vulnerable, especially when it comes to children. Through Lester's story of how each of his children died by the Boogeyman coming out of their closets, King taps into our natural fear of monsters in the dark. There are two main sources of trouble in the story.

The story “The Boogeyman” by Stephen King is told from the point of view of a third-person narrator. The point of view switches to the first-person when Lester Billings recounts the past events in his dialogue with Dr Harper, which makes up the majority of the story.

The boogeyman is not real, but most cultures have some version of the boogeyman myth, although they go by many, many different names. The actual "boogeyman" name most likely originated sometime in the 19th century, but the mythology of these kinds of "monsters" have been around for much longer than that.

“The Boogeyman” carries on that unfortunate tradition. It's a pretty bad movie — not particularly scary, not easy to follow, not a bit of fun. But it's also weird. It is, we learn in the credits, indeed based on the King story of the same name, from his 1978 collection “Night Shift.” Sort of.

A film adaptation of a short story, written by Stephen King, that was originally featured in a March 1973 issue of Cavalier magazine & later in Night Shift, a collection of short stories all written by King.

Sometime ago, I heard that Roger Ebert's wife, Chaz, talked about Roger's last words. He died of cancer in 2013. “Life is but a tale, told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”

Why was Roger Ebert so good? ›

However, it was Roger who always had compelling arguments. Using a very simple, yet refined, writing style he turned film journalism into art. You loved how he wrote, and even when you didn't agree with him, you kept on reading or watching his show. Roger represented the idea that anybody could speak about film.

On April 4, 2013, one of America's best-known and most influential movie critics, Roger Ebert, who reviewed movies for the Chicago Sun-Times for 46 years and on TV for 31 years, dies at age 70 after battling cancer.

A battle with the Boogeyman ensues, in which it tries to suck the life out of Sadie, but the family fight back and Sadie sets the creature on fire using her mother's lighter and an aerosol can. Eventually, the monster is defeated, and Will, Sadie and Sawyer escape their house, which is now engulfed by flames.

There's only a closet partially open, from where the voice called Sadie. Since the Boogeyman can mimic other people's voices, Sadie understands the monster is still alive and reaching out to her. However, when the actual therapist shows up, Sadie faces her fears and closes the closet door.

High school student Sadie Harper and her younger sister, Sawyer, are still reeling from the recent death of their mother. They're not getting much support from their father, Will, a therapist who's dealing with his own intense pain. When a desperate patient unexpectedly shows up at their house seeking help, he leaves behind a terrifying supernatural entity that preys on families and feeds on the suffering of its victims.

The Boogeyman / Film synopsis

It is, we learn in the credits, indeed based on the King story of the same name, from his 1978 collection “Night Shift.” Sort of. A couple of the characters in the film share names with characters from the book, and one of them does similar things. Other than that, it's a completely different story.

Because of the myth's global prevalence, it is difficult to find the original source of the legends. The Bogeyman was first referenced for the hobgoblins described in the 16th century England. Many believed that they were made to torment humans, and while some only played simple pranks, others were more foul in nature.

Finally, after many struggles, Sawyer throws a flammable solvent over the Boogeyman, and Sadie lights the monster on fire with the lighter that . A battle with the Boogeyman ensues, in which it tries to suck the life out of Sadie, but the family fight back and Sadie sets the creature on .

Chasing the Boogeyman is a fictional account of the brutal killings that took place in the author's hometown of Edgewood during the late 1980s. Teenage girls would first go missing and then turn up mutilated and posed. Before long, the town is in a frenzy of fear and suspicion.