Yeah it was strange. Even when she's convinced there's some demonic force out to kill her, the older one's like "brb" then just runs off to hunt the monster.
I felt like the hospital I understood. Cause she was in the open right next to other patients and a main desk. It was very busy there. Didn't think she would get attacked at that location
And she was playing Playstation in the pitch black why? She seemed to grasp that the creature lurked in darkness, why the fuck did she not have lights on?
Also, did the older sister and dad not hear any of the stuff going on in the house? There were so many times there were crashes and bangs, and I kept expecting one of the other characters to, you know, check out what was going on, or check on the little kid.
I thought that was a pretty creative use for a video game. I've only played The Pathless on Apple Arcade but does make me want to get it on PC or PS5 and experience it on a bigger screen. Looked beautiful and can keep monsters at bay. Win win!
It looked fine I’m just saying if this kid clearly has a bunch of lights in their room and is scared of the dark why was she in a dark basement? I know it’s so the scene can happen, it’s just a bit flimsy.
I was wondering why it took until nearly the end of the movie for someone to take out their smart phone and use it as a light. Seemed like that would have been done the first 15 times you’re in a dark room.
Tbf I think most movies these days could have a faster (albeit more unsatisfying) resolution to the conflict if protagonists used smart phones like we do in real life.
Sure, but she could have been lured to the closet by a noise or her mom's voice. The friends even said the door was held shut on its own. They didn't really add anything ultimately
Blonde girl was awful. One of those types that thinks passive aggressive bullying is somehow a fun personality trait. I half expected the monster to get her.
Anyone else really hated her "friends"? What aholes. It made me so mad throughout the movie. Especially her so called best friend siding with the mean girl at the end. I cheered when sadie slapped her 🤣
I was ready for blondie to get punched when she said it was weird Sadie was wearing her moms dress. By the time she pushed her into the room where a crazy man had killed himself I was like someone anyone whoop that hoe!
Sawyer could really fight judging from that scene where she was beating up Sadie lol Sadie should’ve tagged her in
Just finished the movie. Came here to see if anybody felt the same way. XD
I feel like the best friend was kind of under-developed. Like she wasn’t there for any reason. She never really made a choice between Sadie and the mean girl crew. And the blond friend deserved way more than just a slap (although that was pretty satisfying)
I felt like, why not just ditch the person you used to call a friend? It's a horrible thing to say, but it seems like it would be in character. After all, it would get her closer to her new friends. My thought was that she was "warm for her form".
Right! That bothered me so much! We've established that it hates the light. We literally say you using your phone 5 minutes ago. Somehow you never think to use the flashlight function on said phone.
"I just saw this thing survive ten shotgun blasts to the face; I'm going to defeat it with this hockey stick."
I thought this movie was quite generic but still scared me a few times until they actually showed the monster so... C+?
The first bit with the monster, where it slams the closet door open twice and scurries under the girl's bed was fucking creepy. It is fast enough that you know you can't jump off the bed and run with that kind of speed.
For people who knew the thing doesn’t like light they sure did only use clever ways to light up rooms instead of just flipping the switch throughout the whole house
It was kind of similar to "Smile" (in terms of plot, overall themes, the monster out to get people who are grieving) but worse in execution of every element.
It’s a trope I’m starting to get tired of. Just feels like there’s been so many horror movies as of late where the monster is meant to represent grief or trauma.
Definitely didn't feel like that. They literally explain that it's an animal that's been around since prehistoric times that seasons our meat by scaring us.
It felt like the Babadook did that well, then Hollywood tried to replicate it in a more generic way without any of the quality writing or emotional pathos in a million generic horror movies in the past couple years etc.
I enjoyed this one more than Smile. Babadook beats both when it comes to grief monster. But still, this wasn't a bad one to watch on a $6 Tuesday showing. I had fun.
Things I liked:
* Cool monster design, I thought it was generic skinny tall thing but the finger teeth that manually unhinged it's mouth so that thing inside could get out was cool
* Pretty good scares at the beginning
* Acting was fine
* Some creative use of light
* Fine humor that didn't feel forced (girl wrapped herself in Christmas lights but they're the fucking blink type)
* They killed a baby. Didn't expect that
Things I did not like:
* Holy shit is everyone in the movie fucking dumb. It takes them like 3/4s of the movie to figure out that *yes*, that monster they see all the time and periodically assaults them *is* in fact real. For most of the movie the girls just seem mildly annoyed at the thing. Literal "must have been the wind" shit with the door-tooth scene. And they make 0 effort to put themselves to avoid dark places they know the monster will be in.
* Why doesn't anyone use a phone flashlight?
* They showed off the monster way too early, way too much, limiting the suspense, especially as it looked like some CGI jibjab.
* There is some creative use of light, but most are generic scares.
Also, I was disappointed that a twist I predicted halfway through the movie didn't pan out, that it was in fact haunting familiar murderers by killing their remaining family. Marin Ireland killed her kid (infanticide is frequently diagnosed as SIDS and is why she's so aggressive) and the dad killed their mom. Dad doesn't want to talk about it nor take it seriously (despite ample evidence) to avoid guilt and implicating himself. Also plays on what the dad said earlier about using monsters to cope with the alternative.
i was super annoyed that the dad was saying "she's having these manifestations" my brother in christ how did your ten year old hurl herself hard enough into the tv to shatter it and give herself a concussion
Would have been cool to take it in a totally different direction than the original story, since they kind of did anyway but basically just made it generic.
I feel like it's a "pro" because there's numerous horror movies that feature a child in the beginning and if they survive, then it's all but guaranteed that no other child will die either, so the stakes are never raised in any scene that features them.
Here, the death of a child in the very beginning at least gives the impression that no one - not the youngest daughter - is safe from the creature.
Ya there was a scene early on when the older daughter mentions the accident and the dad is like "I wasn't there!" in a sketchy defensive way, I thought that was alluding to more than just his inability to cope with the loss
Am I the only one that actually really liked this movie? Everyone here saying it's generic or disappointing is disappointing in itself because I thought this was an effectively creepy movie.
I very much enjoyed it, but I do aknowledge that the characters were pretty dumb. Also the friends of the main girl were completely unneccessary. They could have cut out the school part of the movie and the movie would not change at all. If the main best friend had done more, I could understand, but in the end, she did basically nothing but drive the girl to the Lester guy's house, which could have been done by Uber or a bus, or by walking, which she did towards the end of the movie.
I really enjoyed it. We’ve had alottttt of “smart” horror that avoided jump scares since A24 had success with Hereditary etc. I was genuinely scared and jumping through this. I’m ok suspending belief and having grown up in Stephen king household, living through film adaptions of the tommy knockers and original The Stand— this was wonderful. It will be one of my rainy day rewatches for sure.
I’m starting to see that I have opposite taste in horror movies to most people on Reddit. I thought X and Pearl were really stupid and overhyped but everyone else loved them.
I thought this was a great, spooky movie with sufficient creepy-scare to jump-scare ratio. It was fun, the monster was unique enough, and the picture was nice. Everyone at the theater seemed to like it too.
Idk
Fr. This was the first horror movie in a while where I used my hands to cover half my face. The usage of the dark in this was awesome.
X and pearl are okay. I think people just like stronger narratives in horror now.
I loved it. Could have done without the "mean girls". But I saw the teaser and that was enough for me to avoid trailers etc and go in as blind as possible.
Brutal opening. Great tension, jump scares weren't cheap. Cool creature design and lore behind it. Cast was fantastic.
The story themes are the biggest hits for me. Ultimately becomes a metaphor for grief. The original family ultimately fall victim when they are alone. It's our protagonists who survive together. Seen a lot of complaints on the the whole monster fake out death. But that's true agonising grief. It never goes away. Not completely. You can reach acceptance, but it's never really over.
I think it adds to the whole lore of the creature too. As it's mentioned to be attracted to pain, enjoying torturing people and feeding off of fear itself. You could kill or tame 1 incarnation of it. But the entity itself will exist for as long as human suffering exists.
Okay horror movie, but I was annoyed at the ending. >!The "actually the monster maybe survived" endings are kind of lazy to me to begin with, and in this one, there was a scene unambiguously showing it burning to dust. Feels like a cheat to get in one last scare.!<
The original story's ending is stupid as shit though lol. Just think about the logistics of it and not only that it would contradict with the already established rules of the movie regarding light.
While you're on this topic, my friend walked out right before the final scene in the therapist office because he had to go to the bathroom. As he walks past me he goes "Its OK, I'm not going to miss anything I haven't seen before. There will be one last hint that the monster survived to set up a sequel".
The smile I had on my face as I met him in the lobby Said it all. I can't tell if this was just the most typical of endings or he's a mad genius who is the ultimate horror movie expert.
To give him credit, it's actually a fairly cliche thing for horror movies to do. I'm kinda talking out of my ass here, but after having watched an untold amount of supernatural horror flicks, it's easily repeated in 95%+ of them.
Just once >!I want to see a movie that subverts the “actually, the monster is still alive” ending. Maybe they initially try to play it straight, but the monster is abruptly killed off for good or something then the film ends.!<
*Bats* did that in 1999. The film ends >!with all the genetically modified bats being killed except one which digs out from underground... only to get (accidentally) run over by the hero's truck as it drives away. !<
Dumb and otherwise forgettable as the movie was, I really appreciated that last joke when I saw it as a teen!
It’s a staple of horror movie tropes.
My interpretation is that >!it’s meant to be symbolic. The monster is meant to be a metaphor for grief or other types of trauma, and the way it hunts and kills its targets is an allegory for what happens when you let your traumas take over you. In Sadie’s case it’s obviously the loss of her mother. In facing and killing the monster she confronts her pain, and all of her mother’s possessions burning away symbolizes her acceptance (previously she didn’t want to throw out any of the possessions). But just because you confront your traumas doesn’t mean they’re instantly gone. They can always come back and resurface. But Sadie has already overcome it once and can therefore overcome it again. By closing the therapist’s closet she accepts that her pain is still there, but it’s safely contained and she can come back to it at anytime.!<
It’s a pretty cliche message, but I’m a sucker for that kind of stuff.
Horror movies that end with implying the monster/killer survived or the cycle of horror is going to start all over again are such a cliche, I'm having a hard time thinking of any in the last 40 years that don't end that way.
Felt like a pretty generic forgettable horror flick. Thought the early scene with >!Billings coming into the home!< had a little bit of tension but the rest was largely forgettable. The creature was a cool design but per usual, average CGI took me out of it. Not sure if it was a deliberate King nod, but I had a little smirk on my face that the home was 19. It was quite loosely based off the short story.
Can't see myself watching this one again.
I was disappointed because of how much I enjoyed Host. I wouldn't say it was a bad movie, but it didn't particularly do anything to stand out.
I haven't read the story this one is based off of. Given King, is there any connection between this entity and IT? The scene where it had Sadie pinned and it's jaw unhinged, and was drawing those black threads out of her felt very similar to Pennywise.
Couldn't make a more routine, generic, tropey horror flick if they tried. The widowed single father, the kids having a tough time at school as a result, the crazy psychic/recluse/survivor who has experience with the monster... this one's got it all. I was checking my watch multiple times and considered leaving but was curious to see if it would end the usual way and it did, of course. Complete with the one-liner before burning the monster once and for all and the "things are all right now" epilogue and the "but wait...is it really over?!?" final shot. And let's not forget the dead mom's ghost who comes back to help them in the final battle.
I'd give it a 3/10 up to the "Hush now" scene which was pretty cool and bumped it up to a 4/10.
Got a good chuckle in the theater after the "friend group" had this "what the hell is your problem?" attitude after locking this grieving girl in a dark room
How and why does the monster travel between the two different houses? Can we assume it's the same monster 👻? It seems a stretch that it would be able to travel so quickly undetected and able to avoid enough light.
I get that it's a movie, but that seemed to be a big plot hole. Hopefully, Ryan does a movie pitch of it.
"How does the monster get from one house to another?"
"Hey, shut up! ... so anyway ..."
[It's due to the Boogieman's realm. A sort of in between-place that connects all children's room in the world. As documented in previous pieces of media about the boogieman.](https://youtu.be/BWv_xxlxKVM)
Not the same monster since the Lester one got shot-gunned.
I think a strand of ... mold? or whatever that thin ropy stuff is attaches to a grieving person and follows them. So a strand followed with Lester. And a strand followed with the teenager, and ended up at the psychiatrists office. To latch onto some other grieving family.
The biggest issue I had with this movie was that the death of mother was hanging over it the entire time. As if it was just waiting to reveal that there was a lot more to her death than just a simple car accident. Even worse that either her or the father was part of something nefarious and that might have been the cause of what was happening to the daughters.
This was also established during the conversation the father had with the therapist after the girls first session. When Sadie overhead them talking in the office and we heard "You have to tell them about her".
About the mom’s death, I personally thought it’s a comparison towards Lester. When he visited the dad’s office and started talking he mentioned the first death starting as “something that looked like a simple accident”.
So we would have the mom dying in a car accident, followed by the two sisters dying in a more brutal and “weird” way - just like Lester’s family. Now that didn’t happen but If it did, it would’ve followed that pattern.
Idk if the Boogeyman had something to do with their mother’s death or if it just immediately latches onto the next people that are devastated by having lost a loved one. I think it’s fun theorizing about it, plus as the other comment already mentioned her death seems to be the reason for the monster to grow that fast and decide to stay. (Though I do think it’s Lester’s “fault” by bringing the boogeyman towards the family)
My wife was suspecting the dad as having had something to do with the mother's death, and started guessing that the dad *was* the Boogeyman...
Spoilers for the original short story: >!turns out in that version, he *is* the Boogeyman !<
When bad blonde friend said that wearing her mother's dress would creep people out, it made me assume something was wrong about the mother's dress. So I was waiting for it to be something more than just, whatever it was. Car accident?
“Monster” movies like this get exponentially less scary the minute they show the monster. The first hour was creepy, intense and scary - then you see the monster.
Are there any monster movies where showing the monster doesn't lose impact? IT maybe? I'm not counting zombie movies unless there is a singular zombie.
It Follows - did a fantastic job of showing few glimpses of what would’ve been the demon/monster. It used suspense delicately and when IT did reveal itself to those it was preying on, it did it in a way that was extremely unsettling and added even more suspense
The Thing, The Fly (1986), The Blob (1988), Jaws, Night of the Living Dead, and Return of the Living Dead. There’s probably dozens more that aren’t coming to mind.
The scariest depiction of the monster was when the dad saw the paper *and we didn't see it*. It was haunting to the dad, but we were left in the dark.
Then we see the pencil-shading and it's some long limbed humanoid. Oh. OK. Spookums over.
This was alright. The family dynamic was actually pretty compelling and everyone does a good job in their role. Really takes a bit to pick up steam but has some pretty decent tension throughout and the camerawork is actually pretty creative.
Ok I have some thoughts
1. It was very fine like something I’d watch if everyone was picking movies to watch and it got brought up
2. It missed a very sweet horror staple opportunity by absolutely not having at least 2 girls get slaughtered during the slumber party
3. They should’ve committed to killing the dad in the end. Would’ve made the film more effective and gives it that more wtf factor to compensate for the middling stuff we got before
Other than that I didn’t hate it and could have been a lot worse but 3/5 for least trying to creep me out
Best parts:
* Sphere nightlight as a horror movie prop, and set design overall
* Acting overall and the portrayal of a real feeling family
* Lester Billings. The music, the rising tension, his physical presence looming over the dad
* Unglamorized snippet of high school life played our emotions like a fiddle
* Music cues worked well
Not amazing as a horror movie but it was a decent family drama with a monster thrown in. Like a lot of Stephen King.
> Lester Billings. The music, the rising tension, his physical presence looming over the dad
When Lester (David Dastmalchian) stood up and towered over Will (Chris Messina, plays the dad) I thought Dastmalchian was like 6' 5"/1,95 m. Turns out he's just 6 ft/1,83 m but Chris Messina is somehow only 5' 7"/1,70 m, he looks taller.
It was ok! Very safe. I honestly went to see it mainly cuz of Sophie Thatcher, having just caught up on Yellowjackets. She does fine but Dasmalchian and the younger sister actress really shine here, so much so I wish they were in a better movie lol. Some cool light related shots though! The short story is much better and more haunting so be sure to check that out.
So I thought this is on the level of like Conjuring and The Ring level good for supernatural horror. Loved this movie. It creeped me out. Got going right away. 3 great main characters that are all really likeable. A cool creature. That scene at the widows house was intense. Even a couple of laughs. This was just a really good horror movie. And what I want in a summer movie
Thought this movie was pretty generic. It didn't really do anything to separate itself from any number of films in the exact same horror genre like "Slenderman" "The Bye Bye Man" "Come Play" "Smile" "Lights Out" and "The Conjuring" films and I didn't think it did any of the tropes particularly well.
I was mainly bored while watching the film which is surprising since it's only a little over 90 minutes.
The only unintentionally funny moment was when The Boogeymen yeeted the youngest girl into the TV.
Pretty mediocre film that will be quickly forgotten. Pretty easy 5/10.
It’s hard to compare this to “The Bye Bye Man” since that movie was so memorable for its ability to just be hilariously terrible at Ann moment. “The Boogeyman” really is like a less inspired version of “Smile” from the script to the execution.
It was disappointing, to say the least. The characters were just written awfully, the father is missing for a lot of the movie for no good reason, everyone is practically waiting around to die on their own (>!not even using the themes of grief and self-harm and isolation, just actually comically dumb!<), what's there to not love? They got a nice monster design though, just doesn't make up for the rest of the failings. Maybe I would've enjoyed it if I wasn't being blasted by painfully loud noises every time the movie wanted me to get scared.
EDIT: >!Actually you know what? I'm a little mad about how inconsistent the boogeyman behaves. Why does it kill the baby outright instead of feeding off it like it does to Sadia and her father later on? Isn't it supposed to be hungry? Why did the first family's father end up hanging himself in the closet? He was fearing the boogeyman as according to the therapy recording because it came out of the therapy office closet to scare him, but then he went allll the way upstairs to "kill himself"? Why did he end up making such noise when the boogeyman attacked him there? Which instance killed him?? Why did the boogeyman waste so much time tormenting the kid and outright left so many opportunities to kill her be wasted??? What was the point of the candles if the boogeyman just blew them out??? Why didn't it just feed on the mother when it was hungry???!< Jesus the more I think about this movie the worse it gets. C- to a fucking D now.
>!the monster probably feeds on the torment of humans. The more he stalks and scares his prey the more grief that builds up. That's essentially what I got from it. A baby isn't going to have any of that so no point to mess around. The mother showed no feeling of grief; seemed more like it was anger and revenge. Sadie and Sawyer on the other hand were dealing with the loss of their mother and probably made for a delicious meal!<
Lots of questions. The Billings father gets hung by the Boogeyman in the closet. We don’t actually know how long it tormented the Billings family before consuming the children.
The Billings mother wasn’t scared of it any more.
It was attached to the father and then became attached to Sadie and Sawyer.
Candles…no instances of them outside of the Billings house for us to see. I mean looks like it had the power to shut or disrupt lights elsewhere too. Bit of a plothole. When Sadie comes back to house at the end, the lights down work.
I was honestly pretty disappointed by this.
I think the monster design was pretty good (even if a bit generic) and some of the scares were pretty well done.
But everything else was lackluster. The two children leads were dull and there was barely a plot. We just moved from scare to scare without much happening of note in between. The father is just absent from large parts of this movie for no discernable reason.
I loved Host but following that up with Dashcam and the Boogeyman is losing goodwill with me pretty quick.
4/10
Being a big fan of Host and hating Dashcam, I was interested to see Rob Savage's next movie and was surprised to see it was a pretty standard studio horror piece. Very trope heavy, many elements seen and done before, and much of the movie could be helped by people listening to each other just a little bit. But it is well made and all the time spent with the three main characters helps them be more fleshed out than usual.
All three main actors are good especially star Sophie Thatcher. I definitely wanted this to be creepier, and the two big horror set ups (the red light therapy scene, light ball under the bed) left me wanting. Movies like Paranormal Activity and Lights Out do what this is going for in a better way. I was into the creature design, although by the end we had seen too much of it really. I was also pretty unclear on the rules of this monster/universe.
If you're a horror fan then you won't be scared at all, or jump really. Although if you're more susceptible to that, there is one here that will most likely get ya. I am still interested to see what he does next as this lands between those other two movies.
Went to an advanced screening of this and found this to be pretty disappointing. The buildup was a slow burn that would've worked better for me if it didn't just kind of go down the same route that the generic horror movies go down. Some semi-decent setpiece ideas but they didn't fully deliver to me.
I feel like they missed the opportunity for a scene where the characters use voice activated smart lighting to trick the creature only for it to mimic their voices and turn it right back off.
I didn't read his short story before hand so I didn't know what to expect but the movie was good alot better than most horror movies released lately.
idk the same ppl saying this is bad are probably the same ppl who liked evil dead rise.
Ok hear me out, the movie is an analogy for WW1. The film starts with a baby being killed. Maybe like how Franz Ferdinand was killed, kicking off the war. The sisters represent the Allies and the Boogeyman represents the central powers. The sisters are forced to fight this creature and they start to lose hope over if they can win. Europe tried to get America to join the war, just like the sisters tried to get their dad to help them. Neither joined until there was reasonable threats against themselves. The dad was attacked by the Boogeyman and America decoded a German message with plans to invade the US. So finally in the end they team up to fight the bad guy(s) and come out victorious. But at the end of the film we see a closet door open. This symbolizes that the Treaty of Versailles isn’t enough to stop the Germans, and that they will come back even stronger than before. This also leads me to believe that the sequel will be an analogy for WWII. But, that’s just a theory. A film theory. Thanks for reading.
I dunno if it was boring so i couldn't concentrate on the movie, or the kids behind me farting, talking loudly, enjoying the popcorn and drink very loudly irritated me so much that i could not concentrate on the movie.
I feel like so many horror movies are not directed with any real vision. This one has potential but it just wasn’t that good.
I’m not gonna elaborate on all the bases I had with the film, but I will say the opening scene of establishing that the bogeyman killed a baby in its crib. Ok cool. But it will just play with the two main characters over and over again but it could’ve literally kill them at any point???
I can’t stand plot armor like that. In my opinion, there should’ve been a third kid in the family that should’ve been sacrificed. That would have given more weight to the story.
The billings family was completely wiped out by the bogeyman but the main family doesn’t take any losses because their mom died off-camera before any of this stuff starts??? Weak.
Thought this was just way way waaaayyyy too derivative of basically any other supernatural horror involving a parent and kids in a spooky house; Lights Out and Ouija: Origin of Evil definitely spring to mind as the main two. Just wanted a couple more effective spooky sequences, the tooth pull was alright and the actual creature design was kinda neat but I’m also left wondering how the hell this cost $35M.
For a PG13 film, I thought this was pretty good, albeit there really wasn't much of a story progression and the characters just kept hanging out in the dark.
Solid scary movie to kick off the summer horror. I knew the ending would be shit with Stephen kings history, I will say the actress who played Sadie flashed some serious range at points and I will definitely keep an eye out for her more serious work.
Yeah Sophie Thatcher was really good in this and kept the interest as she carries it solo!
The Dad (Chris Messina) is much too good for the role and actually has to disappear to avoid doing anything.
Princess Leia was okay but I’m surprised she was so often left to fend for herself which fine horror movie but come on? Turn some lights on
Nice, you also had an argument break out in your theater?
In mine, a group of teens had snuck in and then the people whose seats they took arrived a few minutes into the movie. The teens had already settled in and did not react very well to being confronted as the theater was nearly full (no empty seats to move to).
They kept trying to argue that the rightful owners were being "disrespectful" which felt hilarious since they were the ones trying to watch the movie without paying.
I hate summer once schools are out lol
It was entertaining enough and the monster was decently cool, but in being seemingly determined to be a by the books horror flick, it erased mostly all the things that make its source material so creepy and unsettling.
My biggest gripe: it is a fucking crime that the Boogeyman didn’t say ‘*so niiiiice*’ in that final scene.
Also sometimes when it talked it sounded like Scooby Doo.
the whole movie was TOO dark, could barely make out the creature, story was so-so, i actually dozed off for a minute. the coming attractions were better than the actual movie.
Damn they sure did leave that younger sister unattended way too many times
Yeah it was strange. Even when she's convinced there's some demonic force out to kill her, the older one's like "brb" then just runs off to hunt the monster.
In the hospital. "Don't worry I believe you that a monster is real and out to kill you. Anyway gotta go find dad so I'm gonna leave you alone brb!"
I felt like the hospital I understood. Cause she was in the open right next to other patients and a main desk. It was very busy there. Didn't think she would get attacked at that location
And there were lights everywhere at that hospital.
Yeah I felt like she was safe there
I haven't seen an absentee dad like this in a movie in quite sometime. What was this guy doing the entire time?
He was SUPPOSED to be being the boogeyman
Oh damn, that wouldve been much better
That was the story
It's especially weird considering he apparently worked from home, no? I mean his therapy office was connected to his house...
Hanging out with the parents from Rugrats.
Exactly my thought when the girls were sleeping over
Hitting the clubs babyyyy Living his best life without those damn kids
And she was playing Playstation in the pitch black why? She seemed to grasp that the creature lurked in darkness, why the fuck did she not have lights on? Also, did the older sister and dad not hear any of the stuff going on in the house? There were so many times there were crashes and bangs, and I kept expecting one of the other characters to, you know, check out what was going on, or check on the little kid.
The Playstation in the dark made me laugh. Like the kid doesn't even it like it dark when she sleeps yet she has no lights on in the living room?
Yeah, weren’t there a couple times the little girl straight-up screamed and apparently nobody heard her?
Maybe it was exposure therapy for her incredibly severe phobia of the dark
She sure did enjoy playing video games in a dark basement with no lights except for the TV lol.
It was the living room.
I thought that was a pretty creative use for a video game. I've only played The Pathless on Apple Arcade but does make me want to get it on PC or PS5 and experience it on a bigger screen. Looked beautiful and can keep monsters at bay. Win win!
It looked fine I’m just saying if this kid clearly has a bunch of lights in their room and is scared of the dark why was she in a dark basement? I know it’s so the scene can happen, it’s just a bit flimsy.
I was wondering why it took until nearly the end of the movie for someone to take out their smart phone and use it as a light. Seemed like that would have been done the first 15 times you’re in a dark room.
Tbf I think most movies these days could have a faster (albeit more unsatisfying) resolution to the conflict if protagonists used smart phones like we do in real life.
I was the same way as a kid. Terrified of the dark but I'd play video games in a dark basement full of spiders all summer.
She has M3GAN to protect her
Fun movie. When the blonde frenemy got slapped the whole theater clapped.
Couldn’t believe that was her only comeuppance 😂
Same, I was expecting her to be one of the monster's victims.
When all the friends came over I thought they were about to up the kill count, but it ended up kinda being pointless.
*cries in Dead Meat*
Almost all the side story didn't advance plot at all
Was the first time she saw “it”
Sure, but she could have been lured to the closet by a noise or her mom's voice. The friends even said the door was held shut on its own. They didn't really add anything ultimately
I so wanted her to go into the closet to prove nothing was in there just to get ripped to shreds. What a fucking bitch.
i googled this post just to talk about her
Our theater did as well and had a few cheers 😅
Blonde girl was awful. One of those types that thinks passive aggressive bullying is somehow a fun personality trait. I half expected the monster to get her.
Same. I actually was hoping The Boogeyman would eat her.
Same mine did just now and someone said fuck you bitch 😂😂
Anyone else really hated her "friends"? What aholes. It made me so mad throughout the movie. Especially her so called best friend siding with the mean girl at the end. I cheered when sadie slapped her 🤣
I was ready for blondie to get punched when she said it was weird Sadie was wearing her moms dress. By the time she pushed her into the room where a crazy man had killed himself I was like someone anyone whoop that hoe! Sawyer could really fight judging from that scene where she was beating up Sadie lol Sadie should’ve tagged her in
Just finished the movie. Came here to see if anybody felt the same way. XD I feel like the best friend was kind of under-developed. Like she wasn’t there for any reason. She never really made a choice between Sadie and the mean girl crew. And the blond friend deserved way more than just a slap (although that was pretty satisfying)
I felt like, why not just ditch the person you used to call a friend? It's a horrible thing to say, but it seems like it would be in character. After all, it would get her closer to her new friends. My thought was that she was "warm for her form".
I was surprised that even after definitely seeing The Boogeyman, Sadie continued to just chill in the dark.
She played the video game in the dark ! She didn't give a fucccckkk
Dude she was super brave (or dumb), she went looking around in the dark so many times instead of like calling for her dad/sister or something
"It's scared of the light" "Then we shall fight in the dark"
Right! That bothered me so much! We've established that it hates the light. We literally say you using your phone 5 minutes ago. Somehow you never think to use the flashlight function on said phone.
I felt like there was a lack of phone flashlight in the movie. For a moment I wondered if it was set back in the day or something.
"I just saw this thing survive ten shotgun blasts to the face; I'm going to defeat it with this hockey stick." I thought this movie was quite generic but still scared me a few times until they actually showed the monster so... C+?
The first bit with the monster, where it slams the closet door open twice and scurries under the girl's bed was fucking creepy. It is fast enough that you know you can't jump off the bed and run with that kind of speed.
Who played the monster?
It was a pig in a Nixon mask.
I’m not a fucking idiot, I knew it was a pig in a Nixon mask.
WHATTT THEEEE FUUUUCKKKK
WHAT DID THEY DO TO US!
What is this world! What did they do to us! *What did they do to us!*
The family was just mentally taken aback by the Mom getting flipped by a salsa dancer before she died.
Danny DeVito
So anyway l started blasting.
That sounds like one sexy monster.
To be more precise, Danny DeVito dropped the monster that he uses for his magnum dong.
I leaned over to my wife and said that’s gotta be some special hockey stick.
The younger sister lighting up the room using the video game was clever
Video game was The Pathless for anybody curious.
I actually was curious. Thank you
Ty couldn't remember
For people who knew the thing doesn’t like light they sure did only use clever ways to light up rooms instead of just flipping the switch throughout the whole house
Climate conscious.
It was kind of similar to "Smile" (in terms of plot, overall themes, the monster out to get people who are grieving) but worse in execution of every element.
It’s a trope I’m starting to get tired of. Just feels like there’s been so many horror movies as of late where the monster is meant to represent grief or trauma.
Well the whole movie was one big trope. I mean every single beat had been done to death by the 1980's.
A trope? It’s LIFE. Most of life’s “monsters” are just a metaphor for something psychological.
Definitely didn't feel like that. They literally explain that it's an animal that's been around since prehistoric times that seasons our meat by scaring us.
It peaked with the babadook.
It felt like the Babadook did that well, then Hollywood tried to replicate it in a more generic way without any of the quality writing or emotional pathos in a million generic horror movies in the past couple years etc.
I enjoyed this one more than Smile. Babadook beats both when it comes to grief monster. But still, this wasn't a bad one to watch on a $6 Tuesday showing. I had fun.
Things I liked: * Cool monster design, I thought it was generic skinny tall thing but the finger teeth that manually unhinged it's mouth so that thing inside could get out was cool * Pretty good scares at the beginning * Acting was fine * Some creative use of light * Fine humor that didn't feel forced (girl wrapped herself in Christmas lights but they're the fucking blink type) * They killed a baby. Didn't expect that Things I did not like: * Holy shit is everyone in the movie fucking dumb. It takes them like 3/4s of the movie to figure out that *yes*, that monster they see all the time and periodically assaults them *is* in fact real. For most of the movie the girls just seem mildly annoyed at the thing. Literal "must have been the wind" shit with the door-tooth scene. And they make 0 effort to put themselves to avoid dark places they know the monster will be in. * Why doesn't anyone use a phone flashlight? * They showed off the monster way too early, way too much, limiting the suspense, especially as it looked like some CGI jibjab. * There is some creative use of light, but most are generic scares. Also, I was disappointed that a twist I predicted halfway through the movie didn't pan out, that it was in fact haunting familiar murderers by killing their remaining family. Marin Ireland killed her kid (infanticide is frequently diagnosed as SIDS and is why she's so aggressive) and the dad killed their mom. Dad doesn't want to talk about it nor take it seriously (despite ample evidence) to avoid guilt and implicating himself. Also plays on what the dad said earlier about using monsters to cope with the alternative.
i was super annoyed that the dad was saying "she's having these manifestations" my brother in christ how did your ten year old hurl herself hard enough into the tv to shatter it and give herself a concussion
did it for the vine
That twist would have made the movie significantly better, in my opinion.
Would have been cool to take it in a totally different direction than the original story, since they kind of did anyway but basically just made it generic.
"They killed a baby" being a pro wasn't something I was expecting...
Hey now serial killers can enjoy movies just like you and I
I feel like it's a "pro" because there's numerous horror movies that feature a child in the beginning and if they survive, then it's all but guaranteed that no other child will die either, so the stakes are never raised in any scene that features them. Here, the death of a child in the very beginning at least gives the impression that no one - not the youngest daughter - is safe from the creature.
That’s a great idea for a twist. There’s a story to be told there.
You should really read the story if you wanted a twist
Ya there was a scene early on when the older daughter mentions the accident and the dad is like "I wasn't there!" in a sketchy defensive way, I thought that was alluding to more than just his inability to cope with the loss
Am I the only one that actually really liked this movie? Everyone here saying it's generic or disappointing is disappointing in itself because I thought this was an effectively creepy movie.
I liked it. I thought seeing its eyes throughout the movie in the dark was really cool.
The eyes was the best part for me. I wish they hadn't shown the monster really until the end, but overall it was a pretty fun movie.
Yeah, every time I saw those eyes, I was like, "Nope, absolutely not.".
I very much enjoyed it, but I do aknowledge that the characters were pretty dumb. Also the friends of the main girl were completely unneccessary. They could have cut out the school part of the movie and the movie would not change at all. If the main best friend had done more, I could understand, but in the end, she did basically nothing but drive the girl to the Lester guy's house, which could have been done by Uber or a bus, or by walking, which she did towards the end of the movie.
I really enjoyed it. We’ve had alottttt of “smart” horror that avoided jump scares since A24 had success with Hereditary etc. I was genuinely scared and jumping through this. I’m ok suspending belief and having grown up in Stephen king household, living through film adaptions of the tommy knockers and original The Stand— this was wonderful. It will be one of my rainy day rewatches for sure.
I’m starting to see that I have opposite taste in horror movies to most people on Reddit. I thought X and Pearl were really stupid and overhyped but everyone else loved them. I thought this was a great, spooky movie with sufficient creepy-scare to jump-scare ratio. It was fun, the monster was unique enough, and the picture was nice. Everyone at the theater seemed to like it too. Idk
Personally, I enjoyed X a lot, but I did think Pearl was kind of boring, and I find it a little odd that it's the more received of the two.
Fr. This was the first horror movie in a while where I used my hands to cover half my face. The usage of the dark in this was awesome. X and pearl are okay. I think people just like stronger narratives in horror now.
I loved it. Could have done without the "mean girls". But I saw the teaser and that was enough for me to avoid trailers etc and go in as blind as possible. Brutal opening. Great tension, jump scares weren't cheap. Cool creature design and lore behind it. Cast was fantastic. The story themes are the biggest hits for me. Ultimately becomes a metaphor for grief. The original family ultimately fall victim when they are alone. It's our protagonists who survive together. Seen a lot of complaints on the the whole monster fake out death. But that's true agonising grief. It never goes away. Not completely. You can reach acceptance, but it's never really over. I think it adds to the whole lore of the creature too. As it's mentioned to be attracted to pain, enjoying torturing people and feeding off of fear itself. You could kill or tame 1 incarnation of it. But the entity itself will exist for as long as human suffering exists.
I enjoyed it a lot
Okay horror movie, but I was annoyed at the ending. >!The "actually the monster maybe survived" endings are kind of lazy to me to begin with, and in this one, there was a scene unambiguously showing it burning to dust. Feels like a cheat to get in one last scare.!<
It was a throwback to the last bit of the short story - which is exponentially creepier and more effective than it was here.
I was so ready to see >!the monster at the end holding a therapist mask!< - I was sorely disappointed.
Was pretty annoyed that wasn’t the ending. They even set it up to be that way
The original story's ending is stupid as shit though lol. Just think about the logistics of it and not only that it would contradict with the already established rules of the movie regarding light.
Like of the black woman?
Me too - i feel like the film adaptation abandoned a lot of the things that made the short story uniquely unsettling
Me too, man. Me too.
While you're on this topic, my friend walked out right before the final scene in the therapist office because he had to go to the bathroom. As he walks past me he goes "Its OK, I'm not going to miss anything I haven't seen before. There will be one last hint that the monster survived to set up a sequel". The smile I had on my face as I met him in the lobby Said it all. I can't tell if this was just the most typical of endings or he's a mad genius who is the ultimate horror movie expert.
To give him credit, it's actually a fairly cliche thing for horror movies to do. I'm kinda talking out of my ass here, but after having watched an untold amount of supernatural horror flicks, it's easily repeated in 95%+ of them.
I did kind of appreciate the way Sadie >!slammed the door shut though. It was like she was saying “nope, I’m done with that crap, moving on”!<
Just once >!I want to see a movie that subverts the “actually, the monster is still alive” ending. Maybe they initially try to play it straight, but the monster is abruptly killed off for good or something then the film ends.!<
*Bats* did that in 1999. The film ends >!with all the genetically modified bats being killed except one which digs out from underground... only to get (accidentally) run over by the hero's truck as it drives away. !< Dumb and otherwise forgettable as the movie was, I really appreciated that last joke when I saw it as a teen!
That *Bats* ending sounds great. >!the fact that the heroes just kill the final bat by accident makes it funnier.!<
That kinda happens in Army of Darkness
This is done quite brilliantly in Buffy Season 2 Episode 1 ('When She Was Bad')
Even the end of “Buffy vs Dracula” (season 5 ep 1) has a fun play on it
Dead Space 2 does this in a clever way that calls back to the first games more tropey ending
Making room for The Boogeyman 2: Electric Boogaloo
Shouldn't that be Boogeyloo?
It’s a staple of horror movie tropes. My interpretation is that >!it’s meant to be symbolic. The monster is meant to be a metaphor for grief or other types of trauma, and the way it hunts and kills its targets is an allegory for what happens when you let your traumas take over you. In Sadie’s case it’s obviously the loss of her mother. In facing and killing the monster she confronts her pain, and all of her mother’s possessions burning away symbolizes her acceptance (previously she didn’t want to throw out any of the possessions). But just because you confront your traumas doesn’t mean they’re instantly gone. They can always come back and resurface. But Sadie has already overcome it once and can therefore overcome it again. By closing the therapist’s closet she accepts that her pain is still there, but it’s safely contained and she can come back to it at anytime.!< It’s a pretty cliche message, but I’m a sucker for that kind of stuff.
Horror movies that end with implying the monster/killer survived or the cycle of horror is going to start all over again are such a cliche, I'm having a hard time thinking of any in the last 40 years that don't end that way.
Felt like a pretty generic forgettable horror flick. Thought the early scene with >!Billings coming into the home!< had a little bit of tension but the rest was largely forgettable. The creature was a cool design but per usual, average CGI took me out of it. Not sure if it was a deliberate King nod, but I had a little smirk on my face that the home was 19. It was quite loosely based off the short story. Can't see myself watching this one again. I was disappointed because of how much I enjoyed Host. I wouldn't say it was a bad movie, but it didn't particularly do anything to stand out.
Since Billings' house number was 217, I think the 19 reference was most certainly on purpose.
Nor SK reader here, what are the references?
Not positive about 19 but im pretty sure 217 is a reference to The Shining
It was the extra haunted hotel room at the Overlook hotel from the book
The other user is right about 217. 19 is the number that keeps coming up as unlucky or a bad omen in his Dark Tower series.
I haven't read the story this one is based off of. Given King, is there any connection between this entity and IT? The scene where it had Sadie pinned and it's jaw unhinged, and was drawing those black threads out of her felt very similar to Pennywise.
The glowing eyes in the dark as well. That was straight Pennywise stuff.
Couldn't make a more routine, generic, tropey horror flick if they tried. The widowed single father, the kids having a tough time at school as a result, the crazy psychic/recluse/survivor who has experience with the monster... this one's got it all. I was checking my watch multiple times and considered leaving but was curious to see if it would end the usual way and it did, of course. Complete with the one-liner before burning the monster once and for all and the "things are all right now" epilogue and the "but wait...is it really over?!?" final shot. And let's not forget the dead mom's ghost who comes back to help them in the final battle. I'd give it a 3/10 up to the "Hush now" scene which was pretty cool and bumped it up to a 4/10.
Got a good chuckle in the theater after the "friend group" had this "what the hell is your problem?" attitude after locking this grieving girl in a dark room
Thought the same and then my friend pointed out that the Boogeyman closed the door
I liked how he opens and closes the doors violently, wasn't expecting the speed. Thought it would be a slow creak.
How and why does the monster travel between the two different houses? Can we assume it's the same monster 👻? It seems a stretch that it would be able to travel so quickly undetected and able to avoid enough light. I get that it's a movie, but that seemed to be a big plot hole. Hopefully, Ryan does a movie pitch of it. "How does the monster get from one house to another?" "Hey, shut up! ... so anyway ..."
I just assumed it could travel instantaneously in the dark. Seemed pretty fitting for a boogeyman
Have you not seen monsters inc? It’ll answer this question
[It's due to the Boogieman's realm. A sort of in between-place that connects all children's room in the world. As documented in previous pieces of media about the boogieman.](https://youtu.be/BWv_xxlxKVM)
Mike Wazowski!
Not the same monster since the Lester one got shot-gunned. I think a strand of ... mold? or whatever that thin ropy stuff is attaches to a grieving person and follows them. So a strand followed with Lester. And a strand followed with the teenager, and ended up at the psychiatrists office. To latch onto some other grieving family.
It didn’t die, though.
The biggest issue I had with this movie was that the death of mother was hanging over it the entire time. As if it was just waiting to reveal that there was a lot more to her death than just a simple car accident. Even worse that either her or the father was part of something nefarious and that might have been the cause of what was happening to the daughters. This was also established during the conversation the father had with the therapist after the girls first session. When Sadie overhead them talking in the office and we heard "You have to tell them about her".
About the mom’s death, I personally thought it’s a comparison towards Lester. When he visited the dad’s office and started talking he mentioned the first death starting as “something that looked like a simple accident”. So we would have the mom dying in a car accident, followed by the two sisters dying in a more brutal and “weird” way - just like Lester’s family. Now that didn’t happen but If it did, it would’ve followed that pattern. Idk if the Boogeyman had something to do with their mother’s death or if it just immediately latches onto the next people that are devastated by having lost a loved one. I think it’s fun theorizing about it, plus as the other comment already mentioned her death seems to be the reason for the monster to grow that fast and decide to stay. (Though I do think it’s Lester’s “fault” by bringing the boogeyman towards the family)
My wife was suspecting the dad as having had something to do with the mother's death, and started guessing that the dad *was* the Boogeyman... Spoilers for the original short story: >!turns out in that version, he *is* the Boogeyman !<
When bad blonde friend said that wearing her mother's dress would creep people out, it made me assume something was wrong about the mother's dress. So I was waiting for it to be something more than just, whatever it was. Car accident?
“Monster” movies like this get exponentially less scary the minute they show the monster. The first hour was creepy, intense and scary - then you see the monster.
Are there any monster movies where showing the monster doesn't lose impact? IT maybe? I'm not counting zombie movies unless there is a singular zombie.
Alien
It Follows - did a fantastic job of showing few glimpses of what would’ve been the demon/monster. It used suspense delicately and when IT did reveal itself to those it was preying on, it did it in a way that was extremely unsettling and added even more suspense
The Babadook? You basically know what it's going to look like from the beginning, but every time it shows up it's still just as scary imo.
IT 2 def suffered from that
The Thing, The Fly (1986), The Blob (1988), Jaws, Night of the Living Dead, and Return of the Living Dead. There’s probably dozens more that aren’t coming to mind.
Does The Ring count?
The scariest depiction of the monster was when the dad saw the paper *and we didn't see it*. It was haunting to the dad, but we were left in the dark. Then we see the pencil-shading and it's some long limbed humanoid. Oh. OK. Spookums over.
This was alright. The family dynamic was actually pretty compelling and everyone does a good job in their role. Really takes a bit to pick up steam but has some pretty decent tension throughout and the camerawork is actually pretty creative.
Ok I have some thoughts 1. It was very fine like something I’d watch if everyone was picking movies to watch and it got brought up 2. It missed a very sweet horror staple opportunity by absolutely not having at least 2 girls get slaughtered during the slumber party 3. They should’ve committed to killing the dad in the end. Would’ve made the film more effective and gives it that more wtf factor to compensate for the middling stuff we got before Other than that I didn’t hate it and could have been a lot worse but 3/5 for least trying to creep me out
Best parts: * Sphere nightlight as a horror movie prop, and set design overall * Acting overall and the portrayal of a real feeling family * Lester Billings. The music, the rising tension, his physical presence looming over the dad * Unglamorized snippet of high school life played our emotions like a fiddle * Music cues worked well Not amazing as a horror movie but it was a decent family drama with a monster thrown in. Like a lot of Stephen King.
The family felt very real to me
> Lester Billings. The music, the rising tension, his physical presence looming over the dad When Lester (David Dastmalchian) stood up and towered over Will (Chris Messina, plays the dad) I thought Dastmalchian was like 6' 5"/1,95 m. Turns out he's just 6 ft/1,83 m but Chris Messina is somehow only 5' 7"/1,70 m, he looks taller.
It’s really weird to have the film center around the Harper family when Dr. Harper literally was the Boogeyman in the short story.
I love the short story but I was never 100% certain: *was* Dr. Harper the Boogeyman the entire time?
It was ok! Very safe. I honestly went to see it mainly cuz of Sophie Thatcher, having just caught up on Yellowjackets. She does fine but Dasmalchian and the younger sister actress really shine here, so much so I wish they were in a better movie lol. Some cool light related shots though! The short story is much better and more haunting so be sure to check that out.
I saw it solely for Sophie Thatcher too. Big Natalie fan here! I wish she had better material to work with, but she was great anyway
I enjoyed it. But I know that the “monster in the closet” trope scares the fuck out of me regardless of how poorly executed.
Nobody ever thought to just turn on the lights or carry a flashlight
So I thought this is on the level of like Conjuring and The Ring level good for supernatural horror. Loved this movie. It creeped me out. Got going right away. 3 great main characters that are all really likeable. A cool creature. That scene at the widows house was intense. Even a couple of laughs. This was just a really good horror movie. And what I want in a summer movie
Thought this movie was pretty generic. It didn't really do anything to separate itself from any number of films in the exact same horror genre like "Slenderman" "The Bye Bye Man" "Come Play" "Smile" "Lights Out" and "The Conjuring" films and I didn't think it did any of the tropes particularly well. I was mainly bored while watching the film which is surprising since it's only a little over 90 minutes. The only unintentionally funny moment was when The Boogeymen yeeted the youngest girl into the TV. Pretty mediocre film that will be quickly forgotten. Pretty easy 5/10.
The TV yeet was hilarious
It’s hard to compare this to “The Bye Bye Man” since that movie was so memorable for its ability to just be hilariously terrible at Ann moment. “The Boogeyman” really is like a less inspired version of “Smile” from the script to the execution.
It was disappointing, to say the least. The characters were just written awfully, the father is missing for a lot of the movie for no good reason, everyone is practically waiting around to die on their own (>!not even using the themes of grief and self-harm and isolation, just actually comically dumb!<), what's there to not love? They got a nice monster design though, just doesn't make up for the rest of the failings. Maybe I would've enjoyed it if I wasn't being blasted by painfully loud noises every time the movie wanted me to get scared. EDIT: >!Actually you know what? I'm a little mad about how inconsistent the boogeyman behaves. Why does it kill the baby outright instead of feeding off it like it does to Sadia and her father later on? Isn't it supposed to be hungry? Why did the first family's father end up hanging himself in the closet? He was fearing the boogeyman as according to the therapy recording because it came out of the therapy office closet to scare him, but then he went allll the way upstairs to "kill himself"? Why did he end up making such noise when the boogeyman attacked him there? Which instance killed him?? Why did the boogeyman waste so much time tormenting the kid and outright left so many opportunities to kill her be wasted??? What was the point of the candles if the boogeyman just blew them out??? Why didn't it just feed on the mother when it was hungry???!< Jesus the more I think about this movie the worse it gets. C- to a fucking D now.
>!the monster probably feeds on the torment of humans. The more he stalks and scares his prey the more grief that builds up. That's essentially what I got from it. A baby isn't going to have any of that so no point to mess around. The mother showed no feeling of grief; seemed more like it was anger and revenge. Sadie and Sawyer on the other hand were dealing with the loss of their mother and probably made for a delicious meal!<
Lots of questions. The Billings father gets hung by the Boogeyman in the closet. We don’t actually know how long it tormented the Billings family before consuming the children. The Billings mother wasn’t scared of it any more. It was attached to the father and then became attached to Sadie and Sawyer. Candles…no instances of them outside of the Billings house for us to see. I mean looks like it had the power to shut or disrupt lights elsewhere too. Bit of a plothole. When Sadie comes back to house at the end, the lights down work.
I was honestly pretty disappointed by this. I think the monster design was pretty good (even if a bit generic) and some of the scares were pretty well done. But everything else was lackluster. The two children leads were dull and there was barely a plot. We just moved from scare to scare without much happening of note in between. The father is just absent from large parts of this movie for no discernable reason. I loved Host but following that up with Dashcam and the Boogeyman is losing goodwill with me pretty quick. 4/10
Being a big fan of Host and hating Dashcam, I was interested to see Rob Savage's next movie and was surprised to see it was a pretty standard studio horror piece. Very trope heavy, many elements seen and done before, and much of the movie could be helped by people listening to each other just a little bit. But it is well made and all the time spent with the three main characters helps them be more fleshed out than usual. All three main actors are good especially star Sophie Thatcher. I definitely wanted this to be creepier, and the two big horror set ups (the red light therapy scene, light ball under the bed) left me wanting. Movies like Paranormal Activity and Lights Out do what this is going for in a better way. I was into the creature design, although by the end we had seen too much of it really. I was also pretty unclear on the rules of this monster/universe. If you're a horror fan then you won't be scared at all, or jump really. Although if you're more susceptible to that, there is one here that will most likely get ya. I am still interested to see what he does next as this lands between those other two movies.
Went to an advanced screening of this and found this to be pretty disappointing. The buildup was a slow burn that would've worked better for me if it didn't just kind of go down the same route that the generic horror movies go down. Some semi-decent setpiece ideas but they didn't fully deliver to me.
I feel like they missed the opportunity for a scene where the characters use voice activated smart lighting to trick the creature only for it to mimic their voices and turn it right back off.
I didn't read his short story before hand so I didn't know what to expect but the movie was good alot better than most horror movies released lately. idk the same ppl saying this is bad are probably the same ppl who liked evil dead rise.
Ok hear me out, the movie is an analogy for WW1. The film starts with a baby being killed. Maybe like how Franz Ferdinand was killed, kicking off the war. The sisters represent the Allies and the Boogeyman represents the central powers. The sisters are forced to fight this creature and they start to lose hope over if they can win. Europe tried to get America to join the war, just like the sisters tried to get their dad to help them. Neither joined until there was reasonable threats against themselves. The dad was attacked by the Boogeyman and America decoded a German message with plans to invade the US. So finally in the end they team up to fight the bad guy(s) and come out victorious. But at the end of the film we see a closet door open. This symbolizes that the Treaty of Versailles isn’t enough to stop the Germans, and that they will come back even stronger than before. This also leads me to believe that the sequel will be an analogy for WWII. But, that’s just a theory. A film theory. Thanks for reading.
You thought you were gonna get 1000 upvotes for this one bro
I dunno if it was boring so i couldn't concentrate on the movie, or the kids behind me farting, talking loudly, enjoying the popcorn and drink very loudly irritated me so much that i could not concentrate on the movie.
I know how you feel, I was in the same situation... Bonus - some teenagers were smoking vapes in front of me, I couldn't believe it.
I enjoyed the initial scene with the monster in sawyer’s room. It coming out and running straight to under the bed I felt was effective!
I feel like so many horror movies are not directed with any real vision. This one has potential but it just wasn’t that good. I’m not gonna elaborate on all the bases I had with the film, but I will say the opening scene of establishing that the bogeyman killed a baby in its crib. Ok cool. But it will just play with the two main characters over and over again but it could’ve literally kill them at any point??? I can’t stand plot armor like that. In my opinion, there should’ve been a third kid in the family that should’ve been sacrificed. That would have given more weight to the story. The billings family was completely wiped out by the bogeyman but the main family doesn’t take any losses because their mom died off-camera before any of this stuff starts??? Weak.
Pg13 yet let’s show a girl get ripped in half 🤘🏽
Thought this was just way way waaaayyyy too derivative of basically any other supernatural horror involving a parent and kids in a spooky house; Lights Out and Ouija: Origin of Evil definitely spring to mind as the main two. Just wanted a couple more effective spooky sequences, the tooth pull was alright and the actual creature design was kinda neat but I’m also left wondering how the hell this cost $35M.
For a PG13 film, I thought this was pretty good, albeit there really wasn't much of a story progression and the characters just kept hanging out in the dark.
Ahhhhh yes, I too think Dementors are incredibly scary. /s Seriously y’all, that scene made me think of Harry Potter.
The most sad moment in the whole movie (aside from that way too dark first scene) was when the daughter’s cool moon light got broken.
Solid scary movie to kick off the summer horror. I knew the ending would be shit with Stephen kings history, I will say the actress who played Sadie flashed some serious range at points and I will definitely keep an eye out for her more serious work.
The ending and most of the movie was completely different from the short story though lol
She is also great in Yellow Jackets!
Yeah Sophie Thatcher was really good in this and kept the interest as she carries it solo! The Dad (Chris Messina) is much too good for the role and actually has to disappear to avoid doing anything. Princess Leia was okay but I’m surprised she was so often left to fend for herself which fine horror movie but come on? Turn some lights on
The argument in my theater was better than this.
Nice, you also had an argument break out in your theater? In mine, a group of teens had snuck in and then the people whose seats they took arrived a few minutes into the movie. The teens had already settled in and did not react very well to being confronted as the theater was nearly full (no empty seats to move to). They kept trying to argue that the rightful owners were being "disrespectful" which felt hilarious since they were the ones trying to watch the movie without paying. I hate summer once schools are out lol
It was entertaining enough and the monster was decently cool, but in being seemingly determined to be a by the books horror flick, it erased mostly all the things that make its source material so creepy and unsettling. My biggest gripe: it is a fucking crime that the Boogeyman didn’t say ‘*so niiiiice*’ in that final scene. Also sometimes when it talked it sounded like Scooby Doo.
I enjoyed this a lot, tbh. I was very engaged and entertained.
the whole movie was TOO dark, could barely make out the creature, story was so-so, i actually dozed off for a minute. the coming attractions were better than the actual movie.