Quartile rating: 6.5/10 · 1 rating
Still reeling from the tragic death of their mother, a teenage girl and her younger sister find themselves plagued by a sadistic presence in their house and struggle to get their grieving father to pay attention before it’s too late.
The Boogeyman (2023) is a competent but formulaic Stephen King adaptation that leans heavily on genre conventions. The plot follows a predictable haunted-house structure with a grieving family trope that offers little surprise, and the ending resolves too neatly without much payoff. Acting is a modest strength, with Sophie Thatcher delivering a grounded performance that elevates the material. Cinematography makes good use of darkness and shadow to build atmosphere, though it rarely transcends genre expectations. Novelty is low — the creature concept has potential but the execution recycles familiar horror beats, and the film struggles to distinguish itself beyond its source material's name recognition.