Stephen King has written some of the most terrifying horror stories of the last half century but many of them have never been adapted into movies. There are those that have had several adaptations, such as his debut novel Carrie which is getting get another remake from Mike Flanagan, and some that have been only very loosely adapted. Back in 1973, King wrote a short short about one of the things that many people fear as children and turned it into an ongoing adult nightmare. The story has been made into several short films thanks to King’s allowing students to buy the rights to some of his works for just $1, but in 2023 it received its first full movie adaptation – although it actually became more of a sequel, with King’s original story taking place at the beginning of the movie. Now it is coming to haunt audiences on Netflix just in time for Halloween.
The Boogeyman was originally sold as being “based on” the story by King, which tells the story of a man who recounts his horrifying experience of a monstrous boogeyman that murdered his children and builds to a twist that is as unexpected as it is terrifying. However, turning the short story into a full-length feature film would be a tough ask, which is why director Rob Savage made the short story into the opening act of the movie. David Dastmalchian plays Lester Billings, the character from King’s story, who unburdens his fears and woes onto therapist Will Harper. From this set up, the movie continues beyond the story as an evil entity begins to terrorize Harper’s family, turning into more of a sequel to King’s tale than a simple adaptation. This could be what saved it from being an over-stretched disappointment into a decent horror movie.
Alongside Dastmalchian, The Boogeyman stars Sophie Thatcher, Chris Messina and Vivian Lyra Blair and delivers just enough atmosphere and chills to keep it afloat for its short 98-minute runtime. The film debuted with near-matching 60% and 65% Rotten Tomatoes scores from critics and audiences respectively. The consensus from both sides of the review coin agrees that the film provides several jump scares, but you have to wade through a little bit of dragging drama to get there, and even as a movie on the short side there are parts that feel they could have been trimmed further. Despite that, The Boogeyman is a decent enough way to pass the time if you are not looking for a wall-to-wall scarefest, and as part of Netflix’s line-up this spooky season it should be on your list to check out in the coming weeks.
The Boogeyman certainly did not embarrass itself in theaters after pivoting from a planned streaming exclusive release. Like many recent horror movies, audiences seem to be more inclined to go and be scared with a roomful of strangers than they are to go and watch a blockbuster action movie, so The Boogeyman‘s $82.3 million box office was nothing to be sniffed at and put it among the many lower-budget horror movies to have had successful cinema runs in the last five years. It also became one of several new films based on King’s work that proved the master of the macabre is just as popular as ever, with other movies such as The Long Walk, The Life of Chuck, and a reworking of The Running Man being added to more than 80 projects to have been inspired or adapted from the novels and stories of the undisputed king of horror.
Will you be watching The Boogeyman this Halloween, or do you have another King classic that will be on your watchlist? Let us know in the comments.
