THE BOOGEYMAN (2023)

The written companion

Draft companion · Awaiting editorial review

The Boogeyman: A Familiar Fear That Never Gets Its Grip on Matt

The trailer, encouraging reactions, and Stephen King's name give Matt reasons to be hopeful about The Boogeyman. The screening does not deliver the experience he expects. He finds the pacing so slow that the relatively short running time feels much longer.

His frustration is also visual. He had imagined a more human-shaped threat and feels that the creature the film supplies is too close to things he has seen elsewhere. That reaction is tied to a larger problem: the movie does not make a familiar childhood fear feel distinctive enough for him.

Matt recognizes the broad ingredients of mainstream PG-13 horror, but they do not add up to suspense he can stay involved in. His two-star verdict is emphatic, and he describes the film as his least favorite of the year at the time he records the review. That is a snapshot of his viewing then, rather than a claim about a final year-end list.

He still asks viewers who liked it to explain what worked for them. That is the useful opening in a strongly negative reaction: perhaps the atmosphere, grief, or creature design reached someone else in a way it never reached him.

Did the creature make the childhood fear more concrete for you, or less frightening? What kept you invested in the film if its pace worked better for you than it did for Matt?

Watch Matt's Boogeyman review ↗

Based on auto-generated captions. This companion discusses the review's broad criticism without revealing the ending.