It is what I consider shocking that the new indie anthology film, Beware the Boogeyman was not released much earlier than it is now particularly after everyone was anticipating the Stephen King adaptation of The Boogeyman. This is understandable since one scene has, for instance, characters standing next to a poster of Night Shift, which is a compilation of King’s novels that most people are familiar with. In any case, the film has been released and it hasn’t been very modest about its aims to make you believe that it is real.
The film centers on yet another dignitary of Silverdale Psychiatric Hospital, which is continuously referred to as a prospective doctor in its staffing schedule, Dr. Tristan Makenzie (Elissa Dowling, We Are Still Here, 16 Bits) who performs a file check on the patients, on a Sunday no less. Fortunately, she has someone volcanically worse than her, Dr. Gabey Moon (Airisa Durand, The Brain That Wouldn’t Die, Amityville Poltergeist) who actually meets her and proceeds to show her one of the patients who share the same delusion with four other meager residents of their institution and the mentally ill. These delusions appear to be of an entity that they call The Boogeyman.
The requested two doctors apply for the position as they work through five different accounts for the patients and this aspect of the story comes from a writer and director of Pillow Party Massacre, Insidious Inferno Calvin Morie McCarthy.
Case File 1 is fictional in that it includes Cathy McGowan (portrayed in a pivotal role by Chynna Rae Shurts, A Haunting in Ravenwood, Exorcism in Utero), who is the central character in the episode. She is accompanied by Glen (played by Rollyn Stafford, Marty in Transit, Cross Hollow), who has been taken to her farmhouse. She heads upstairs, wanting to change, but the strange green light at the staircase, and a pill bottle in the bathroom signal to explain otherwise.
The intertwining of the two plots helps to facilitate understanding of the comedy without losing even more the symbolic room nasturtiums, which is typical for McCarthy’s productions.
Josh Dietrich was the writer and director in the second segment, which is versioned as Case File 2, and focused on the 12th investigation of the hospital, which includes capturing Olivia (performed by Nicolette Pullen, Mutant Vampires from the Planet Neptune, Directed by Evil). She is living an artist’s life in her Los Angeles home after an unexplainable crisis and is under medical care due to overdoses of caffeine-laced with such side effects as not recollecting having been busy with her latest ‘masterpiece’. Perhaps that is what Chad (played by Jason Reynolds, Cold Chains, Hard Hearts, and Bloody Hands, The Last Slay Ride) calls ‘the real master batters’ joke. Or, rather, it could be The Boogeyman.
This is a bizarre segment that I did not expect to follow this particular path. There are a few creepy scenes here and there but otherwise, all they manage to achieve is to create these dull moments that have been built entirely on the atmosphere.
The first male patient of Beware the Boogeyman, Tommy Butler (Kahail Duggan), is the third case file subject. Tommy and his brother, Ethan (James Luster, The Librarians, The Dinner Party) pick up a body and head over to their parent’s house where they discover that their mother and father are gone. However, one crushingly overwhelming presence tends to make its presence felt.
Here in this scene, sound man Kai Pacifico Eng has his first debut as a director which rather seems to have an interesting story about the mind of a guilty person but clearly loses its focus once it goes on for too long with too much of Tommy going out of his mind.
Tim Coyle being the next first-time director of the fourth segment is somewhat meta in a sense. John Conroy (Steve Larkin, Tuesday Never Comes, Conjuring: The Beyond) was joined by his new assistant Rose (Jax Kellington, Hishkenstien: After Dark, NoHo Deathblow) who was seeking proof of the existence of Boogeyman unlike everyone else who steering clear of it. At least that is what he claims they are doing.
This segment contains a wonderful parody of the Ghost Hunters genre with some good dark humor.
The one character that is featured in the last chapter of the movie ‘Beware the Boogeyman’ is Shawn Kendall, who is played by Calvin Morie McCarthy. Having just returned from a rehab facility, he now resides with his mother, played by Marcella Laasch, who is known for ‘3 Flies in a Widow’s Web’ and ‘Z Nation’. This time she also reminds him why he must behave it’s because The Boogeyman is waiting for just the right time to strike. Probably she shouldn’t have reminded him he is already smoking crack and hand sanitizer, which is bad even for a former addict.
While the previous segment had some perceived dark comedy, now, Shawn’s antics, where he stalks the creature sprinkling a frying pan into a balmy farce while he holds it out, bring about laughter. In her first attempt as a writer/director, Chynna Rae Shurts brings a firm conclusion to the final portion.
The wraparound however ends on a pleasing note and one that we had probably anticipated, as the credits tell us that this was only a film and that no boogeyman was dealt with harshness.
Beware the Boogeyman was clearly made on a very low budget as it had to employ the same people in different aspects of production and in acting too. But for such a low budget, the quality of the sound and the cinematography are both very good. The actual monster is ambiguously depicted by various masked actors and is seldom seen. However, when it does make an occasional appearance, it’s good enough considering that it is a low-budget movie. Unfortunately, it is the monster’s handiwork that is more often than not left to our imagination in the film.
The central part is a little slow, however, all its four other stories are entertaining to varying degrees. They are enjoyable, but not outstanding in any way. Therefore, both the auto-narrative and the micro-narrative lovers will appreciate the film most: Beware the Boogeyman. The rest will find their feelings in direct proportion to the level of patience that they have for this sort of film.
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