Boogeyman
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Cast: Barry Watson, Emily Deschanel, Skye McCole
Extras: Deleted Scenes, Alternate Ending, Featurette, Visual Effects Progression, Animatics, Previews
Rating:
When review quotes on a DVD packaging come from a writer you’ve never heard of or a publication you have never encountered, chances are the film is utter crap and the studio simply didn’t get a useable positive review quote from one of the well known reviewers, because they probably dissed the film in its entirety. The same is true with ’Boogeyman’ and really, no reviewer in his right mind would give this film a positive rating.
’Boogeyman’ is a lame story of the boogeyman manifesting in the life of a young boy, taking his father one night. As he grows up he’s rationalizing that it was a misunderstanding and that his father didn’t really disappear mysteriously but left the family instead. As he’s grown up one day the Boogeyman returns into his life and yadda yadda yadda things go their oh-so scary way.
In a word, ’Boogeyman’ is boring, unimaginative, bad and without any logic. The acting is third rate and not one of the characters manages to bring any believability to the story while the special effects are so bad that I’m tempted to compare them to a video game.
Sony Picture Home Entertainment is presenting ’Boogeyman’ in its widescreen ratio on this DVD in a transfer that is enhanced for 16×9 TV sets. The image is free of defects, although quite a bit of grain is evident on occasion. Colors are vibrant and never over saturated but black levels are a bit weak at times, creating shadows that do break up on occasion. No edge-enhancement is evident and the compression is without notable artifacts.
The audio presentation comes as a 5.1 channel Dolby Digital track that is solid and without flaws. Dialogues are well integrated and always understandable and the music is also nicely reproduced with a wide sound stage and good frequency response. Sound effects make good use of the surround channels and are getting very aggressive in some of the more intense moments of the film. Overall it’s a track that serves the presentation well.
Deleted scenes, an alternate endings and a making-of featurette are included on the disk, as well as a visual effects progression. None of it is very good, insightful or valuable, especially given the low production values and quality of the film I don’t see why anyone would care for this to begin with.
’Boogeyman’ is a complete shot in the dark. A movie that wants to be scary but shuffles along on the level of a pre-teen ’Goosebumps’ episode. The ridiculous special effects and wooden acting completely break the film, destroying whatever atmosphere and suspense there was. Why anyone – Sam Raimi in particular – felt the need to make this film is really beyond me.