‘Quite a good scene, isn’t it? One man, crazy – three very sane spectators!’ said the tragic Colin Clive as Henry Frankenstein from James Whale’s classic. Crazy people have always been fodder in genre films with many titles such as the obvious Amicus production Asylum (1972), which is similar to this new film anthology, Beware The Boogeyman (2024).
Similar to the aforementioned Asylum (1972), this new and very competent film opens with the arrival at a remote psychiatric hospital, a new resident Doctor Makenzie (Elissa Dowling) who tries to learn more about her patients from her new boss Doctor Moon (Airisa Durand). These patients in this small rural facility share a delusion regarding a common supernatural presence in their lives that drove them over the edge. These medical histories unfold in stories as the files are read and discussed. The stories range from a haunted young woman bringing home a potential one-night stand to an artist who has left a relationship succumbing to medication causing her painting to paint themselves climaxing in a visit from the entity. Other stories are perhaps the best ones for me concerning two brothers who have murdered their father. The work concerns the effect of guilt and how far protecting one of the family will go instead of the actual murder.
Taking the piss out of the reality ghost shows a renegade producer hires a female assistant to prove that the entity and not him caused the murder he went to prison for. The final story concerns a troubled addict who looks astonishingly like Flea the bass player from Red Hot Chili Peppers battling his addiction and his overbearing mother much to a bloody conclusion. The film always returns to the inmates in their respective cells afterwards.
Beware The Boogeyman (2024) achieves what it wants to despite budget with tight editing and the above-listed actors that commit to the vision. Lovely witty dialogue, some stilted in moments but the intent is all on screen. The segments have different directors, so you get style changes particularly in the set when one moves from dark fog outside to a white-walled kitchen and sunshine similar to some of the sets used by John Woo in his Hong Kong action films with younger Chow Yun-fat and Tony Leung Chiu-wai. Some of the best deliveries in the film is between the actors in the sequence with the two guilt-ridden brothers trying to come to terms.
An odd conclusion for the film may leave some going, could it all have been something else?
Competent viewing yes, long in moments yes and perhaps a better-designed creature that doesn’t look like a cross between a cenobite and Jason Voorhees unmasked would help. Overall, refreshingly interesting stories that are well done for your anthology-craving minds. ‘Now you will know what its like to be a God’.
BEWARE THE BOOGEYMAN will be released on DVD in the UK on 30th September 2024 courtesy of High Fliers Films
Pre-order your copy here: https://amzn.to/3WGT2nt
BEWARE THE BOOGEYMAN is available to rent/buy on Amazon Prime Video in the USA courtesy of Breaking Glass Pictures
