The Boogeyman fumbles a decent premise. It sets up emotional conflicts and a metaphor for unprocessed trauma. Yet, it doesn't see these themes and drama through, devolving into predictable formulas while reluctantly addressing that deeper meaning. Thus, the story feels unsatisfying and messy, disjointedly switching between unfulfilled genres. Viewers seeking elevated horror will find it incomplete and viewers seeking shallow scares will find it meandering. Meanwhile, the actors do fairly well (showing some chemistry and vulnerability), but the script is too one-note and indecisive for anyone to make a sincere impact. Overall, The Boogeyman comes across as thin and muddled.
Technically, The Boogeyman is similarly squandered. Its direction has interesting sequences but is dull with an unclear tone. The cinematography uses movement and angles yet overrelies on darkness and shakiness. Its editing adds inserts, cross cuts, jump cuts, and a concise runtime, but has weak momentum. The music and production design are committed to generic genre tropes. Its cast is unremarkable. The effects are hard to see so they never get to shine. Really, only the sound stands out with offscreens, distortions, risers, muffling, stings, emphasis, smash cuts, and quiet. Ultimately, The Boogeyman shows sporadic skill, but that is washed away with derivative horror cliches.
Writing: 4/10
Direction: 5/10
Cinematography: 6/10
Acting: 6/10
Editing: 6/10
Sound: 7/10
Score/Soundtrack: 5/10
Production Design: 5/10
Casting: 5/10
Effects: 6/10
Overall Score: 5.5/10
Comments