Ever since he was a child, a troubled man named Tim (Barry Watson) has been creeped out by the boogeyman that's in his old closet whenever the lights went out.
His father Mr. Jensen (Charles Mesure) tried to convince him that the boogeyman doesn't exist but eventually it killed his father.
Nowadays, Tim is seeing hallucinations and goes back to his old house which has been abandoned ever since and tries to find out from an aid of a little girl named Franny (Skye McCole Bartusiak) how to stop the boogeyman before he wreaks more havoc as he feels like he's going crazy about this issue since he can't seem to escape from this deadly spirit whom is trying to keep him at his old house and making him create more anxiety and frightened too.

There's good displays the going on's in a dark room and truly revealing your fears of the dark. We have an impressive opening with a child playing a younger Tim lying in bed acting a little scared of the dark and looking around his room seeing ghostly events and him trying to put a stop to all this.
There's a good presence on the dad pulling the covers away from his son as you thought it would be the boogeyman. He looks good at standing inside the closet and you expect something to jump up and get him and later it does. It looks good when he is pulled in.
When the story takes place present day there are perfect camera shots with the now older Tim closing a closet door as the camera is standing behind the closet when he shuts it as well as him looking under the bed. With all this you wonder if something spooky might happen.
We spot a real tense hallucination sequence involving supporting character Mary Jensen returning from the dead towards Tim as he is on the floor quivering and she is acting intense with him with paranoid features.
We spot a nice shot in a hospital room on a child screaming in fear in her hospital bed while staring at something as she shows nice wide eyed expressions.
We spot a good flashback memory of an argument between Mary and Mr. Jensen, then Tim's father is standing there looking expressionless as the picture has a nice dysfunctional feel to it.
Nice looking shot of the camera looking down on Tim when he is trying to screw a llightbulb into its socket to make it stay lit in the closet and fast movement and blurry scenes in the closet as if something is attacking him in there.
The discussion for the first time between Tim and another child was very still in the night outside which had a nice dark and suspenseful feel to it as there was a nice wind howling sound and some mist too.
There's good shots on each of the characters like Tim in his hotel looking around and acting worried along with Kate in the old house looking for him. Then we have a nice jumping moment when they each go to the door and shock one another.
Both Tim and Kate play off well by trying to battle this evil force expecially in a bathroom scene as there's great effects there with stuff coming out of the bathtub and swarming around them. They also react well by grabbing onto something in a bedroom when a closet door opens up and tries to suck them in.
Bottom line is that there are many jumps, twists and turns on this story and shows nice shots on people's hands opening doors and supernatural forces catching you by surprise. A fairly well done and spooky flick for those who were scared of the dark as a child.
It was almost a message towards the end of the film on how to overcome your fears. It didn't do all that well at the box office but that's to be expected since this was a cult film but it was quite imaginative and very detailed on every childs fear of the dark like I mentioned and would scare any little kid while watching this one.

The acting is very good. Barry Watson's (Tim Jensen) performance was a plus. He knew how to make his character come to life expecially with his anxiety attacks and fear of the dark. Shows a great inensity and showing off a good anxiety too. There's a great powerful reaction with him when he tries to go to the aid of another actor on how to conquer this boogeyman which his performance looks very adventureous.
Emily Deschanel (Kate) shows a nice bubbly personality as a childhood friend reuniting making her outgoing performance looking natural.
Child actress Skye McCole Bartusiak (Franny) was another natural with her icy and quiet type voice and expressionless actions as she is a perfect spirit in the film near the haunted house.
Tory Mussett (Jessica) seems to have the right chemistry playing the romantic and caring girlfriend as she pulls off at being flirtatious. Shows off a nice shocked reaction when she tries to choke something out of her onscreen boyfriend on a sitation. She seems to do her discussion well in a certain scene with her onscreen boyfriend in a hotel room trying to get him to forget about what has happened and it looks very mushy too.

The music was composed by Joseph LoDuca who has worked in many other shows too as he has nice soft violin and piano playing along with fantasy sounding synthesizer music.

Tim: For fifteen years, everybody told me I was making it up. Everyone said it was just a story. There's no such thing as the Boogeyman. But I was right.

Katie: Listen to me Tim. It's time to grow up. Nothing supernatural happened. These feelings you're having, they're going to get worse unless you face this. Go home Tim. Spend one night in that house. It will help.

Jessica: Hey, you're not getting weird on me again are you?
Tim: No.

Tim: It's just hard to get back.
Kate: It takes a while.

Tim: Do you want to tell me why you're following me around?
Shredder Tibby Weub: I wanted to ask you something. Is it true, the Boogeyman took your Dad? Are you scared?