The Boogey Man (1980)

   

Produced & Directed by: Ulli Lommel

Written by: David Herscel, Ulli Lommel & Suzanna Love

Starring:

Suzanna Love .... Lacey
Ron James .... Jake
Nicholas Love .... Willy
Raymond Boyden ... Kevin
Felicite Morgan .... Aunt Helen
Bill Rayburn .... Uncle Ernest
.... Father Reilly
John Carradine .... Dr. Warren

Release Dates:
Theatrical: November 7, 1980; Night Visions Film Festival: October 27, 2002 (Finland); Iik! Horror Film Festival: November 1, 2002 (Finland)

 

Rating:

 

At a farm, a boy named Willy murders a man having an affair with his mother after tying him to a bed and his 3 year old sister named Lacey witnesses this deadly event after she unties him.
20 years later Willy (Nicholas Love) and Lacey (Suzanna Love) are both still disturbed about what has happened.
Lacey sees a shrink named Dr. Warren (John Carradine) who hypnotised her. Then he asks her about what happened in that house 20 years before and suddenly he hears strange voices coming from her as she is tormented in her nightmares about the incident.
There's an old mirror that reflected the murder of the man Willy killed and the mirror becomes haunted.
Lacey spots the man's reflection and smashes the mirror freeing his soul from it as he seeks revenge on his death with the people living in the house.

 

We spot a nice beginning in the film which has a horror drive-in feel to everything as we spot a house at night as well as a drunken mother and her boyfriend making out in their home with two little kids watching this from a window. Also nice close up shots on the nasty boyfriend tying the brother up to a bed and gagging him which is a nice sign on a beginning of a horror story and what will happen later as well as the sister grabbing a kitchen knife and cutting one of his ropes as things look good, dark and still and keeps you in suspense wonder on what's going to happen next.
A nice camera shot on the brother walking down the stairs pointing out the sharp kitchen knife and then going in for the kill with the mother and the boyfriend in which all of this seemed to pay a tribute to the Halloween flick but in a bit of a cheesier fashion. Still it looked fun to watch.
We take place at present day which there's a good side shot rolling to a church and people singing focusing on all of this as well as showing the character Willy looking disturbed and the only one not singing which is a nice key to this scene that he was the one who murdered that couple which looked cleverly put together here.

Many nice creepy shots of the house at the farm during some windy nights as it totally resembles the house in Amityville as that's just what the story tries so hard to be like this time round.
We spot some interesting moments with everyone at the dinner table as well as a good close up shot on someone vutting into the chicken but yet we think to ourselves "What's going to come out of this". Yet there's neat flashback sequences between Willy and Lacey with the disturbing moments that goes on here.
Also we have a perfect creepy moment when we spot a scene when someone is about to plunge a knife into someone and then Lacey wakes up screaming in terror which works very well in a horror film with someone awakening from a terrible nightmare.
There's also a perfect moment when Lacey is talking to her shrink Dr. Warren and then a nice close up shot on her almost acting possessed leaving a perfect supernatural feel to everything that we spot here as it psychs you out a bit.

Also there's a perfect moment when we have a flirtatious beautiful young lady coming up to Willy and teasing him in a fun way while he acts bothered by it all as it makes you watch for more wondering what's going to happen and will he snap. It sure keeps you in suspense and certainly things are disturbing and intense when we find out on what happens afterwards.
A perfect spooky moment when we spot Lacey checking out a house and spotting a mirror reflection of the boyfriend getting up from the bed and about to attack her while there's no one in the room.
A nice moment when we spot heavy breathing and Willy in a barn as well as a cheesy effects shot on a pitchfork raising in the air and about to strike at him.
Another good moment when we spot close up suspenseful shots on a woman about to cut her hair and then a strong force is about to force ther to aim the scissors at her throat in which we watch carefully bit by bit on what's going to happen here since the moment is well focused as well as a boy about to climb through the bathroom window and the window shutting on his neck which looked a bit phony and not powerful enough.
A perfect spooky shot on some people entering a barn at night and spotting a corpse stabbed by a pitchfork as well as a nice mysterious moment with Jake slowly approaching Lacey with her head turned while cooking dinner as you get the feeling that something spooky is going to happen when she turns her head around as this works every time in a horror flick. Nicely done here.
There's at firat a fairly amusing moment when Lacey is possessed with an eye of a shattered mirror rising in the air and getting crazy with freaky moments surrounding this but at the same time looked a bit cheesy too and getting carried away with what happens here.
Bottom line is that this film had some good qualities but it lags alot when you think something exciting is about to happen but then later on cheesy or dull moments start to happen ending up to be a total disappointment in many spots. It's a low budgeter and considered obscure but not as bad as it's reputed to be but not very good either. The makers seemed to want to cash in the Amityville Horror type of genre combining it with a supernatural slasher flick too since those one's were very popular too during this time period. Check it out if you're in the mood for it but if you're looking for a great horror film this isn't the one at all.

The acting is fairly mediocre but not terrible at all. Lead actress Suzanna Love (Lacey) seemed to fit her role in a decent fashion having this nice calmness to her role and coming across as an innocent type as she also had the right looks and appeal to this as well. She also does a good job acting possessed with her insane expressions and energetic attitude too. Plus does a nice job with her energy when she freaks out or acts paranoid like smashing a mirror in which she does well with her blocking just lunging in for it.
Ron James (Jake) seemed to do the trick as the ideal and sympathetic husband and had the right looks for the clean cut guy next door type here. He for sure studied this role quite well for what he had to do here. Plus showed great energy with his anxious attitude for when the terror starts to happen or when he gets furious during a strange moment too. Also does a fantastic job with his struggling behavior quarter way through the scene which looked awesome and memorable as well.
Nicholas Love (Willy) had the most effective key role to the story as he does a nice job having an expressionless attitutude and a perfect horror type of character he portrays making himself a perfect suspect with his aggressive expressions plus knew how to come across powerful with his blocking in other spots like strnagling someone which looked pretty intense by how he does this too. Yes he was the one who'd be mostly remembered in this story.
Raymond Boyden (Kevin) seemed to play his part smoothly as an innocent kid who acts believeably well behaved for what happens in the story as well as being curious on things. He showed alot of spunk into his part here and was a worthy actor for his young age. Not much of a character actor though but seemed to do his part as someone with an eager type of behavior.
John Carradine
(Dr. Warren) often played obnxious or creepy type roles in horror flicks but not in this one which weas a nice turnaround for him here as he shows a great calmness to portraying a shrink and made this role pretty believeable. Does a nice job with his niceness and sympathetic behavior along with drawing it in well acting concerned with other situations too which some off nicely here.

A woman's breast is briefly revealed after falling her death into a bathtub with her shirt torn open.

There is a mild bloody stabbing
A pair of scissors is cut in a womans neck with blood oozing out.
A sharp object is stabbed in a back of a teens head
Two people get bloodied

The music by Tim Krog seems to be extremely cheesy but effective too as he has some good low creepy sounds like using it in the prologue for the murder that's about to occur which fits the low budget type of feel to it as well as the opening credits too giving it a drive-in vibe as well. Plus there's the odd high pitched sharp sounds which works too for the odd moments. Also some nice high whistling types for the haunting moments as well as great strong heartbeat sounds and heavy breathing making everything sound good and spooky. Also at times we hear some chiming sounds which isn't sounding too offbeat either and a nice touch for a film of it's time.