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The Boogeymanmight be the quietest horror movie Ive seen in ages.
To an unsettling degree.
When the characters do talk, they seem to speak mostly in whispers.
Its unnerving in ways we dont expect.
Beyond the quiet, the film is dominated by deep shadows and pools of darkness looming in the frame.
The bleakness is inescapable, and it exists on a conceptual level as well.
The monster in question here is itself mostly undefined, both visually and narratively.
We learn relatively little about this thing, aside from the fact that it comes with the darkness.
At one point somebody draws a picture of it.
Its as if the movie itself cant shake free of its sadness.
(This isThe Boogeyman, of course, so none of these casts any meaningful amount of light.
The girls room remains mostly plunged in darkness.)
(Cue all the Its a movie about trauma memes.)
In order for the films stylistic conceit to work, the protagonists need to pop more.
We need to want them to break free of their grief and find ways out of the darkness.
But he needs something todo, otherwise hes just some guy.
