Boogeyman

"You thought it was just a story."

Director: Stephen Kay Year: 2005 Runtime: 89 min IMDb: ⭐ 5.0
Movie Poster

Synopsis

Every culture has one – the horrible monster fueling young children's nightmares. But for Tim, the Boogeyman still lives in his memories as a creature that devoured his father 16 years ago. Is the Boogeyman real, or did Tim make it up to explain why his father abandoned his family?

During his childhood, Tim Jensen witnesses his father being taken by the Boogeyman, an evil creature which lives in all closets worldwide. Since then, he has taken precautions to ensure that the Boogeyman cannot get to him, such as sleeping on a mattress on the floor, and removing all closets from his home, and keeping all his clothes in a dresser drawer. After a Thanksgiving trip with his girlfriend Jessica to her parents' house, Tim has a premonition in which his mother tells him to return to the family home. Soon after, he receives a call from his uncle informing him that his mother has died. Upon returning to the psychiatric ward, where he grew up after his father died, he discovers that one of the patients, a young girl, is being terrorized by something hiding in the ceiling of her room. Upon a suggestion by his psychiatrist that returning to his family home to spend the night in that house would be a good idea, Tim returns to his old Victorian style house in the open country, where he relives memories of his mother telling his father that the Boogeyman does not exist and therefore cannot possibly harm Tim. Tim is briefly attacked by the Boogeyman when he enters the downstairs closet. Tim meets a young girl in his woodshed, named Franny, who wants to know if it's true that the Boogeyman murdered Tim's father. Searching the woodshed he discovers a file of Missing Person lists and documents left by Franny, and upon flicking through them, he discovers a disturbing collection of missing children who were all taken by the Boogeyman. Tim panics and attempts to leave, but Jessica abruptly shows up and takes Tim out of the house for a night to a quiet motel, where she is murdered by the Boogeyman, dragging her into the bath. Tim returns from getting ice and preparing drinks and enters the bathroom, where he finds that Jessica is missing. He realizes what has occurred, and stumbles blindly into a closet, and then walks out into his family home, just as Kate, his childhood friend, has returned to his home and, upon hearing noises from the closets, was about to open the door herself. Tim drags Kate back to the hotel, where they find the empty bath; this time with blood on the side. Kate begins thinking that Tim might've harmed Jessica, but Tim angrily denies it. Frustrated at Tim's refusal to tell her what is really wrong with him, Kate drives them back to her house where Tim spots something in the window. Kate claims that the person Tim saw was in fact her father. She then calls Tim's Uncle Mike to have him check on Tim. But he is captured and taken away by the Boogeyman. Tim returns to his house and meets Franny once more, who leads him to a house full of proclamations describing the Boogeyman. There is a chair in the middle of the room facing a closet. Tim remembers this house as being the home of a doctor who everyone thought was insane. Franny then reveals herself to be the doctor's daughter and one of the kids the Boogeyman took, telling Tim he'd best go to the place where it all started. The Boogeyman pulls Tim through various portals in time through the closet, eventually depositing him in his childhood room. Realizing its true weakness, Tim smashes various toys the Boogeyman uses to give itself form, eventually defeating it, and vanishing into the void. With the Boogeyman gone, Tim hopes that his and Kate's lives will be safer. Morning dawns and Tim already feels better, thinking he's finally safe. However, a post-credits scene reveals a young girl being tormented by the monster, revealing that the Boogeyman has resurfaced out of the closet.

Summary adapted from TMDb and Wikipedia sources.

🎄 Holiday Cheer Breakdown

Content Warnings

⭐ IMDb Parents Guide 🛡️ Common Sense Media

an animal dies
spoiler bird flies in to the windshield
there's a dead animal
spoiler Crow....about 24.15. Hits windshield....skip 5 minutes or so
an animal is sad
spoiler A horse becomes frightened.
a child is abandoned by a parent or guardian
spoiler The main character believes his father abandoned him.
there's child abuse
spoiler main character has ptsd over being abused by his mom
there's abusive parents
Yes
someone is stalked
Yes
someone is restrained
Yes
someone is held under water
Yes
there's torture
Yes
someone struggles to breathe
Yes
someone asphyxiates
spoiler He doesn't die due to asphyxiation, but a man is wrapped in plastic wrap including the head and cannot breathe.
a kid dies
spoiler the ghosts of dead children are shown
a major character dies
Yes
someone dies
Yes
someone sacrifices themselves
Yes
a non-human character dies
spoiler !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!SPOILER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Boogeyman gets got. Also jic animals count (though it's another trigger, jic): A raven also dies.
a parent dies
Yes
A child's dear toy is destroyed
spoiler Multiple toys are showed being obliterated.
a family member dies
spoiler Father is killed/taken at the beginning of the film, later in the film the mother passes away (seemingly from natural causes) and her funeral is held.
there are jump scares
Yes
there's ghosts
spoiler the ghost of his mother and the ghosts of dead children
there's natural bodies of water
Yes
there are clowns
spoiler There's a little statue of a clown.
there are shower scenes
Yes
There's audio gore
Yes
needles/syringes are used
spoiler Yes, during one scene where a little girl is screaming and seemingly staring at nothing. When the doctor comes running in, they give her a shot.
there's a mental institution scene
Yes
there's a hospital scene
Yes
someone suffers from PTSD
Yes
there's dissociation, depersonalization, or derealization
Yes
someone has a meltdown
Yes
someone has an anxiety attack
spoiler Numerous times Tim has an anxiety attack.
reality is unstable or unhinged
spoiler Reality goes right out the window in the third wheel. Things get super weird.
someone has a mental illness
Yes
there's a claustrophobic scene
Yes
shaky cam is used
spoiler LOTS
there's flashing lights or images
Yes
there are sudden loud noises
Yes
there's screaming
Yes
someone is watched without knowing
Yes
there is sexual content
Yes
there are nude scenes
Yes
a car honks or tires screech
Yes
a car crashes
spoiler Tim nearly crashes. A bird hits his windshield and he nearly swerves into a semi-truck, but manages to just get over to the side of the road.
someone drowns
spoiler Jessica doesn't drown, as she is Taken by the Boogeyman, but boy is that girl waterboarded.
there's blood/gore
spoiler blood is shown on the inside of a bathtub

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