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The Boogeyman is a low-key horror entry that should play well to teen audiences, and serves as a strong vehicle for star Sophie Thatcher.

PLOT: A grieving family is haunted by an evil entity that preys on the suffering of others.

REVIEW: While all of the headlines out of this year’s CinemaCon were about Warner Bros showing The Flash to the assembled press and exhibitors, it wasn’t the only screening of a movie the studios were hot on. Disney used the event to give us all a look at The Boogeyman, a horror flick by director Rob Savage (Dashcam, Host), which was initially set for Hulu. The movie turned out so well and was received so positively at test screenings the studio pivoted to a theatrical release, given how well recent movies that nearly went to streaming have done, including Smile and the studio’s own Barbarian.

While The Boogeyman, based on the Stephen King short story, is ultimately too mild to become a cult classic like Barbarian or a viral sensation like Smile, it’s still an effectively made PG-13 horror movie anchored by some likable performances. The short story was used as a starting point by A Quiet Place‘s Scott Beck, Bryan Woods, and Mark Heyman to create a horror film that explores grief. David Dastmalchian plays Lester Billings, but in a more likable version, who is not racist or homopho As in the short story, he tells his psychiatrist about how his children died mysteriously, and the premise of the film is that he passes his family curse of the malevolent Boogeyman to Chris Messina’s psychiatrist, Will Harper, who just lost his wife in an accident.

The movie is centred around

Yellowjackets‘ Sophie Thatcher, who plays his oldest daughter, Sadie, who becomes a defacto surrogate parent to her younger sister, Sawyer (played by Obi-Wan Kenobi‘s Vivien Lyra Blair). While Will is a psychiatrist, he’s completely shut himself off emotionally, leaving Sadie to pick up the pieces, and it’s their grief that makes them susceptible to the Boogeyman, who’s an evil entity that seems primed to kick off a new franchise for 20th Century Studios.While the PG-13 means you shouldn’t expect any huge, gory shocks, director Rob Savage still manages to build a lot of tension. He avoids the cheap jump scares that are used in many horror movies today. This is commendable. The film may seem low-key, but he believes in his material and his actors enough to give it a classier feeling. It feels like it was conceived for theatres, with it well-shot by Eli Born, who was also the DP on Hulu’s

Hellraiser. It’s dark, but not oppressive, so you can still see what’s happening – when the actors want you to. Chris Messina is a bit too passive in his role, but Thatcher’s performance up until the final act is excellent. Like on Yellowjackets

, she’s empathetic and stretches a bit. She was a rebel on that show, but she is a nice girl who wants to do what’s best for her family. Out of necessity, however, she becomes a badass. Her maternal relationship with her sister, Sawyer is the strongest part of her character. Her devotion to her child makes her a character that you can root for. Marin Ireland is also a good actress in the role of Lester’s spouse, who has been left on her own to deal with the Boogeyman and to whom Sawyer turns for help. Dastmalchian has a small role, but he is cast in a good way, as it is against his usual type. Because he almost always plays bad guys, you expect Lester to be a red-herring, but he’s ultimately very sympathetic.Ultimately, The Boogeyman

is a perfectly serviceable horror movie geared primarily at teen audiences. It’s too mild for hardcore horror fans, but it could be a big hit and launch a franchise. If you like your horror on the lower-key side, this is worth checking out in theatres.6

Entertainment - Media News Watch originally published at Entertainment - Media News Watch