Boogeyman (2005)

Summary

Tim is frightened.

Tim has been frightened for a long time.

Tim believes that, as a young boy, he saw his father dragged screaming into his bedroom closet by the Boogeyman.

Naturally, he has since moved into a spacious, well-lit loft in the city where his clothes hang on a rack in the middle of the room and even the refrigerator has a transparent door. This arrangement seems to work out pretty well for him, except that we all have to occasionally leave the sanctuary of our own apartments. (Actually, living in New York City, I often hear stories about people who stayed in their apartments for decades. This is technically possible to accomplish, but it tends to be impractical for those of us who do not happen to be independently wealthy. Although, what with telecommuting and direct deposit, this level of anti-social behavior may now be within the reach of the common man.) The world outside Tim's apartment is full of buildings with closets in them! In a desperate attempt to rid himself of this paralyzing fear before he alienates his rich, unsupportive girlfriend, Jessica, Tim returns to the house he grew up in and the closet from whence his phobia initially sprung.

Barbara's Rant

So, for some inexplicable reason, this movie gave me a nightmare! I have no earthly idea why, since it didn't scare me at all, except that one moment in the first scene when the shadowy shape that a moment ago was naught but a harmless pile of clothing draped over a chair rose to its full height and began its inexorable approach toward the cowering child in his bed . . . For more about my childhood nighttime fears, please see my review of They.

I also can't remember the last time that any movie gave me a nightmare that could be as obviously and directly attributed to a movie as this dream could be to this movie. I don't remember all the details, but it definitely involved a big, looming, indistinct, shadowy figure emerging from a closet. Of course, it was scarier in my dream than in the movie, because, in my dream, it wasn't computer generated.

Maybe it's because of the nightmare, but I am now inclined to think of this movie somewhat more favorably than I was when I left the theater. I actually enjoy a good, rousing nightmare every now and then. Gets the adrenaline pumping, I guess. Although if I never have that vampire dream I had after the first time I ever went to a haunted house, it'll be too soon.

So, now, looking back on this movie, I believe that my initial assessment (and that of all the other people in the theater, some of whom were yelling, "Refund!" even before the first end credit flashed on the screen) may have been a bit misguided. I was left feeling so hollow after the abrupt ending (also a little seasick from all the fast, shaky camera work. I wish movies would stop doing that!) that I assumed that the plot of the movie must be at fault. I now believe that is not the case.

There actually is a lot of potential in this idea of a boy with so powerful an imagination that he inadvertently brings his own worst fears to life. Of course, it's unclear exactly how much of this movie is actually real and how much of it is in Tim's mind, but that doesn't have to be a bad thing. Done well, it might be thought provoking; it might draw us deeper into Tim's whirlwind of confusion and terror, allowing us to empathize with his plight instead of merely viewing it from the outside; or it might even make us question the validity of our own experiences. To what degree do our own beliefs and expectations create reality as we see it? Is it possible for any of us to look upon truly objective reality? Is there even any such thing as objective reality if no one can see it or correctly identify it as such?

Unless absolutely everything in this movie is in Tim's imagination, in which case he no doubt lives in a padded cell somewhere, the Boogeyman at least does seem to have become physically real. Kate, Uncle Mike, and Jessica can all see the Boogeyman. But what about Franny? Is she real? Did Tim imagine her into being because he needed someone to help him understand the Boogeyman? When he speaks to her, is he really just holding an externalized debate with the two sides of himself - the grown-up who has been taught that the Boogeyman is not real and the child who knows that it is? Was Franny's father actually real, or did Tim as a child imagine him into being in order to validate Tim's own belief in the Boogeyman? If Franny's father did exist as more than a physical construct of Tim's imagination, how does his Boogeyman relate to Tim's Boogeyman? What about the scenes that we see from Tim's past? Has he actually imagined them back into life, so that anyone nearby could see them as well, or are they just the typical cinematic expedient of showing the audience a scene that exists only in the character's mind? And, of course, was Tim truly leaping through time and space every time he walked through a closet door or crawled under a bed? Are all the closets of the world somehow interconnected beyond the boundaries of time and space (hardly a new idea, but still an intriguing one) or can Tim just imagine himself to any place and time he thinks of and is only using the closets as an expedient because he doesn't know how to control his power?

Another interesting question - why? It appears that Tim has brought this monster to life and set it to attack all of his loved ones. Is this really his worst fear brought to life, or has he sicced this monster on them because he subconsciously resents them all? Certainly, it is very plausible that he was angry with his father, who first told him this frightening tale of the Boogeyman, then reviled him for believing it, even going so far as to lock Tim in a closet. Tim may very well have wished that the Boogeyman would get his father, thereby proving Tim right and punishing his tormenter in one fell swoop. Tim seems to have a lot of problems with his girlfriend, Jessica, as well. Not only does she seem to care little for Tim's problems, she also seems to feel that she is superior to him because of her privileged upbringing. Whether or not he understands this consciously, Tim might well harbor some hidden resentment against Jessica. It seem significant in light of this that she is abducted soon after she lightly dismisses Tim's deepest fears as well as the death of his mother, complaining instead about the inconvenience of her recent two hour drive. Even Uncle Mike, who seems so benign, may have unknowingly angered young Tim merely by trying to take the place of Tim's vanished father.

These are interesting questions, and not questions that ought necessarily to be fully answered by the conclusion of the movie. After all, Tim himself would probably not know all the answers. Anyone who possesses an imagination that powerful, yet does not know this and does not know how to control that imagination and the results thereof, must lead an exciting, terrifying, and extremely confusing life. It must also be a life of anguish, as he suspects that he may be responsible, first for the death of his father, and then for those of his girlfriend and his uncle. Perhaps he even imagined his mother to death.

The reason this movie can't support these questions lies not in the plot, but in Tim's character. He's really, really boring! There is no possible way that I can believe this non-descript, urban-casual, twenty-something is in possession of such a powerful and wonderful and terrible imagination! I don't think this guy could imagine his way out of a wet paper bag! He couldn't find the Boogeyman in his own imagination with both hands and a flashlight! You know what? Forget all that stuff I just said. This movie stinks! And, man, am I ever getting sick of all these mediocre, PG-13, wanna-be psychological thrillers with their so-called twist endings! Is anyone else really starting to wish they'd make another good old-fashioned, straight-forward, R-rated (or, better yet, unrated, but then I'm not going to see it at the movie theater down the street) slasher movie with lots of blood and no mystery whatsoever?

BARBARA JO

What do you think? Talk back here!
Post a Comment []