The Boogey Man (1980) User Reviews

Frightening and terrifying story about possession occasioned by eerie mirror

[ma-cortes · 5/10 · 18 July 2008]

This is a fairly suspenseful and horrifying story with simple special effects. It starts when through the reflection in a mirror, a little girl witnesses her brother kills their mother's lover . The weird mirror is possessed by strange spirit. Several years later, one time grown-up, this records still haunt her. She(Suzanne Love, director wife who starred many his films) is assisted by therapist Dr. Warren(John Carradine). Then, the mirror is now broken revealing again its ominous powers. Caught in a series of otherwordly events, she becomes inextricably involved in creepy murders .

This spooky movie packs terror, tight pacing, bone-chilling scenes, tension, grisly killings and numerous images have you on the edge of your seat.It's a very average little horror movie and has some cool death scenes. The film emphasizes the bloody, cruel and disgustful killings. The script stretches plausibility to the breakpoint point for a massacre final. Frightening musical score imitating partially to Mike Oldfield's Tubular bells from 'The exorcist'. It's followed by 'Boogeyman 2' continuing the plot, similar footage and new director; Ulli Lommel acted and co-written this follow-up. Furthermore recent version, very different to original : 'Boogeyman, 2005' by Stephen T. Kay with Barry Watson and Emily Deschanel and 'Boogeyman 2,' by Jeff Betancourt with Rene O'Connor and Tobin Bell.

The film is middling directed by Ulli Lommel, he's a German born actor and director with a long career in both US and Europe and known by his collaboration with Rainer W. Fassbinder and Andy Warhol(who produced him two movies : Blank generation and Cocaine cowboys). In 1988 he changed to Hollywood and directed 'Boogey man', that became in Box office success, grossing millions of dollars worldwide. Later , made 'Olivia, Brainwaves, Devonsville terror' and several movies with little budget, such as 'Black Dahlia and curse of the Zodiac', among them.

surprisingly it didn't suck as much as it should have,

[disdressed12 · 5/10 · 12 August 2009]

surprising because Ulli Lommel was involved in writing directing and producing this thing.i didn't realise Lommel was behind it until i got it home.by then figured what the hey.i mean how bad could it be,right.after all,i managed to see at least some of Lommel's other travesties,B.T.K and Black Dalia.those were putrid.The Boogeyman however,is not.it has interesting story,some decent performances,and some unusual music/sound effects.it is readily apparent a low budget production,but i could watch it all,without having to pause to vomit,so that's something.no classic by any means,but still...for me The Boogeyman is a 5/10

Better movie than the 2005 version

[chrichtonsworld · 6/10 · 8 January 2007]

By accident I found this version when looking for Boogeyman (2005). The fact that this was an Eighties horror that I had not seen before was an instant reason for me to watch it right after I discovered it.

The film is an acquired taste for sure but it is far better than given credit for. However it does take some doing to get into the story that seems to be more of a psychological thriller than horror at first. But then after we get introduced to some supernatural elements that made things real interesting. Only you never quite sure what is going on exactly. Since things are shown in a way that could be interpreted in multiple ways. And in this case that vague and abstract approach is what makes The Boogey Man very effective. Normally I have a low tolerance for this kind of thing. But the approach in combination with the story is what makes this film quite fun. This is one of those movies where telling the plot would spoil and reveal too much so I won' go into it. Although I do implore that you will keep an open mind since the film does require it a little.

I do have to inform you that this film has no connection to The 2005 Boogeyman whatsoever. Nor is this based on the short story written by Stephen King. (I know that there is an adaptation of that story has been made in 1982 which I have been trying to get my hands on but has proved to be a rare film to find.) Still if I had to make a comparison I can say without a doubt that The Boogey Man is the better movie of the two. It has more of a story and there are genuine thrills and scares. Boogeyman 2005 has very little to no thrills I find appealing in a horror film. The Boogey Man also shows that practical special effects can beat CGI any day. The main draw for me was the atmosphere. It simply clicked with me. I honestly had zero expectations but was pleasantly surprised that this film had managed to draw me in. Like I said if you keep an open mind you are in for some real nice surprises. The only letdown in this movie is the horrible acting from some characters. Only it's not of a level that it will stand in the way of enjoying the film. So do give this one a shot especially if you are tired of contemporary horror.

A Great Supernatural Slasher

[Krug Stillo · 31 May 2003]

SPOILER ALERT!!! `A grisly post-'Exorcist' shocker long overdue for re-release.' Dave Hughes - Samhain

`The Bogeyman raises way above the usual level of 'Halloween' clones.' The Aurum Film Encyclopedia of Horror

The Bogeyman is a welcome combination of two genres; the slasher and the supernatural. Released in the early eighties when the former of the two subgenres were produced by the dozens, this brave twist on the slasher flick was original even though the actual film is not. Directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder protégé, and former actor, Ulli Lommel, who had previously show his capabilities with his film 'Tenderness of the Wolves', The Bogeyman is an effective, interesting, if somewhat cheap horror film.

A young boy named Willy is tormented by his mother's hulking lover. He is tied to his bed but is cut free by his younger sister, Lacy. Overcome with fury, Willy takes the kitchen knife from his sister and wanders to his mother's room seeking revenge on his tormentor. What follows is a scene reminiscent, but not nearly as gruesome to one in Roman Scavolini's Nightmare. The mirror remains the only witness to this murder besides the children and their mother and too keeps the secret hidden, until twenty years later.

Willy and Lacy have grown up on a farm with some relatives, he has not said a word since the night of the murder and Lacy feels guilt for having cut him free all those years before. The day they receive a letter from their mother, who is apparently at Death's door, Lacy begins to suffer from horrific nightmares, being tied to a bed half naked then stabbed by an unseen figure. Her husband takes her back to the old house and whilst he discusses matters with the new residence of the house Lacy wanders into the bedroom where the incident took place. The startling reflection of her mother's lover stairs at her from the mirror, a stocking over his head, his muscles prominent beneath his tight vest. Lacy smashes the mirror in a fit of hysteria, unleashing the evil spirit from the mirror his twenty years of imprisonment. Needles to say, the ghost therefore is not in the best of moods.

Now the freed spirit can penetrate our reality wherever a shard of the mirror maybe. Lacy's husband, disbelieving his wives story - `This is nothing but a bunch of fantasies going on only in your head!' decides to bag the pieces of the mirror and take it back to the farm. The true nightmare then begins to unfold as the angry ghost uses a variety of instruments (scissors, cutlery, pitchfork and a garden hose (?)) to kill off most of the secondary cast, cue lots of POV shots and heavy breathing on the soundtrack.

There are two sequels with great originality in their titles, Revenge of the Bogeyman & Return of the Bogeyman. I've only seen the first sequel which, like this film, also appeared on the Video Nasties list in the UK. Revenge of the Bogeyman had the potential to be a great sequel, using the 'Hollywood on Hollywood' background where Ulli Lommel plays Mickey the film director, being pressured to make a film about the events that occur in The Bogeyman. Unfortunately half of its running time is wasted recapping footage from the first film as Lacy (played once again by Lommel's then wife, Suzanna Love) relates her story. The deaths scenes in this sequel are asinine to the point of parody, featuring murders via corkscrew, barbecue tongs, garden hose (again), ladder, shaving foam (I s*** you not) and an electric toothbrush (!).

Lommel was also responsible for 'Brainwaves' (again starring Suzanna and Nicholas Love, with Hollywood veterans Tony Curtis and Vera Miles) and 'The Devonsville Horror', which featured on a double bill with The Bogeyman, released by Anchor Bay. It was also re-released by VIPCO in an 'uncut', dodgily widescreened version.

The Boogey Man

[HorrorFan1984 · 5/10 · 31 May 2020]

Dealing with a childhood trauma, Lacey and Willy must overcome their fears and survive the wrath of The Boogey Man

The movie opens up to a woman seducing a man while her two young children watch from the window, unbeknownst to them. When the kids get caught, the man ties up the male child to his bed. Lacey lets Willy loose with a large butcher knife which he uses to then kill the man who is having sex with his mother all while Lacey watches. Fast forward 20 years and we see that Lacey and Willy are all grown up, with Willie being mute from the traumatic events of that night. Lacey is also dealing with trauma of her own as she freaks out each time she sees a knife.

Her boyfriend Jake thinks it might be a good idea if she sees a hypnotist and goes back to the house where it all happened in order to move beyond the trauma. While visiting the house, Lacey sees the man from 20 years ago that was killed. After Lacey destroys the mirror, Jake decides to take it back home with them and use it in order to have Lacey face her fears. The spirit of the dead man appears to be in the mirror as it causes people to either kill themselves or get killed whenever they look into a piece of it's glass.

The Boogeyman is an odd early 80's horror flick that falls into both the slasher and supernatural horror sub genres. A lot of the movie doesn't make sense or isn't explained well enough at least. I get the angle Ulli Lommell was going for with the haunted mirror, but it fails to make a lot of sense in the film. Boogeyman takes a lot of elements from horror movies like Halloween, The Exorcist and Amityville Horror which is obvious. But blending all of those themes/sub genres together like they did in this movie left me feeling like it was a bit of a mess.

The acting was forgettable except for Suzanna Love who played the main character Lacey. She was actually not too bad in this low budget slasher. I also give The Boogeyman credit for it's overall gore and death scenes. There were some super effective killings including some neck stabbings and bloody eyes. I just expected so much more from an 80's movie with this terrific title. So much more could have been done to make this an actual scary movie.

Overall, The Boogeyman is a watchable 80's horror flick that takes many ideas from successful scary movies before it's time. I'd watch it at least once and make your own conclusions.

5/10

The Mirror Cracked from Side to Side

[BaronBl00d · 2/10 · 29 July 2005]

Just plain ridiculous film that opens with a three-year old girl and her slightly older brother being asked to stay outside while mom and boyfriend have some fun. Children spy on lovers and then boyfriend ties boy up. Sister gets huge knife to untie him and brother does the next most natural thing...he stabs the lover repeatedly whilst in bed with his mother. Guess what happens next? Yep, the movie goes forward 20 years. Haven't we seen something like this before? Yep, John Carpenter did it in Halloween and a parade of cheap imitators followed. No different here. But what is different is that this film is at least unique in what it asks its viewers to believe. We just don't have some psychopathic killer from the past...in this film, the young girl is grown up with a child living with husband, some of his family, and the brother who is now mute due to his terrible past. She begins to have recurring nightmares when a letter is received by her mother asking to visit. We never see the mother in the film. The heroine goes with husband to the old house. She sees the man her brother killed in a mirror, smashes the mirror, and releases him to the world as some bloody, crazed, asthmatic killer. When you see a sliver of the mirror, he is there. When you see a shiny bit of mirror focused in your direction, you cannot escape him. He, now after just being a guy killed in an exposition piece, is "the Boogeyman." Why? Anyway, this is where the film really gets bad, and though I could rant for hours about what's wrong, I will confess that this film had me in stitches for some of its bloody awful scenes. The first time we see a sliver we hear this loud heart beating and very heavy breathing. Director Ulli Lommel doesn't want any chance that we might not know that sliver means this invisible predator is about. A girl sticks scissors in her throat and a young boy, not knowing his sister is dead, puts his head in window and yells "watch out for the Boogeyman" and then the asthmatic sound track comes on and the window shuts down hard on the kid's neck. It was such a poor, ludicrous scene that I just broke out laughing. Other scenes were just as humorous. The fishing scene has a sliver somehow miraculously jammed on the kid's boot, and while he is fishing it goes all over the place(the reflection that is)including an abandoned house and a car a goodly distance from the house in a wooded lot. What was the kid doing on the dock...Riverdance? The ending scenes are equally bad, and this film, for me, just had no credibility. It has an interesting premise, a deadly mirror, but there are obvious cheap elements stolen from Halloween, Amityville Horror(there is a priest in this too), and other like films. Suzanna Love "stars" as Lacey the young girl. She is the director's wife. Horror veteran John Carradine plays a brief role as a psychiatrist and gives one of his more restrained performances.

For the fans of the genre...

[markovd111 · 5/10 · 23 October 2021]

While it isn't a masterpiece, this movie really doesn't deserve such a low rating. It's clearly made with love and style and even has some passable acting and effects for it's low budget. Sadly, it's nothing groundbreaking and would be quickly discarded by casuals, so that's the reason I recommend it to horror movie fans. Don't expect a masterpiece. Expect a low budget passion work that clearly has it's flaws, but can serve as a nice afternoon entertainment. 5.8/10!

Mirrors have long memories.

[Hey_Sweden · 7/10 · 25 August 2018]

Young Lacey (Natasha Schiano) is forced to watch as her brother Willy (Jay Wright) stabs their mothers' lover to death with a big, sharp kitchen knife. Also witness to the killing is a bedroom mirror. 20 years later, the now-grown-up Lacey (Suzanna Love) and Willy (Nicholas Love, Suzanna's real-life brother) are living with an aunt & uncle on their farm. Willy, although mute, seems to be dealing with this dark past better than her; in desperation, her husband Jake (Ron James) tries to make her face her fears, but he only makes things worse. Now, Lacey is afraid that the lovers' vengeful spirit has been released from the mirror and is out for blood.

Overall, the script (by producer & director Ulli Lommel, Suzanna Love (his real-life wife at the time), and David Herschel is pretty slight, and sloppy. But Lommel, who had a background in art films, still creates a funky and amusing supernatural slasher that plays like a mash-up of "The Exorcist" and "Halloween". (Not for nothing is the fact that the farmhouse is very "Amityville"-esque.) The pacing is actually pretty good, and the film is over before the viewer knows it. Once the story really kicks into gear, "The Boogey Man" is quite fun, and colourful, with some very enjoyable splatter effects (and a sense of humour). Eventually, it can't help but get rather cheesy, but the finale is a genuine hoot regardless.

The gorgeous Suzanna acts her little heart out in the lead. The supporting cast is variable; most of these no-names are obvious amateurs. Token "name" cast member John Carradine, one of those old-time veterans who said "yes" to a lot of scripts in order to keep earning a living, is kind of wasted as a psychiatrist. Nicholas L. does an okay job as the unsmiling sibling.

One point of interest is the sometimes offbeat and sometimes catchy electronic soundtrack composed by Tim Krog. It's very reminiscent, at times, of the legendary "Tubular Bells".

Lightly amusing horror fare, with some entertaining special effects. It was followed three years later by "Boogeyman II".

Seven out of 10.

Howard Grant Rules

[howardgrantrulz · 3/10 · 30 June 2009]

I have to admit that Howard Grant is my idol....he portrays the deviant man with the stocking over his head only to have his life snuffed out instantly by his lover's kid.

What gets to me is that the lover doesn't even bother to budge as young Willy stabs him repeatedly....the lover seems to take all the blows in stride and dies in style.....

Howard Grant gave a fantastic performance as 'the lover' a twisted boyfriend who bound and gags his girlfriends kid before resuming their 'compromising position' in her bed.

Obviously it is not something that you see everyday....a man with a stocking over his head....and getting killed by his girlfriend's kid. It is quite obvious that Willy was traumatized by the whole incident 'that night'.

That is why 'that night' is not something to be discussed freely with Willy because it was the end of 'the lovers' life. and the end of their relationship with their mother. Obviously she shows no pity or remorse or compassion as her beloved 'lover' ties her son to the bed and gags him as she stands by the doorway drinking heavily.

Now I can truly understand why Willy was rendered mute 'ever since that night'.

Entertainingly stylish low-budget horror.

[lost-in-limbo · 7/10 · 7 August 2020]

Other than "THE DEVONSVILLE TERROR" (which I didn't particularly care for). I'm fairly new to Ulli Lommel's work, but I gotta say the shoe-string budgeted "THE BOOGEYMAN" was rather a nice surprise. In spite of its stilted nature (especially the scenes involving John Carradine's psychobabble), there's something rather interesting, creative, visually enticing and uncanny around its process of a supernatural slasher. Maybe even a pioneer for the sub-genre, as what felt like a thematic blueprint, still with some slasher influences, eventually goes down its own path. How the plot goes about it early, I thought it was going to be more traditional, where we get a psychological based psychopathic breakdown (the brother), and one's attempt (the sister) to overcome their demons, but once the mirror (the evil entity's source of power) comes into the picture. There begins the supernatural interference, and it doesn't hold back.

An invisible force, POV shots, heavy breathing, floating objects, glowing neon special effects and a growing death toll, as one by one people's fates end in a rather horrific, and jolting demise. These victims just seemed to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. It's nothing out of the ordinary, can come across as crude, and at this point the story does begin to get sloppy in the details, yet it manages to pack a sting. Lommel's low-scale aesthetics do construct some stylish usage from its leering camerawork, moody lighting, stately rural backdrop (with a farmhouse resembling "AMITYVILLE HORROR") and minimal set-pieces. But the real talking point is that screwy electronic music score. It perfectly adds to the strange, traumatic vibe of the escalating insanity of the situations. Something that once it starts definitely won't leave your head. The acting is quite sound, and Suzanna Love shows she has quite a set of lungs on her.

Apparently the filmmakers didn't think "The Guy With Panty Hose On His Head" was a scary enough title

[happyendingrocks · 4/10 · 4 September 2010]

This derivative little mess has a few things going for it, but ultimately crumbles under the weight of its own flimsy logic and silliness.

Quick plot summary: A little boy murders his mother's abusive boyfriend, who somehow turns from a cruel jerk into a demonic evil spirit that returns years later to get revenge on the now-grown boy by killing random characters who have nothing to do with the murder. The malevolent force's path of vengeance is a bit hard to follow, especially since the focal point of the film is the boy's sister, who didn't actually participate in the killing. The murder is precipitated by the boy being tied to his bed as punishment for watching mother and boyfriend make out. It's important to note that before said make-out session, mother puts her pantyhose over boyfriend's head, which he continues to wear throughout the make-out session (safe sex was apparently practiced much differently in the early 80's). Sister cuts brother loose with a knife that he then uses to kill Panty Hose Head. The killing happens in front of mother's bedroom mirror, which captures Panty Hose Head's essence and blesses him with the ability to travel to any mirror he wants, possess people, and force them to stab themselves with scissors. His unexplained transformation also imbues him with telekinetic powers that allow him to execute strangers with clever death tools like a window sill and a car door. Did I mention that he goes on to possess sister and make her talk like Linda Blair? That's also very important to the story, so I'm sorry it took me a minute to share that. Some other stuff happens, and there's a little boy with a piece of broken mirror supernaturally bonded to the bottom of his shoe, and that phantom shard glows and pulsates and kills off a couple of ancillary characters by forcing them them to French kiss each other. Also, the now-grown brother tries to strangle some woman whose only purpose in the film is to be almost strangled for reasons unknown. There's a therapist in there somewhere too, but other than setting up a scene where sis does her Blair voice, I'm not sure why he's there either. Oh, and a chunk of glass from a shattered mirror vibrates and cuts the fingers of anyone who picks it up, but instead of letting go of the glass and not getting cut, the multiple people who pick up the glass choose to keep bleeding and shaking while they try to fit the piece back into the broken mirror. Oh, and a shard of this glass affixes itself to one of sister's eyes, which glows red or green depending on something that's never explained, and then she levitates and makes her husband bleed out of his eyes, but it turns out he's fine and the blood we see coming out of his eyes is actually just a couple of smears on his face in the next scene. And then a mirror gets thrown into a well and promptly explodes. This isn't a very quick plot summary, is it? Let's just stop there.

Nearly everything about the film is borrowed from far superior works. The arbitrary title seems like an attempt to cash in on the success of Halloween (this is made even more obvious when you see the familiar "child's hand gripping a butcher knife" camera shot at the beginning). The pointless insertion of a priest who comes to investigate the strange happenings is an obvious nod to The Exorcist, as is the afore-mentioned voice our lead heroine adopts throughout the film. Even the house most of the film takes place in is only a coat of white paint away from being a doppelganger for the infamous Amityville Horror estate.

The film builds slowly, but since the clunky execution of the plot isn't all that intriguing, the meager splatter thrown at us for a payoff isn't nearly enough to justify the journey there. You'll probably decide this whole affair is nonsense long before you get to the goriest scene in the film, wherein our previously discussed clergyman gets repeatedly stabbed in the back by kitchen cutlery... which causes fountains of blood to flow from his scalp (?!).

On the plus side, there are some nice atmospheric touches, so even though there isn't any real tension to speak of, the film LOOKS like it should have some. The cast seems to take the goofy material as seriously as they can, so the performances are all serviceable. Plus, the music is pretty nifty.

Aside from that, you probably don't need to spend 80 minutes trying to make sense of everything I've discussed here. If you do, the door is blatantly left open for a sequel, so you're probably committing yourself to an additional 80 minutes as well. Life is far too short, so let's just say I watched this movie so you don't have to and leave it that.

As for Boogey Man 2: The Return Of Panty Hose Head, you're on your own there.

Very strange film. Not easy to review!

[Maciste_Brother · 8/10 · 28 January 2003]

Spoilers

Is THE BOOGEYMAN a good movie? Not really. Is it a bad movie? Well, not really. Is it a strange movie? Oh, yeah!

THE BOOGEYMAN was most likely green-lighted after the massive success of HALLOWEEN. So obviously, the Ulli Lommel film starring the beautiful Suzanna Love contains many elements that closely resemble the John Carpenter horror film. What's odd, though, is that THE BOOGEYMAN is also an amalgamation of several other horror films, like THE EXORCIST, AMITYVILLE HORROR and slashers in general.

The story is about two kids, Willy and Lacey, who kill their mother's kinky lover, who is abusive to them. This murder happens in front of a mirror and, somehow, the man's soul haunts it. 20 years later, the two kids are now young adults (played by Nicholas and Suzanna Love, real life brother and sister?) and are haunted by that tragic night. Willy hasn't spoken a word since he stabbed the man and Lacey is haunted by kinky, terrifying dreams. Oddly enough, Lacey seems to be more troubled by the murder than Willy. When seeing a psychiatrist, Lacey is suddenly possessed by the dead man's spirit (or evil in general?). And when they visit the house where the murder happened, only Lacey goes there. During this visit, Lacey sees the mirror again and inside the mirror, the "boogeyman" is seen walking towards her. Terrified, Lacey breaks the mirror and basically "releases" the boogeyman's murderous rage (BTW, this is the best scene in the movie. Very effective). Lacey's husband brings the broken mirror to their house (why?!?!) but leaves behind a shard at the house, which becomes "alive" and causes death to those who are living in that house.

Anyone coming in contact with any piece of the mirror is killed (mostly in clunky ways) or, in Lacey's case, becomes possessed and levitates. Why?!?! I dunno. At the end, there's an exorcism of sorts, with a priest coming to the rescue. Why?!?! I dunno.

Nothing makes much sense in THE BOOGEYMAN. For example, why is Willy scared of mirrors when he's the one who killed the man and didn't witness the killing in the mirror like Lacey did? The reason why the murdered man becomes a supernatural killer is murky, or why he haunts the mirror (and not a chair or a bed) and why is Lacey possessed from time to time. Had the film shown that the murdered man had supernatural powers to begin with might have made a bit more sense. Or that the brother and sister's pent-up terror is responsible for his coming back would also have been a bit more interesting. As is, the killer's raison d'être and intentions are unclear, to say the least.

The direction by Ulli Lommel is very peculiar. I can't quite put my finger on it. Is it the way the actors move about? The editing? The action, which always seems to break midway through a scene? The odd camera angles? The unfocused attention to details? The list goes on and on. I don't know if this was intentional (I doubt it) but it's different.

When you combine all of this mishmash of several movies with the very odd direction (which at times is goofy); the good to terrible acting from the cast; and the couple of questionable scenes, like when the boy is attached to the bed (which is probably why this film became a Nasty in the UK), the final product ain't stellar and yet, in the end, it's unique, in its own peculiar way. It's never really scary (most of the action happens in the daytime) and yet the film does have a undeniably creepy feel to it. The overall creepy mood of the film is achieved by the music and the excellent cinematography, which is by far the best thing in THE BOOGEYMAN. They really don't "shoot" films like this anymore.

Neat little film with an interesting pulp horror premise

[InjunNose · 7/10 · 18 April 2017]

"The Boogey Man" won't change your life, but if you've got eighty minutes to fill on a lazy summer evening, you could do a lot worse. The story revolves around pretty, charismatic Suzanna Love and her brother, who suddenly find themselves tormented by memories of a traumatic past. When they were children, the brother killed their mother's abusive lover...who comes back to haunt the siblings in just about the oddest conceivable manner. Derivative in spots, with a few subpar performances, but Love ably carries this relentlessly eerie film; horror icon John Carradine has a cameo as a psychiatrist who tries to convince our heroine that there is a rational explanation for the increasingly strange events in her life. Not the stuff of classics, but pretty good of its type.

A movie about a killer mirror. You heard me!

[tacomunky303 · 3/10 · 22 November 2012]

So, what could I classify this movie as? Well, it's a mash-up movie. A mash-up of Amityville Horror (using a house that looks identical), Halloween (a child POV stabbing scene) and the Waltons. The story is, as kids, Lacy and Jake had a mom that was less than nurturing. Her boyfriend is trying to have sex with her and the kids are looking in through the window, apparently locked out. So they get punished. Makes sense. The boyfriend wears a stocking on his head, and then is stabbed by Jake, a-la Michael Myers.

Fast forward to, uhm, the future. Jake is now a mute, who collects knives and has a pet tarantula. I'd definitely want a mute guy who killed as a child to collect knives. Probably great for therapy.

Speaking of therapy, John Carradine shows up to half-act his way through another paycheck, as Lacy's psychiatrist. She has flashbacks of the murder and starts acting like a demon, to which Carradine responds, "Ok. You can wake up now." Unfazed. What a bad-ass.

So at this point I was wondering, how did this become a Video Nasty? I've learned my lesson from listening to Lampyman101's Youtube reviews of the Video Nasties that most of the time, the DPP had no clue what they were doing when prosecuting movies. And for a little while, this seemed like the case. Then, all at once, chaos and mayhem.

Lacy's husband takes her to the house the murder took place in, which is inhabited by an apple munching girl and her siblings, one of which being an obnoxious little brat who you prey, sickeningly, will somehow get killed. Lacy sees the mirror and starts having flashbacks, so she smashes it with a chair, and her husband inexplicably puts the pieces in a bag to put back together at home and hang on the wall like some sort of prize.

This apparently unleashes the demon inside the mirror, who promptly rips the shirt off of one girl and forces her to stab herself, then slams the window on the neck of the obnoxious kid (mini-cheer!), then smacks the remaining girl in the head with the bathroom mirror. So we go from no violence to boobs and violence run amuck! Huh.

So what we have is a killer mirror movie, a mirror which has a heartbeat similar to the demos of Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon." It tries to kill Jake using a pitchfork but fails miserably. Lacy's husband puts the mirror together but a piece gets stuck on his son's shoe, just as he and Lacy head to the lake to fish.

So now what we have is a killer mirror shard movie. And some random disposable teens, one of which is wearing a "Triumph" tee shirt. Yeah 80's! He's unfortunately killed by a flying knife, which his girlfriend then french kisses. It has to be seen to be believed.

So Lacy comes home and is almost raped by the demon mirror, as her kid wonders towards the over-sized well the family keeps in the back yard. To recover, she locks herself in a dark lit room. Seems logical to me. At this point, out of nowhere, John Carradine's character reappears, basically to say, "This script is ridiculous! I refuse to believe anything that's going on in it!" So a priest shows up, just as Lacy's family is being killed by pitchforks and garden hoses. The mirror gets a piece of itself lodged in Lacy's eye, and makes her talk like a demon. She hits the priest in the back, causing massive head bleeding (?), but eventually, the mirror is ripped off the wall and thrown into the well where it explodes.

Oh yeah. And Jake, predictably, says a few words and is no longer mute. Wait...didn't he kill someone? What happened with that? Uhm...

So this movie is a train wreck. I can only recommend it to "Nasty" fans or fans of weird, bizarre 80's horror. _________________________ For all of the Horror Banana's reviews, visit http://morozov924.hubpages.com/

"Timmy, Where Are My Barber Scissors?!"...

[azathothpwiggins · 2 October 2020]

After a flashback opening, complete with child abuse and brutal murder (in blatant HALLOWEEN fashion), THE BOOGEY MAN shifts to 20 years later. Willy (Nicholas Love) and his sister, Lacey (Suzanna Love) are now adults. Willy is unable to speak, but Lacey seems just fine. Having left their ordeal behind them, they live a seemingly idyllic life on their uncle's farm.

However, Lacey suffers from nightmares, causing her husband to take her back to her childhood home to face her fears. This isn't a good idea. A supernatural event takes place involving an old mirror. The creep factor skyrockets from this point, as a great eeevil is unleashed to cause death and destruction! A priest is called in, and the paranormal $h!t hits the fan!

Made almost entirely of grade-A cheeeze-corn, TBM is still very enjoyable, in spite of sub-par acting, dreadful dialogue, and a laughable plot. Several "scary" scenes evoke more giggles than chills. To be fair, it does have a semi-macabre atmosphere, and the story is original.

Co-stars John Carradine in an extended cameo role as Dr. What's-his-name...

Excruciating

[ModKuraika · 2/10 · 26 October 2010]

Dismal tone, terrible effects (for that time), cheesy acting. One of the worst films I have ever witnessed and never wish to view again. Seems like the film was made on a pocket change budget, I will give the director credit for trying, but this is a gigantic failure of epic proportions. Not scary, nor intimidating, nor intriguing, nor artistic in any sense of the terms. I urge everyone to steer clear away from this garbage. I wanted to stop the film as soon as I saw the stabbing (which looked like he was stabbing a pillow) scene but my tenacity to always watch from start to finish overcame me. I regret doing so.

The movie depicts a little girl cutting her brother free from his binds after their mother's lover tied him up. The boy then murders the man in front of a mirror, and the mirror is haunted by the man he killed. Loving this so far, eh? Over time a shard of the mirror causes weird phenomenon among those it is closest around, ending with their impossible and cheesy demises. In the end, they run it under a faucet after a priest has blessed it, turning it into holy water, and apparently ridding the curse from the shard or some other such nonsense.

But wait... Earlier in the film, a boy had stepped on an alternative piece of the mirror and it got stuck on his shoe, and at the end of the film, it lets up. As they walk away into the bleak conclusion, the other piece unconvincingly glows red. Dun dun dun, I guess.

This movie is terrible, I hated everything about it, the premise, the acting, the effects, the ending, everything. It saves itself from a 1/10 only because... while it is dreadful, it is original.

The (Boogey-) Man in the Mirror!

[Coventry · 5/10 · 7 November 2006]

Ulli Lommel's "The Boogeyman" is a reasonably creepy and atmospheric 80's horror effort, but ultimately lacking since it expects you to believe nonsense about supernaturally possessed mirrors and trapped murderous spirits homing inside them. As a downbeat and gruesome shocker, however, the film is much more efficient than most of its colleagues on the notorious "video-nasty" list. Personally, I didn't really care who or what was responsible for the slaughters, since they were all extremely graphic and slowly built up with detailed tension. By the way, any horror movie that has the courage to feature a cold-blooded child's murder is a winner in my book. The story, as mentioned before, is very inane and actually even a bit too overly pretentious for its own good. Lacey and her mute brother William (well, he's not really a mute, he just decided to stop talking at one point) are living on their relatives' farm ever since Willy killed his mother's crazed lover at young age. Lacey witnessed the murder in a mirror and never really recovered from the trauma. When she returns to her parental house and breaks the mirror, the dead bloke's vengeful spirit is set free and most anxious to go on a wild killing spree. As difficult as it may sound, you should pay as less attention to the illogical plot as possible and fully enjoy the well-crafted gory moments & grim ambiance. The acting's far above average, with also a memorable guest appearance of horror veteran John Carradine as Lacey's not-so-helpful psychiatrist. With a slightly more plausible script, or maybe just a good old-fashioned killer of flesh & blood, "The Boogeyman" could have been a genuine 80's classic. Now it's more like a guilty pleasure.

mirror, mirror on the wall

[movieman_kev · 2/10 · 10 April 2008]

Ulli Lommel directed this rancid little horror film about a couple of kids who kill their neglectful mother's abusive boyfriend. Years later the now grown kids, the boy now a mute man, the girl now a somewhat hot woman, return to their childhood house to find that the bedroom mirror has become possessed by the evil that it witnessed all those years ago. Poor poor Ulli, he's to horror films as Uwe Boll is to video game adaptations and while this film is miles above the utter drivel he'd later churn out, that's a sad testament to how awful he's gotten at writing rather than a praise of this one. As apart from one bizarre yet amusing death sequence, this movie is simply unwatchable.

My Grade: D-

Where I saw it: Fearnet on Demand

Too many Halloween like aspirations at times, but genuinely creepy, and well made.

[callanvass · 7/10 · 22 March 2011]

(Credit IMDb) A young girl witnesses her brother murder a man through a reflection in a mirror. Twenty years later the mirror is shattered, freeing his evil spirit, which seeks revenge for his death.

Horror fans are often mixed on this movie. They either like it, dislike it or even go as far as to hate it. It moves slowly at times but like the movie it was so obviously influenced by, Halloween it builds up the suspense terrifically, even adding in some great death scenes in the process. The characters are better developed then one could expect for an Italian horror movie, nothing memorable but good enough to keep me caring. I liked the background story of the children too, especially the trauma in Willy's case. It also adds some Exorcist like elements too with the Priest and supernatural happenings. The musical score is chilling, and adds to the suspense. I enjoyed myself, and find it to be an underrated 80's Horror gem. Great effort by Ulli Lommel

Performances Suzanna Love makes for an effective lead, at least by Italian acting standards anyway. John Carradine is a favorite of mine, but to say his performance is good here, would be lying. He gets a paycheck, but is wooden in doing so, entirely unconvincing. Ron James is wooden in his role as well. Nicholas Love was creepy as the Brother. Llewelyn Thomas is creepy as the Priest, and I'll always remember being creeped out by his shot with blood dripping down his forehead on the movie cover.

Bottom line it's not perfect, but it's a prime example of why I love Italian Horror, suspenseful, well made, and even terrifying at times. You could do a lot worse then this part slasher, part possession film. Recommended if you can find it, sadly it's been banned as a Video Nasty in some areas. One thing's for sure, I won't look at Mirror's the same way again after Mirrors, and now this movie.

7/10

Instantly forgettable video nasty

[tomgillespie2002 · 3/10 · 6 April 2012]

Like many horror films back in the 1980's (and even today), The Boogeyman takes its influence from John Carpenter's landmark in horror, Halloween (1978). While Michael Myers was the physical embodiment of the 'boogeyman' legend (I say legend, but it is more a term given to whatever scares little children at night), Ulli Lommel's shockingly s**t video nasty goes the extra mile and adds a supernatural spin to the story in the shape of a haunted mirror.

The quite effective opening has a young girl and boy spying on their slutty mother as she seduces a man with a stocking on his head. They are spotted, and the man ties the boy to a bed while they have sex in another room. The girl cuts him loose with a large knife, and the boy then uses it to murder the man. Years later, the boy Willy (Nicholas Love) is mute, and the girl, Lacey (Suzanna Love), is psychologically troubled by the events of her childhood. Her psychiatrist Dr. Warren (John Carradine, looking like he's hoping nobody will notice his presence in the film) advises her husband Jake (Ron James) that she should go back to her childhood home to confront her demons. She does, and while there she sees the man wearing the stocking in the bedroom mirror, which she smashes. Jake pieces together the mirror and takes it home, when strange deaths start occurring.

Yes, this is as daft as it sounds. Horror movies have long made killers out of strange things (tomatoes, clowns, a house), but a mirror that influences suicides? Mmm. It's one of the strangest choices for a killer 'bad guy' I've come across in horror since the strangely likable Death Bed: The Bed That Eats (1977). If anything, this at least separates it from other mundane entries into the slasher genre, but the film struggles along trying to juggle a story a sibling connection, psychological torment, and standard stalk-and-slash. There is a half- decent death involving a 'long kiss', but apart from this, it is instantly forgettable.

www.the-wrath-of-blog.blogspot.com

Creepy n atmospheric at times.

[Fella_shibby · 6/10 · 26 May 2022]

I first saw this in the late 80s on a vhs n found it to be pretty disturbing and creepy.

Of course as a kid i didn't notice the blatant plagiarism but simply enjoyed the movie.

Revisited it recently n was kinda wtf man. It has shades of Amityville Horror, Halloween n a bit of The Exorcist regarding the exorcism.

The movie is still creepy n atmospheric but it has too many silly n wtf moments.

I always found Susanna Love beautiful but her filmography is too short.

Now lets talk bah some wtf stuff.

The mother's lover aint some voodoo specialist or some satanic cultist serial killer but his spirit gets trapped inside some ordinary mirror. Why n how, its never shown.

Lacey's husband Jake took the broken mirror n placed it in his home n tried fixing the broken pieces? Weird fella. Now who wud do that?

How come the mirror stayed intact for twenty years n none of the new owners tried to get rid of an old stuff?

Lacey's brother does the act from Of Mice and Men, he tries to kill a girl who seduces him in the barn. Now whether he gets possessed or he is simply a psycho is never shown.

In the end its never shown whether the priest survived or not?

What happened to the injured Jake?

And why wud they show Lacey visiting just a single grave when both her uncle n aunt died?

Why Jake didn't accompany her?

Till the end they never showed what happened to the mother and its just assumed that she is on her deathbed via the letter.

Nightmare...don't think so.

[Ky-D · 4/10 · 2 October 2005]

More like a languid summer day dream. Boring story, limp film making, bad acting...just not much to brag about here.

A young girl witnesses a murder and gets traumatized and her brother goes nuts and an evil spirit has possessed a mirror and...ah who cares? Most viewers won't even finish it anyways.

Cheap production values do nothing to help a story in dire need of an interesting event...any interesting event. Nothing about the script is put together well; from the dialogue to the plot "twists" it is all amateur stuff.

Acting is on par with the script (ie: it sucks). It is clear why none of these thespians ever moved onto bigger better things. The only noteworthy player is the lead actress, who while not even remotely a good actor is at least quite attractive.

The only positive element in the film (or the opposite if you are a moralist) are the murder scenes. Cheesy though they may be, they are packed with plenty of running crimson and have an unpleasant kind of sadism to them, even including some pointless sexual tones.

What we have here is a bad film that gained notoriety by being black listed in England as a video nasty and would have (should have) disappeared long ago if moral purists would have just left it alone.

4/10

Creepy and atmospheric

[Nixshows · 9/10 · 15 July 2005]

I was just telling somebody about this not too long ago and they thought I was talking about that horrible new BOOGEYMAN from this year. Anyway I haven't seen this in a couple of years but as soon as I track down a DVD I will.It's nothing like that other one I mentioned.It's better.

From the first scene where a boy and his sister's mother is in a very kinky bondage session with her boyfriend.The boy Will is tied down to the bed only to get free and eventually stab and kill his mother's lover(Boogeyman).This is all witnessed by the mirror which the Boogeyman comes through in spirit.I know it sounds weird but this is actually a creepy,and somewhat scary flick.It has a certain grim atmosphere that reminded me a lot of the original 'Halloween'.The musical score that accompanies it is also good.There's also more than a few deaths,some gory.I think one of the reasons it might not be that known is because of the weird factor.But that doesn't change the effectiveness of this.I recommend checking this out or maybe even a purchase.

Sometimes Imaginative

[laurieanngermann · 6/10 · 4 October 2021]

The ghost of their mother's abusive lover returns through a mirror to terrorize a brother and sister after they've grown up.

The Boogey Man is a lot like a mix of Halloween, The Exorcist, and The Amityville Horror blended together but a lot of the elements haven't fully dissolved yet. What you end up getting is a sometimes tasty but never completely satisfying horror film with some great elements.

Heavily derivative, this 1980s slasher still packs a gory punch

[Leofwine_draca · 5/10 · 12 December 2015]

After the surprise success of Carpenter's HALLOWEEN, about a hundred imitations quickly followed between 1979 and 1982. Some of these, like Friday THE 13TH, even spawned their own imitations. However, one of these slashers took events in a slightly different direction; it still had the same gruesome murders, but this time the killer was trapped inside a mirror. This film was THE BOGEY MAN.

In the opening scenes, the HALLOWEEN influence is clear, with a young boy murdering his mother's lover. The murders are all staged with relish, and most of them are absurd enough to be funny. The acting is substandard (what do you expect from an '80s slasher?) and the music is ripped straight off HALLOWEEN, with the familiar tinkling tune and point of view killer shots. A character is killed with kitchen cutlery in a scene ripped from CARRIE, while a girl speaks in a demonic voice, just like in THE EXORCIST. These are just two of the scenes you'll spot from other films.

It's good to see John Carradine in another role, but like most of his latter day films, he's only in it for a few minutes. It's enough. THE BOGEY MAN enjoys the notorious reputation of having been banned as a 'video nasty' in this enlightened country of ours, and therefore there is a kind of dirty, gritty feel to be had while watching it. It's not in the least bit disturbing as the video cover would have you believe though ("However, some may still consider the content to be unsuitable viewing material, and find certain scenes to be disturbing or offensive. IF IN DOUBT, DO NOT VIEW"). Vipco certainly made their films sound interesting, it's just a shame that the version they released is the cut one. Still, THE BOGEY MAN is a slasher with a slightly more inventive premise than most, and it passes the time quite amiably. Just don't expect it to be another HALLOWEEN when watching...