The Boogeyman (1980) — Triskaidekafiles (2024)

THE BOOGEYMAN

WRITER: Ulli Lommel

DIRECTOR: Ulli Lommel

STARRING: Suzanna Love as Lacey
Ron James as Jake
John Carradine as Dr. Warren
Nicholas Love as Willy
Raymond Boyden as Kevin

QUICK CUT: Some deep trauma resurfaces after a pair of siblings receive a letter from their estranged mother.

THE MORGUE

Lacey - A young woman, a wife, a mother, who may seem put together, but there are cracks around the edges hinting at secrets long buried.

Willy - The brother of Lacey, who wears his trauma a bit more on his sleeve. He’s not spoken in 15 years, but he is protective of his family.

Kevin - Lacey’s son, who loves getting into trouble.

Jake - A local sheriff/deputy, who is married to Lacey. When things get weird, he’s reluctant to believe his wife, but he will still do what he must to protect them, even if he doesn’t believe her fully.

The Killer - A malevolent force trapped in a mirror for 15 years, and now that he’s free, he will have revenge.

TRISK ANALYSIS: Welcome back, Triskelions! September is here, and I am dropping in a new franchise for the fun of it, The Boogeyman! No, not that one. This is a flick from 1980, and it is...something. So let's get into it.

The movie starts off in the past, probably...late fifties or early sixties, if I had to guess? As a woman is flirting with her man, all while her two kids are watching. She slips off one of her stockings, tugs it over his head, and that's when they notice the kids.

So the man chases them off, and ties the son, Willy, down to his bed, with a gag in his mouth. So just a whole weird BDSM family here, I guess. Lacey finds a knife, cuts her brother free, and he takes the knife to go deal with their not quite stepdad.

Lacey watches in a mirror as Willy takes the knife, stabbing the guy repeatedly. And I am torn. On the one hand, I really do not like that he tied the kid down. But...is that really worthy of murder? It's justifiable, but only just. Oh, later in the movie it’s revealed he hit the kids, so totally justified, in my opinion.

We jump ahead to the present, so 1980 or so, and find a grown up Lacey and Willy. She's seemingly grown up well enough, with a husband and child, but Willy has become stunted, and not said a word since that fateful stabby day, and seems permanently morose.

They're staying with their aunt and uncle, Helen and Ernest, and probably have since way back when. They help around the farm, and everything seems as well as can be.

Around then is when a local priest comes to visit, and this horrible buzzing picks up. Godsdamned cicadas.

They receive a letter from their mother, whom they haven't spoken to in who knows how long. She's old and sick, and not long for this world, and would like to see her children one last time before the end.

However, this plot goes nowhere, and is barely even mentioned again. The only bearing it has on the plot, is that it stirs up old feelings in the two children, but especially Lacey who isn't keeping as much together as she pretends.

There's also a moment with a carving knife that cause us to visibly see concern on both of their faces. For a horror movie made in 1980, with both the knife and the letter from mom, it deals surprisingly well with triggers and dealing with trauma.

We watch as Willy sharpens a knife over a woman tied to a bed, but just as he's about to do the deed...Lacey wakes up screaming because it WAS ALL A DREAM! But I'll allow it, because this is a movie about trauma.

Lacey's husband Jake says he thinks it's a good idea that they go visit their mother, and stop by their old home, so she can put all these old demons to rest.

They do pay a visit to Dr. John Carradine, to get his advice, and maybe to try and convince her to do the right thing.

Suddenly, she starts growling in Danny Torrance’s Redrum voice, until Dr. Carradine brings her out of it.

The doctor tells Jake that they should revisit the house, so she can remember it as it is now, instead of have it forever haunt her mind with the way it was, and all those memories. Well, good thing that was already the plan, doc!

Meanwhile, a woman pays a visit to Willy in the barn, and hooboy, she likes them strong silent types, because she comes onto him HARD.

But since Willy has never really learned about women and sex, and his sole teacher in that regard was from watching the man he stabbed to death, he reacts badly, and begins choking her. I mean, she might be into that, but you should always check first!

He sees his reflection though, and stops himself before doing anything too permanent, save for some psychological trauma.

Willie was stopped by seeing his reflection, and after that, he started painting them all black to hide the reflections, and save his shame.

On this episode of Black Mirror, Lacey arrives at their old home though, and meet some of the new residents, a trio of kids just chilling until their parents come home.

As they wander around, they find themselves in the bathroom, where Timmy jumps out from behind the shower curtain shouting, BOOGEYMAN! And it is top tier ridiculous. But I guess there's your title, folks!

Lacey follows the kid, ends up in a bedroom, and spies the old mirror from That Night. And laying on the bed is her mom's boyfriend...but only in the reflection. Is it real? Supernatural? Only in Lacey's guilt ridden mind?

Regardless of any of that, Lacey shrieks and smashes the mirror. Jake stops her, and they gather up the pieces to take the mirror home with them, because that makes sense.

Jake takes it back to the farm, hangs it in the middle of the kitchen so everyone can see it all day every day, especially those who have special aversions to reflections, and pieces the shards together as best he can.

Now, I know I just mocked the symbology with the half black mirror hiding Willy's reflection only but...even before this point, the movie has used mirrors and reflections a LOT, and to great effect, and I genuinely love it?

Anyways, they left one big shard behind at the old house, and it starts glowing red. It must be angry all its friends left and went across the river.

Oh, and one of the girls at the house mentions that, "Whenever you break a mirror, it frees everything that it's seen" so I'm sure THAT will end well.

We spend a lot of time with the other family, as the angry spirit of Stockinghead is now free to roam the Earth and seek his revenge.

He begins with one of the girls, forcing her to stab herself in the neck with a pair of scissors. And then when Timmy busts in through the window with another shout of BOOGEYMAN! the spirit drops the window down on him, crushing his windpipe.

The third kid finds the shard of glass, picks it up, and tries to dispose of it. For some reason, she finds it hard to let go of, and eventually when she tosses it in the sink, it bursts into flames.

Also, she gets bonked in the head with the mirrored door from the medicine cabint, and I guess she's dead, because the killer isn't gonna just leave someone alive, I guess?

Meanwhile, we actually get some more scenes with Dr. Carradine as he puts forth that by destroying the mirror, the thing central to all their trauma, they have exorcised their demons, but oh. Oh it's only just beginning.

Back at the farm, the bag of shards and glass dust roll up like a papery tumbleweed to the barn where Willy is sweeping up. He picks up the bag and dumps out the contents, and this is the worst game of Ding Dong Ditch ever.

The nearby pitchfork rises, as the shards have carried the killer there, because I guess that makes sense? And it tries to get ready to murder his murderer.

Lacey interrupts however, and saves his life by pulling him out of the way at the last second.

To take their mind off things, Jake suggests that Lacey take Kevin down to the lake to relax, but a shard of mirror flies off and gets stuck to the kid's shoe, sure to cause future problems.

Willy fondles the mirror, and cuts himself and, SIGH do not bleed on the cursed objects! Rule number one!

Down at the lake, mom and her kid are fishing, and off on the distant shore, there's a group of horny kids that end up like many horny kids do in these movies. The sunlight reflects off the shard on Kevin's foot, and ends up taking care of one of the couples.

Andy gets an ice pick to the back of the head and out his mouth, and when Jenny comes by to see what he's up to, the spirit shoves her in the car, right onto his face, and she somehow dies in a seeming kiss. Despite uh, there is literally no way that pick was even out deep enough to tickle her tonsils.

Back at the farm, uncle Ernest notices another shard, and tells Jake to pick up the dangerous thing, just as his wife and child return home.

As he tries to put it back, fingers bleeding and WHAT DID I JUST SAY ABOUT BLEEDING??, and outside, Lacey's shirt starts getting ripped apart, as the Phantom Breather goes after her.

Once the piece is put back in place, the attack stops, so...I GUESS the idea is, that when the mirror is whole, the spirit is trapped. But...the mirror ISN'T whole, it's missing the piece on the kid's shoe, the one that burst into flames, and the few others washed away in the barn. And even then, tiny fragments. Also, the spirit can seem to push pieces out to free himself and travel around, so...the rules are KINDA clear, but kinda dodgy as all get out too. I can just about accept it in that having it mostly together keeps him mostly contained, but he can force himself out with enough effort.

Lacey is sure it's her mom's boyfriend, freed from the mirror, but rational sheriff Jake tries to convince her he's been dead for 20 years. YES Jake, that is exactly the concern here!

Meanwhile, Ernest phones up Father Riley to come over and get rid of the spirit, because let's just sprinkle in some Exorcist vibes too.

Jake heads back to Dr. Carradine's so wow, even more with him! Nice! The doctor tries to be rational, but Jake is insis...Did you not watch your own scene not two minutes ago?? Make up your mind!

So we're in the final act, the priest has arrived, and Helen and Ernest head out to close up the barn, which leaves the rest to fill Riley in on the rest of the movie.

The priest touches the mirror, and like a giant reflective tap light, it begins to glow, bathing everything in red like the movie wishes it was directed by Dario Argento.

Jake and the father head to the barn to get the others back, but discover Ernest pinned to the rafters, and Helen tied up and somehow dead from garden hose.

Lacey is acting weird while making dinner, despite her family being more dead tonight than it had been, and when Jake grabs her, he finds a shard of glass over one of her eyes, and she blasts him with bright green light, making his own eyes bleed.

Father Riley returns with a look of "...the f*ck..." on his face, seeing true evil for probably the first time in his life.

Winds begin to howl inside, Lacey floats into the air, and the priest confronts the restless spirit with a cross. This uh...this movie really goes wild in the last ten minutes, huh folks?

The father tries to pull the shard away from Lacey, but he gets several giant shards of his own all embedded in his back, as the spirit tries to stop him.

And this is the culminating moment, when Willy can finally pay back his sister, and he regains his voice, shouting out her name. Or that woulda been nice, but all he does is shout Lacey.

It's still the priest that pulls the shard though, and drops it in the sink, where even that bursts into flames. So uh, for some reason, mirror shards possessed of evil, plus water, equals fire?

Willy actually puts this together, and he and Jake take the mirror out to the well, tossing it down, and more fire!

Some time later, they're at a cemetery saying goodbye to everyone murdered because of them, before moving on.

Willy's pretty talkative now, and Kevin is busy whistling past the gravestones, and eventually leaves behind that pesky shard on his foot.

As the credits roll, it begins blinking red, because we can't just have a single satisfying ending, we need to set up sequel bait.

Missed opportunities of making Willy a red herring with all them knives and his behaviour, plus not giving him a proper redemption arc.

TRISK ASSESSMENT

Video: It looks pretty darn good for the time period.

Audio: Some decent stuff here, nice surround, and decently immersive.

Body Count: A respectable pile of corpses this week.

1- Willie stabs mommy's boyfriend, almost eight minutes deep.
2 - Jane stabs herself while possessed
3 - Timmy gets crunched under a window.
4 - The third kid gets conked on the head, probably dead.
5 - Andy gets ice picked in the back of the head.
6 - And then the ghost shoves Jenny in, inexplicably killing her.
7 - Ernest pinned up in the barn
8 - And in a closet is Helen tied up with hose
9 - Priest gets backstabbed with shards

Best Corpse: Gotta go with Jane, the stabbing of her neck is pretty harrowing, and one of the few deaths we get to enjoy.

Blood Type - C-: Despite being a movie about shards of mirrors people keep picking up, there is surprisingly little blood. A few dribbles when people grab a shard, but for the most part, save for that scissors scene, it’s very bloodless.

Sex Appeal: Nothin’.

Drink Up! Every time there is a needless reflection.

Movie Review: I…love this movie? It’s got some good layers to it, I love when these otherwise silly horror movies work in some psychology, and the triggers and trauma is some nice depth to the movie. The acting is decent enough, and yeah, the rules and plot get a bit dodgy, but the story is clear enough, and if you go along for the ride, it’s not that bad at all. It lags a bit here and there, but it’s so unique that I truly enjoy it. I only wish it had maybe used Willy for more of a red herring, with his behaviour and collecting knives because they remind him of the past. Also, if he had more of a character arc to pay off, like he did pay back his sister for saving him, by saving her. Still, a very solid movie, and well enough made. Four out of five mirror shards.

Entertainment Value: The weirdness of this movie manages to shine through, from the random kids getting butchered for no good reason other than they can be, from BOOGEYMAN! to those final over the top ten minutes of ‘what’, this is also a very fun and silly movie, that hits that sweet spot for me. Three out of five John Carradines