The Boogey Man (1980)

 

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.

The Boogey Man is a 1980 American supernatural slasher film written and directed by Ulli Lommel, and starring Suzanna Love, John Carradine, and Ron James. The film's title refers to the long-held superstition of boogeymen beings, and its plot concerns two siblings who are targeted by the ghost of their mother's deceased boyfriend which has been freed from a mirror.

Surprisingly this didn't suck nearly as bad as it should have. The movie opens up to a woman seducing a man while her two young children watch from the window, unbeknownst to them. Great parenting at its finest. 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. This is a huge problem when she has to make her boyfriend a sandwich.

Why does mom's boyfriend have pantyhose on his head. He's a kinky dude. 

The Boogeyman is an odd early 80's horror flick that falls into both the slasher and supernatural horror sub genres. 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.

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.

Yes. I will appear in any film for a pay check. 

Ulli Lommel directed this rancid little horror film. 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. Lommel had one crazy career, starting with appearing in Russ Meyer's Fanny Hill, then acting in Fassbinder's surreal western film Whitey (as well as several other of the director's films). Moving to the U.S. in 1977, Lommel became connected to Andy Warhol, who became involved in his films Cocaine Cowboys and Blank Generation, a movie that starred Richard Hell and was filmed at CBGB.

The Boogey Man enjoys the notorious reputation of having been banned as a 'video nasty' in England. The only thing really nasty about it was the acting.

Though the film has been noted as stylistically imitating John Carpenter's Halloween (1978), critic Jeff Franzen notes that the film possess a subtext that is filled with "multi-layered references to Lommel's childhood and fears, much of which lingers long after you forget about the gimmicky gore". Franzen asserts that one of the film's central themes is "that people conspire to hide the truth, although to one or more characters the truth is obvious"

The film uses several apparent pieces of folklore and superstition regarding mirrors: In addition to the superstition that it is bad luck to break a mirror, the film also discusses the belief that breaking a mirror releases everything the mirror has ever "seen"; further, placing the pieces of a broken mirror into a bag and burying it will counteract the bad luck from breaking the mirror. Additionally, there is the belief that a mirror in a room where someone has died will show the dead person looking back over the shoulder of anyone looking into the mirror. All this is referenced in the Mexican translation of the film title, released as "El espejo asesino" ("the killer mirror")

Shit!!!  Well 7 years bad luck I guess. 

But the performances aren't that bad, Nicholas Love gives a pretty good unhinged performance as Willy, despite lack of dialogue he still makes it work, something not many actors could do. Ron James gives an adequate performance and Suzanna Love brings depth to her role and plays it convincingly without going over the top.

All in all "The Boogeyman" is not a terrible movie, it's certainly ambitious given the subject matter, but it doesn't quite shine, but it does have some decent qualities but not enough to earn a status as one of the slasher gems that came out during this era.

The well!!!

Trivia:

Suzanna Love is the sister of co-star Nicholas Love, who plays her brother. She was also married to director Ulli Lommel. She and Lommel co-authored the screenplay.

Albert Zugsmith suggested to Ulli Lommel that he should cast John Carradine in a secondary role in order to enhance this film's overall commercial appeal. Carradine's scenes were all shot in a single day.

The house used for the exterior shots of Lacy and Willy's childhood home is located in La Plata, MD,, and in 2004 was severely damaged by a tornado.

The film was given a limited release theatrically in the US by The Jerry Gross Organization with screenings beginning on 11/14/80. It grossed approximately $25 million, though little of its significant income went to the filmmakers and performers, as the distributor, was in the midst of bankruptcy at the time of its release.

Vipco released it on VHS in the UK in November 1981. In October 1983 it was listed as a Video Nasty and removed from shelves. It never had the chance to build the reputation the true notorious Video Nasties gained due to it being dropped from the list in July 1985.

Filming took place on location in the area of Waldorf, MD, with additional photography occurring in Los Angeles, CA.

Released on DVD twice in the US. The first release was in 1999 by Anchor Bay Entertainment alongside Ulli Lommel's The Devonsville Terror (1983). This version is currently out of print. It was subsequently re-released by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment in 2005 alongside Lommel's Return of the Boogeyman (1994). "The Bogeyman" was placed on the UK's DPP list in 1984, but was later re-released on the Vipco label in 1992 in a cut form. In 2000 it was released uncut.

A poster of this film can be seen in the background of one of the scenes in Blow Out (1981).

Jane Pratt's first role and nude scene.

Shortly after The Bogey Man was released, it became embroiled in the UK's Video Nasty debate and, in 1984, was placed on the Director of Public Prosecutions' 33-strong second list of films deemed inappropriate for public consumption. It was then whisked away from video store shelves. While never actually successfully prosecuted, it made a name for itself in that time, so much so that its far inferior sequel from 1983 was also banished.

Combines elements from the slasher, psychological and supernatural horror sub genres

The actress billed as Jane Pratt is not the same Jane Pratt who published Sassy magazine back in the 80s/90s, though some sources mistakenly list her as such.

Damn dude.  Why do you have pantyhose on your head?