The Boogeyman Trailer is in Your Closet

Movies

Bolt your closet door because the monster that haunts children’s nightmares is coming for you. 20^th Century Studios has released a trailer for The Boogeyman, the upcoming horror movie based on a short story by Stephen King. The Boogeyman has gone through a tumultuous development process, with the first attempt to adapt the story canceled thanks to Disney’s acquisition of what was then called 20^th Century Fox. But a good monster is never gone for good, and in November of 2021, the movie was back on, with earlier scripts from Scott Beck, Bryan Woods, and Akela Cooper acting as the basis for a new one by Mark Heyman. Rob Savage directs, with Madison Hu, Vivien Lyra Blair, Sophie Thatcher, David Dastmalchian, and Chris Messina starring. The plan was to release The Boogeyman directly on Hulu, but positive test screenings convinced 20^th Century Studios to give it a theatrical run, which will begin on June 2, 2023. The trailer published by 20^th Century Studios has subtitles that can’t be removed, for some strange reason, but you can see it without them courtesy of E! News below:

The trailer itself is fine; nothing special, but nothing terribly off-putting. The cast and crew don’t do much for me either because I don’t know most of them. Scott Beck and Bryan Woods wrote A Quiet Place, which I liked. As far as the actors, Chris Messina has had small parts in things ranging from great (Argo, Vicky Christina Barcelona) to terrible (Birds of Prey); same with David Dastmalchian (The Dark Knight, Ant-Man, The Suicide Squad); I’ve never heard of the others. Nevertheless, I’m looking forward to this because “The Boogeyman” is an excellent short story from Stephen King’s classic collection Night Shift, a must-read for everyone during at least one Halloween season. The film will expand on King’s original out of necessity – the entire story takes place in a psychiatrist’s office – but they’ve got the roadmap in the backstory the main character relays. If the filmmakers can capture the creepy atmosphere Stephen King created, this will be a great one.