bkoganbing John Carradine was in some of the greatest films ever made as a supporting player. But that sonorous speaking voice was forever in demand for various horror flicks and he willingly obliged. Just as soon as my paycheck clears I'll speak anything you want.In The Boogey Man however Carradine's penchant for scenery chewing when he knew he was in crap was not even utilized in The Boogey Man. Instead he plays a psychiatrist listening to the tales of horror from a woman who has unleashed the spirit of The Boogey Man who when he was flesh and blood was murdered when he was doing the deed with her mother.This one is not even for John Carradine fans who like to hear his voice. He's dull and the rest of the cast emote on the level of a grade school play.

stones78 This is pretty much a forgotten horror film from 1980, around the time when everyone was making films reminiscent of the classic Halloween, which was from 1978, and you just know The Boogeyman borrowed the title from the more celebrated John Carpenter film. I'll give this film some credit for originality, as the killer is unseen for the entire film, but it's easily assumed the "boogeyman" is the lover of Lacey and Williy's mother, who was stabbed to death by Willy after he tied the young boy up after he spied on them fooling around. Suzanna Love was pretty good as Lacey, and her real brother Nicholas not as much as the mute Willy; he didn't have much screen presence, even though he finally speaks near the end. John Carradine adds some credibility as Dr. Warren, who is Lacey's therapist, and the 2 share a rather creepy session in his office, where Lacey is hypnotized and yells in a creepy, deep voice. A highlight was the nice atmosphere of Maryland of all places, not a usual location for a film, but it added a nice touch, especially the Chesapeake bay. Watch for a cool looking Mustang, and some neat shots of the farm and barn. There were some aspects which weren't that good, such as senseless killings just for the sake of it; it's also puzzling why Lacey would allow the mirror to be brought to her home, or her aunt and uncle's house to be exact, considering that's where the killer lives(the mirror, that is)and it freaks her and her brother out. If you can get past these factors, and try not to dissect this film for what it's supposed to be, then you should be able to enjoy a forgotten little horror film with a decent music score as well.

nomoons11 I had been waiting a long time for this one. It had been told to me that it was one of the better horror films of the early 80's. Yeah...I don't think so.First thing you notice is the budget...or...the lack there of. This one wasn't even a "B" budget. Ah and those special effects. I mean no special effects. They musta paid the actors with coupons from the local Safeway. The sad part is that they blatantly rip off 2 good horror films and kinda rip off 1 excellent one. The opening credits eerily sound like a re-worked "Halloween" score. The farm house later in the film has a very similar look to the Amityville Horror one. Those 1/4 windows and all. Towards the end you see she kinda starts to act like the girl in The Exorcist.I guess the only good thing to come out of this was Suzanna Love. She did a pretty good job with what she had to work with.If this one is one your "to see" list and your on your death bed and this one is on your mind that you shoulda saw, trust me, you didn't miss a thing.

Vomitron_G Well, if you're a die-hard horror fan, then watching "The Boogeyman" is worth it. But also, there's some serious stuff wrong with this movie. It seems like Ulli Lommel watched more than one good horror movie before he made this, but he didn't quite know how to make one himself. Here are some random movies that crossed my mind while seeing "The Boogeyman": "Halloween" (1978) (the opening-scene), "The Amityville Horror" (1979) (man, that one house almost looked like a replica), "The Exorcist" (1973) (throw a bit of possession and a priest in the mix) and "Suspiria" (1977) (those colourful lighting techniques towards the end). All good movies, but "The Boogeyman" is such an oddball mixture, that it's even hard to pinpoint where exactly it all went wrong. There's pacing problems, the suspense build-up feels wrong somehow and there are definitely some huge, inexplicable leaps of logic.But the mirror-angle was pretty cool and original. And most killings are a lot of fun! I've never seen a girl first rip her shirt to shreds with a pair of scissors for the sole sake of revealing her breasts, and then plant the scissors in her neck in a quite bloody fashion. And what about that 'longest kiss you've ever seen'... Pretty hilarious! And the ending is a colourful hoot too.Whatever happened to Ulli Lommel? Where did it go wrong? I've seen two movies by him now and at least "The Boogeyman" was entertaining (albeit, very likely not for the reasons Lommel imagined at the time). But one of his recent efforts, "The Tomb" (2007) was one of the worst pieces of crap – pardon my French – I've seen in the last few years. Anyway, to all (younger) horror fans who are ready to go back in time a bit and delve further into obscurity, "The Boogeyman" is one you might want to pick up at a certain point. Although there's much better stuff to be discovered too, of course.