55
Metascore
37 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 80EmpireKim NewmanEmpireKim NewmanSome Host or DASHCAM fans might be disappointed that Rob Savage has opted for something ostensibly more conventional — but The Boogeyman shows he can also make an involving, ungimmicky ghost story with perfectly constructed menace and mayhem.
- 80SlashfilmBen PearsonSlashfilmBen PearsonThe Boogeyman doesn't set out to reinvent the wheel, but thankfully, it doesn't need to. Savage knows exactly how to push all the right buttons and pull all the right levers to engineer maximum potency, utilizing classical set-ups and pay-offs in entertaining, satisfying ways.
- 70The Hollywood ReporterFrank ScheckThe Hollywood ReporterFrank ScheckThe Boogeyman, in both its literary and cinematic forms, is undoubtedly relatively minor King. But when it’s done this well, even minor King is major scary.
- 67ColliderChase HutchinsonColliderChase HutchinsonThe Boogeyman is at its best when it strips away all the excess to draw us deeper into darkness.
- 63RogerEbert.comNick AllenRogerEbert.comNick AllenPrimed to be this June’s Horror Movie of the Month, The Boogeyman is packed with familiar beats and little personality, the horror equivalent of a rising music star making a fan-friendly Christmas album as their biggest project yet.
- 60Total FilmKevin HarleyTotal FilmKevin HarleySolid casting and scares mix with thin plotting and middling monster moves in Savage’s King riff.
- 55TheWrapWilliam BibbianiTheWrapWilliam BibbianiNo matter how frightening the individual moments may be, and no matter how impressive it is that we only ever see enough of the monster to excite our imagination, and no matter how exceptionally the eerie sound design turns out to be, The Boogeyman never quite gets under the skin.
- 50IndieWireKate ErblandIndieWireKate ErblandThere’s nothing scarier than things that go bump in the night, but the terror is easily dispelled once we turn on the light and see what’s really there. That’s the lesson of King’s story, but Savage’s adaptation fails to understand that there’s nothing more frightening than the unknown.
- 50Slant MagazineDerek SmithSlant MagazineDerek SmithUltimately, The Boogeyman is like so many other modern horror films that prioritize mood above all else.
- 40Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzArizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzWhat the movie needs is a more coherent story. While keeping an audience off-kilter and disoriented is a worthy goal, particularly in a horror film, it’s got to add up to something. In this case it’s more like meandering.