Revenge of the Boogeyman review

By Terry Sherwood

Revenge of the Boogeyman might sound like just another slasher with a title pulled straight from the genre and yes—it leans heavily into familiar territory: the remote cabin, the cursed legend, and the doomed group of friends. But to dismiss it outright would be a disservice, because there’s clearly more ambition here than your typical killer-in-the-woods fare.

One of the film’s more admirable qualities is its attempt to build characters which ultimately become one-dimensional.  The story is loosely centred on a group of friends trying to support one of their own through recovery—an earnest and unusually grounded premise for a horror film. The character arcs, while not all fully realized (some are understandably cut short thanks to the body count), show an effort to invest in emotional stakes beyond just blood and guts.  If one can stand the utterly dumb humour,  drug-related jokes which are honestly just an excuse to say something idiotic 

Most of the cast, at least when it isn’t being drowned out by the film’s unfortunate tendency toward constant shouting are just too frantic.  The cast does decent work, and the direction shows a knowing awareness of horror tropes, using them with enough self-awareness to keep things lively if not always suspenseful.

Unfortunately, this is where the praise starts to wear thin.

Despite being billed as a “spine-tingling comedy,” the film is rarely either. The horror elements, though teased early on, are too sparse to satisfy fans of the genre, and when they do arrive, they feel almost too little, too late. As for the comedy—well, if yelling counts as funny, then perhaps some laughs were intended. The characters speak in near-constant raised voices, which quickly shift from quirky to exhausting. Subtlety is great, but subtle doesn’t mean volume dialled to eleven for 80 straight minutes.

Revenge of the Boogeyman isn’t a total misfire. It tries to do something a bit different with the slasher formula by focusing on people with addiction troubles trying to help each other. The film’s inability to balance tone and its sound design ultimately undercuts the film. It’s just hard to hear over all the screaming and silly dialogue.  If that’s your bag then dig into it with relish and a roach.