Starring: Sophie Thatcher, Chris Messina, Vivien Lyra Blair, Marin Ireland, Madison Hu, LisaGay Hamilton, David Dastmalchian
OUR RATING: ★★★☆☆
Story:
Supernatural horror thriller directed by Rob Savage. The Boogeyman (2023) centers on High school student Sadie Harper (Sophie Thatcher) and her younger sister Sawyer (Vivien Lyra Blair), who are reeling from the recent tragic death of their mother and aren’t getting much support from their father, Will Chris Messina), a therapist who is dealing with his own pain. When a desperate patient unexpectedly shows up at their home seeking help, he leaves behind a terrifying supernatural entity that preys on families and feeds on the suffering of its victims.
Where to Watch:
Best Quotes
Will Harper: What are you really scared of?
Woman with Nosering: Being alone.
Will Harper: Yeah. I get it. It can be scary to be alone. “Where there is fear…”
Woman with Nosering, Will: “There is your task.”
Will Harper: Carl Jung had it figured out.
Sawyer Harper: [referring to her loose tooth] What if I accidentally swallow it?
Sadie Harper: Then it’ll come out in your s**t.
Will Harper: It’s not going to come out in your s**t.
Bethany: Welcome back. Oh, my God. That’s really stupid to say.
Sadie Harper: Thanks for like actually talking to me. Everyone else is staring at me like I have some kind of disease.
Natalie: [referring to Sadie’s mother] Wearing her clothes, it seems like it might make it harder to move on, or whatever.
Sadie Harper: I don’t want to “move on”.
Natalie: Okay. Maybe you don’t want to creep people out either.
Lester Billings: I didn’t know where else to go, you know. I can’t go to a priest because I’m not Catholic. I can’t go to a lawyer because I didn’t commit a crime. Even if everybody thinks I have. Even if they all think I did it.
Will Harper: Did what, exactly?
Lester Billings: Killed my kids. One at a time. Killed them all.
Lester Billings: [to Will] I came to you because I thought that you might understand. I saw the story about your wife in the paper. The car accident. And I know that you know what it’s like to lose someone that you love just like that.
Lester Billings: My next two kids died within a year of the first, one right after the other.
Will Harper: From natural causes too?
Lester Billings: Nothing natural about it. Sucked the life right out of them.
Lester Billings: Before they died, my kids, I thought it was just their imaginations getting the better of them.
Will Harper: [referring to the drawing] What is this supposed to be?
Lester Billings: It’s the thing that comes for your kids when you’re not paying attention.
'Where there is fear, there is your task.' - Will Harper (The Boogeyman) Click To Tweet
Lester Billings: You believe me, don’t you?
Will Harper: Of course I do.
Will Harper: [calls the cops, referring to Billings] Yes, this is Dr. William Harper. I have a man in my office right now who is not well. I think he might be dangerous.
Classmate: [as they see Billings body being carried away outside Sawyer’s house] Oh, s**t! Your dad’s not dead too, is he?
Will Harper: [referring to Billings] He kept talking about this shadow monster.
Detective Garland: Shadow monster?
Will Harper: He believed it killed all his kids. I’ve seen it before. Sometimes it’s better to have something to blame than to admit these things happen for no reason.
Will Harper: [referring to Billings and his kids] Do you think he killed them?
Detective Garland: Guilt must have pushed him over the edge. Or the fear of getting caught.
Sadie Harper: Are you sure it was a suicide?
Detective Garland: What do you mean, “are we sure?”
Sadie Harper: Before I opened the closet, I heard these noises. Like a fight or something.
Detective Garland: An adult man hanging himself in a closet is bound to cause a racket. That’s got to be what you heard.
Will Harper: [after he checks the closet for Swayer] Okay. Monster check complete.
Will Harper: [referring to Billings death] I don’t know why this had to happen on top of everything else.
Sadie Harper: [referring to her mother’s death] You never talk about it.
Will Harper: I wasn’t at the accident. So there’s no one I had to talk to.
Sadie Harper: It doesn’t feel real. I keep thinking she’s going to come through that door with a cardamom tea that smells like s**t. You know, I never even got to say goodbye. Since she died, I feel like this weight. This extra gravity.
Will Harper: You have Dr. Weller tomorrow, right?
Sadie Harper: Yeah.
Will Harper: You should talk to her about this.
Sadie Harper: I was trying to talk to you.
'Sometimes it's better to have something to blame than to admit these things happen for no reason.' - Will Harper (The Boogeyman) Click To Tweet
Sawyer Harper: There’s something in my room.
Sadie Harper: This is what Mom did whenever I had a tooth that wouldn’t come out on its own. She said that deep roots run in our family. Don’t like letting go of things.
Sadie Harper: What do you think happens to people after they die?
Dr. Weller: Now, what do you mean, Sadie? Do you mean do they go to Heaven?
Sadie Harper: No, that’s not what I mean.
Dr. Weller: Are you wondering if maybe your mother is still here?
Dr. Weller: This may seem a little out there, but when my father passed away, I felt like I could sense him watching over me sometimes. If you pay close enough attention, maybe you’ll start sensing your mom too.
Sawyer Harper: What about other things?
Dr. Weller: What other things?
Sawyer Harper: I don’t know. It’s hard to see, it’s like a dark thing.
Dr. Weller: When did you start seeing this dark thing?
Sadie Harper: Right after that man died.
Dr. Weller: That makes perfect sense.
Dr. Weller: Well, when there are scary things we don’t understand, our minds try to fill in the blanks.
Sadie Harper: But it’s just like all those spooky monsters you think are hiding under your bed.
Dr. Weller: But we’re going to work on that together. Okay? So it’s not so scary.
Dr. Weller: [referring to Sawyer] It’s not just a fear of the dark. She’s claiming to see monsters now.
Sawyer Harper: You believe me, don’t you?
Sadie Harper: Yeah.
Will Harper: [referring to Billings] I should have never let that man in our house.
'When we have a phobia, or fear something, sometimes the best thing to do is to face it.' - Dr. Weller (The Boogeyman) Click To Tweet
Sadie Harper: You doing okay?
Sawyer Harper: Not really.
Sadie Harper: Try to go to sleep.
Sawyer Harper: Just trying not to die, thanks.
Sadie Harper: It’s all just in your head. It’s not real.
Sadie Harper: [referring to the creature drawing] Is this the dark thing that you’ve been seeing?
Sawyer Harper: Yeah. Is it real?
Sadie Harper: I don’t know. But I’m going to find out.
Sadie Harper: [after breaking into Billings house] I just want to see if anyone still lived here.
Bethany: Oh, I really hope not. That’d be like the saddest thing ever.
Rita Billings: [as she finds Sadie in her house] This some kind of a dare? You think it’d be fun to get off on our misery? Maybe get a souvenir.
Rita Billings: [referring to the creature drawing] Where did you get this?
Sadie Harper: I just want to know what it is.
Rita Billings: You should pray to God you never find out.
Sadie Harper: My sister saw it.
Rita Billings: Oh, Les, what have you done? Must have latched on to you now. Goes after the hurt and the vulnerable. Follows you wherever you go. Until you’re all gone.
Rita Billings: They called it The Boogeyman. Yeah. That’s what I used to look at them. Like they were crazy. I found out the hard way I was wrong. It likes to play with its food. Scare them to death. S**t, it can even talk like them. Like a goddamn echo. And it needs the dark to stay hidden. Fire was the first thing man used to see at night.
Sadie Harper: It’s really been around that long?
Rita Billings: I think it’s been around forever.
Rita Billings: [to Sawyer] Don’t move. It’s right behind you. Don’t turn around. Stay in the light. And stay completely still.
Rita Billings: [as she shoots at it] I see you, you son of a b**ch!
Sawyer Harper: Sadie, did you see it?
Sadie Harper: There’s no such thing as monsters. You need to grow up! I’m serious, Sawyer, I need to be alone right now!
[suddenly the boogeyman grabs her]
Sawyer Harper: [to Sadie] I told you it was real.