Boogeyman II

Reel DVD

R4

The title Boogeyman II does not really do justice to this impressive horror and psychological thriller, a sequel to boot does not necessarily give one a lot of confidence. Yet surprisingly it ends up as a very tense and powerful horror film with an impressive plot, convincing acting from all involved and excellent climax. One of the major assets to this film is that the role of the Doctor is played by Tobin Bell who also played “Saw” in the movies of the same name and this gives the film a certain feel and mood. The violence and gore is intense, certainly way beyond anything in the original Boogeyman film, indeed, it is hardly a sequel but more of a new film simply using the franchise name for marketing purposes.

Laura and Harry witness the brutal slaughter of both their parents. The intruder is never caught and being young children, they blame the killing on the boogeyman. Some ten years later they are still traumatized. Harry has spent some time in a psychiatric hospital and seems to be cured and ready embark on a new career. As he is leaving for San Francisco, he suggests Laura also go in for treatment as she is not handling the idea of living alone well at all.

The psychiatric hospital is running a clinic for people with various fears and phobias. These range from anorexia to agoraphobia, a kid who is afraid of germs and of course, a number of patients afraid of the dark. They have a young psychiatrist Dr.Ryan who has also gone through the process of conquering her fears while the clinic is overseen by Dr.Allan, played by Tobin Bell.

As Laura settles in things start to go awry, one of the patients dies in the basement. Has he killed himself in a panic to escape the dark or is something loose in the hospital ? This mixture of psychological terror with a possible serial or even supernatural killer makes the film extremely effective. You are never quite sure if it is all in their minds or whether the bogeyman is real, or, for that matter whether he is human or something else.

Along the way the plot thickens when Laura discovers that Dr.Allen supervised another clinic in which a patient died because of his treatment, is this all a game, a radical form of therapy or is Dr.Allan the killer.

As the death toll rises, each patient brutally slaughtered according to their fears and the gore quotient goes off the scale ! There are some innovative death scenes and a lot of edge of your seat moments.

The climax is suitably impressive, we find that Dr.Allan, during therapy. attempted to force Harry to face his fears by locking him in a dark closet and this precipitated a total psychotic break. Harry now identifies with the bogeyman and is forcing the other patients to face their fears with devastating consequences.

As the film ends Harry has manipulated the death of the clinic supervisor Dr.Ryan, dressed in the bogeyman mask and escaped. Is this a sign of another sequel ??

This is actually a surprisingly fast paced horror film, on some levels it seems it owes quite a bit to The Nightmare on Elm Street mixed with the ultra gore of Saw. However, that being said, it is still quite an effective slasher/horror film.

The acting is solid and convincing and the use of a mental hospital where phobias are explored adds a level of reality to the storyline. This is an accomplished effort with lots of blood and gore, an intriguing plot and enough edge of your seat moments to keep you watching til the very end.

The Reel DVD release is the unrated Director’s Cut.