BOOGEYMAN

Year: 2005
USA: Screen Gems / Sony Pictures
UK: UIP (UK)
Cast: Barry Watson, Emily Deschanel, Skye McCole Bartusiak, Tory Mussett, Andrew Glover, Lucy Lawless, Charles Mesure, Phillip Gordon, Aaron Murphy, Jennifer Rucker, Scott Wills, Michael Saccente, Louise Wallace, Brenda Simmons, Josie Tweed, Ian Campbell, Robyn Malcolm, Olivia Tennet, Edward Campbell, Andrew Eggelton
Director: Stephen Kay
Countries: USA / New Zealand
USA: 86 mins
UK: 89 mins
USA Rated: PG-13 for intense sequences of horror and terror/violence, and some partial nudity
UK Certificate: 15 contains sustained moderate horror
USA Release Date: 4 February 2005
UK Release Date: 4 March 2005


Synopsis

In this chilling horror movie, Barry Watson stars as Tim, a young man who must return to his childhood home and confront the terrifying visions that have haunted him all his life. BOOGEYMAN is a production of Ghost House Pictures, the genre label formed by Sam Raimi, Rob Tapert and Senator International.

On the surface, Tim (Barry Watson) is a seemingly normal, twenty-something guy. He's got a decent job and is moving fast in his relationship with his girlfriend Jessica (Tory Mussett). But an intense, paralyzing fear that has been terrifying him since childhood is tearing him apart. And it's getting worse every day.

When Tim was eight, something devastating happened. Each night his dad would put him to sleep with a bedtime story. Many of these stories teetered on the brink of horror, much to his mom's chagrin, but Tim and his father made sure his bedroom was safe when the lights finally went out. Until that one fateful night. As Tim watched from his bed, paralyzed with fear, his father was violently sucked into the closet, and was never seen or heard from again.

Tim is terrified that the Boogeyman will someday return and take him as he has taken so many before. Until now he has coped by eliminating opportunities for the Boogeyman to get to him. He has removed every dark corner in his apartment; there are no closets, and his bed is on the floor so the evil force has nowhere to hide. The thought of getting a jacket out of a closet sends him spiraling into terror. When Tim is forced to move outside his comfort zone on a Thanksgiving trip to Jessica's parents, he leaves this protected world and things begin to fall apart.

After a disturbing dream about his estranged mother (Lucy Lawless), Tim awakens in a cold sweat, hunched over on the floor of the guest room. Jessica tries to comfort him, but it only makes things worse. His cell phone rings. His mother has died.

Forced to return to his childhood home, a looming and run-down Victorian Gothic house in the countryside, Tim must tie up family matters with his Uncle Mike (Philip Gordon) and face the source of all his fears.

After the funeral, Tim visits the children's psychiatric hospital where he spent many years after the disappearance of his father. His former counselor reiterates what she has known all along - that in order to get over his fears, he must spend a night alone in the old house and confront things head on.

Tim tries to relax and enjoy a reunion with his childhood best friend, Kate (Emily Deschanel) and for a brief moment feels everything is under control. But as Tim relives the past, drifting through the dark and empty house and rummaging through old photographs, memories take over and his crippling fear returns. He is sure he is being watched by the same evil being that has terrorized him his entire life.

Tim becomes irrational and delusional to everyone around him, but no one can save him ... or themselves. His loved ones start disappearing around him and his life is shattered all over again. He knows that the only way to stop the nightmare is to confront the evil presence once and for all.

Tim turns to the only other person who understands and shares his fear, Franny (Skye McCole Bartusiak), a precocious and mysterious young girl who first appeared at his mother's funeral. It turns out that Tim and the little girl have something in common. She is the only one who sees what he sees... and Tim draws on Franny's courage and advice to face the Boogeyman once and for all. But when he discovers that Franny was abducted years ago and has been missing ever since, he realizes that the line separating what is real and what is not has vanished. Now Tim must fight to put the evil force and the demons to rest in a final battle to save his life. But how can he know what is real and what is imagined?