I found that the boogeyman tries too hard to develop an emotional connection with us the audience and it ends up coming off as inauthentic and clichéd.

For a movie that opens with the death of a child, you’d think that it would be boundary-breaking but man that is far from it, the writing is one noted and doesn’t really offer up much character development or anything.

I really wish it leaned heavily into the "facing our monsters/grief head-on" and really be about it because there’s something there.

It also tries too hard to be scary and ominous but it also just doesn’t land well at times, it can seem forced. it doesn’t allow itself room to build up to the scares, the tension and everything else that’s meant to make our skin crawl and induce nightmares.

It’s an average horror film with some decent scares here and there but I found its lack of authenticity and genuine horror to be its downfall.

I don’t know but there’s something missing for me with The Boogeyman, like the movie it actually is and the movie it wants to be are two completely different things, so the end product is something I found to not be genuine even though there’s moments where it shines authentically but they’re buried underneath it’s trying too hard.

The potential is there...