Customer Reviews

The Boogens [VHS]

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Wow! That's all I can say about this one. I first saw the Boogens when I was nine years old and it scared me so bad I couldn't even look under my bed for a week. I had to wait more than half a lifetime to find the movie again on VHS, but when I did it hadn't lost any of its gruesome charm whatsoever. Set in the majestic Rockies (my native territory) The Boogens focuses on four twenty-somethings who move into a nice, if somewhat sinister cabin in the woods which was the site of a brutal killing in the beginning of the film. The four soon split up for various reasons and go about their own ways. The story kicks into overdrive when the first of them is dragged under his vehicle and sliced open by the nasty claw of the Boogen. We see this only in quick flashes of ingenious editing that gives us only a "taste" of the real thing. Dark, cramped, sometimes unbearably spooky, the Boogens sent a message to us in the early eighties: Horror is not dead, not even sleeping, we just have to know which cave to look in to find the scariest monster, and The Boogens provided it. I thank the director and the cast for giving a nine-year-old boy the scare of a lifetime!

The Boogens, despite its name, is a well paced horror film which pays justice to the cult monster movies of the 1950's. The editing style gives the viewer a well balanced blend of suspense, shock and gore to make the film both eerie and frightening. I originally saw this movie on cable about 18 years ago and was equally entertained after watching the VHS copy I recently purchased. The "Boogens," themselves, are a bit cheesy looking and were designed after a sheep's brain with slashing tenticles for legs (I learned this from the make up effects person in charge of creating the creatures for this film). The directing coupled with the editing style are what save this movie by giving us only a glimpse of the the creatures, keeping us on the edge of our seat for the majority of the film. This is one of the few real monster movies that are a credit to the monster genre.

I know 3 stars may not seem like much but only the best films are worthy of 4 and above.

I was dating in high school when I saw this movie at the local drive-in. It scared me so much that I slept with my mother for a week...and never attempted to see it again. It is now 21 years later and I have never forgotten the title or the entire movie...it is vivid in my mind. I am going to purchase it, watch it again to see if my more mature mind will be as scared as the kid left in me. Mind you, I am not a slasher movie fan, and this was perfect. Just enough suspense without the gore. A must see for those of you that wish to be scared for years...

Stepping from the memories of horror fans of years past comes The Boogens, a very effective monster tale. Old, forgotten evil and shunned places have informed some of the best horror ever since H. P. Lovecraft first set foot in haunted Arkham. Therefore, The Boogens, with its errie mine shafts and mysterious creatures has a lot going for it. Thankfully, the director doesn't saddle the film with dumb-as-dirt characters and goofy cliches. We actually come to care for these people(a titanic achievement for many of today's filmmakers). A great emphasis is placed on generating suspense in lieu of tiresome "pop-ups." A product of budgetary concerns, this nonetheless works in the film's favor. If the titular monsters are less than life-like, at least the smart editing obscures this. Fans of older horror films will no doubt enjoy this movie, as will younger fans looking for a little heart and creativity in their horror.

It's a Boogen! And that tissue ain't gonna help!


The Boogens (1981) To answer that question right off...they have nothing to do with nasal mucus deposits, but instead they are mean little dog sized subterranean critters crawling up out of a re-opened silver mine in this fairly obscure monster movie from the early 80's horror boom. The story has two veteran miners moving into a small Colorado town to reopen the long closed silver mine. Luckily for us, they have also hired two young guys to assist who just happen to be the right age and disposition to be the lead and sidekick of an 80's horror movie. Unluckily for them, reopening the mine also involves opening up tunnels long closed, including one right underneath the house the young guys are renting and sharing with their girlfriends. This brings out a mysterious old man who starts skulking around the mine and the house, and from underground, some nasty little critters who proceed to eat the cast one by one. I had never managed to see this particular horror flick, missing it in the theater and never finding it on any of my cable channels or on VHS for rent in any of the years since its original release. As it turns out, the movie is only okay. It starts off well, introducing four likable main characters and starting the setup of the main plot with the original mine's closing being shown through newspaper clippings over the credits. From there though things slow waaay down as the Boogens claim only one victim in the first 50 minutes, though they do provide a constant threat to one character's dog in several scenes. And speaking of the Boogens, that is another big problem with the movie. Despite getting their appellation into the title, the creatures are only name checked in the movie once by that mysterious old guy who mumbles it during an attack scene, making even the one vocalization easy to miss. And along with never explaining why these creatures are called Boogens, the movie pretty much drops the ball entirely on filling in any back story at all. We get hints along the way that these creatures caused the mine to close 70 years before, and we expect that the old guy is going to eventually open up and spill the answers to all the questions. About the time we realize that this man, though elderly, is too young to have been an adult involved in a mining disaster 70 years before, he does finally stop skulking, but he barely has time to say he is the son of the single survivor of the mine's collapse, yell "You've let them loose again!" and mumble "It's the Boogens!" before one pops up to shut him up permanently. So the questions of what the Boogens are, where they came from, and how they survived 70 years closed off in the mine are never answered. On the plus side, the cast is kind of fun, with recognizable faces Rebecca Balding (Silent Scream and TV's Soap) Fred McCarren (Xanadu), Anne-Marie Martin (Dori Doreau on TV's Sledge Hammer!) and veteran character actors John Crawford (all over 60's and 70's television, like Batman and Mission Impossible) and Jon Lormer (Creepshow). The Boogens themselves are mostly represented through low to the ground point of view shots for the first hour or so in classic pre CGI monster movie style until they are finally revealed in all their early 80's animatronics glory near the climax. Of course, special effects critters are expensive, so there is really only one, but he plays several Boogens in the last twenty minutes or so. It is an effectively designed and nasty looking octopus type thing, though the lack of movement hinders the chase scenes since the movement is restricted to waving tentacles and growling. Luckily those low down point of view shots can still fill in for the chases. All in all, this one almost succeeds, but the draggy middle and lack of exposition end up making it only for 80's horror completists in the end.

A really fine creature feature. The cast is good. The script has humor. The monster looks like E.T. with teeth. I seem to recall that the movie was marketed poorly. Too bad. It was really good junk.

I originally saw this when I was 18 during the height of the slasher movie craze in the early 80's. What a great surprise... well-acted, nice writing, decent special effects, and a good cast. It has aged well and produces a couple of good scares. The cover box for the video isn't very good, though. The original movie poster art (with the tag line "There is no escape!"), tacky as it was, would've been better.

I was 14 when I saw this movie, and it scared me so bad that when I went to bed that night, I couldn't move, for fear The Monster from the Boogens would get me! Not only that, the movie terrified me so much that I had forgotten the title of it until yesterday--15 years later!!!! The worst part of it was that the movie took place in Colorado (where I lived) and the monster could get to you through people's basement crawlspaces (which my house had). Absolutely chilling!

This movie is an all time 1980's classic, not many movies hold you in suspense while witholding the actual monster. Great plot and wonderful direction. A cult classic for those who enjoy horror.

IN A NUTSHELL: SIMPLE WELL-CRAFTED TALE FROM A STAR TREK VETERAN

Boogens is NO epic, filled with eye-candy and wild thrills that come at you a mile a minute. It is a taut, slow, pressure cooker of a film that uses the unknown and unseen to build suspense which frightens and entertains. It's not surprising that the Director, James Conway, also directed a slew of Star Trek Voyager, Deep Space Nine, and The Next Generation episodes.

WHAT IT'S ALL ABOUT: AT THE "IMDB" 35% RATED BOOGENS AN 8/10 OR HIGHER!

After 70 years, a Utah silver mine which had been closed after a tragic cave-in is being reopened. What exactly happened to cause that long-ago cave-in has remained the town's biggest mystery. Now, as the mine is being reopened, people are vanishing again.

Now that the stage has been set, this is when it starts to get scary. Without spoiling the plot, let me just say that I have 5 children and each one of them, though most are adults now, literally gets up and runs when I mention this movie and the creatures that we gradually get to see at night. This is the kind of film that has you looking over your shoulder and watching to be sure nothing is crawling toward you in the dark. The best part about it is that explicit gore is almost completely absent, yet it is scary nevertheless.

BOTTOM LINE: "TREMORS" & "THE CRAWLING EYE" are similar and recommended!

This is scary in the same way an "Outer Limits" adventure might be. A great deal is implied and promised, but the delivery comes in a different form than we are accustomed to or expect.

ABOUT THE VIDEO:

Simply put, I wish this were available on DVD. Most of the out-of-print videos available are old and/or worn, so getting to see this film on a decent video is problematic.