BLAME IT ON THE BOOGE YMAN

DIRECTOR ROB SAVAGE RETURNS WITH A TERRIFYING ADAPTATION OF STEPHEN KING'S THE BOOGEYMAN - PROMISING VISCERAL SCARES, HEREDITARY -LEVEL PERFORMANCES AND A HORRIFYING CREATURE

- JACK SHEPHERD

THE SHINING IS OBVIOUSLY THE scariest Stephen King adaptation,” Rob Savage tells SFX over a call, “but I don’t think there’s been a King adaptation that’s as viscerally scary as this movie.”

It’s a bold claim from the filmmaker behind pandemic breakouts Host and Dashcam, and whose next project – his first for a major studio – is an adaptation of King’s short story “The Boogeyman”.

“This movie attacks the source material in a way that’s different from any other King adaptation,” he continues. “We wanted this to feel true to his writing. Me and [coscreenwriter] Mark [Heyman] were always going back to the warmth of character that you feel in King’s novels. Even when the subject matter is dark, there’s that glimmer of hope. He’s not a cynical writer.”

“The Boogeyman” is arguably one of King’s most twisted tales. It sees Lester Billings attend a therapy session after the murders of his three children. Though two of the deaths were entirely mysterious, there was a common factor between them: the bodies were found in their bedrooms where the wardrobe doors were slightly ajar, despite Lester being sure they were closed. The children also both shouted “Boogeyman!” before their demise…

ICONIC HORROR

Savage first discovered King at a young age, reading his 1978 collection of short stories