“Afraid of not knowing… Afraid to Find out…” what the Boogens are. I still don’t know. I don’t even know how to pronounce that word. BO-gens? Boooog-ins? No one ever names the monsters in this movie. They could have called it anything–anything–and it would be just as relevant to the film as “The Boogens.” I also thought the Boogens would be humanoid, given the image of the green hands on the poster, but they are actually just brown turtle things with amazingly strong, lengthy, clawed tentacles. How they move around so quickly is anyone’s guess. I want to post a picture of them, but I was so pleasantly surprised (in a what the fuuuuuck? way) that I will not spoil the excellent puppetry. I’ve probably said too much already.
Anyway, on to the story. Four friends–two boys (one Horny Guy) and two girls (one Horny Girl)–and an amazing dog named Tiger are spending the winter up in a small town in the Colorado mountains. The fellas are helping two old-timers open up an abandoned mine that closed after a cave in (and reports of attacks!) in 1912. There’s also a creepy mountain man prowling around the mine. Hmm. Wonder what his story is?
The Boogens has a slow build up, but the location provided plenty of tension. Most of the film takes place the abandoned mine shaft or the secluded cabin in the snow. I really dig horror movies that take place in the winter, because it makes things a little more desperate and claustrophobic. If you’re on the run in your nighty/underthings/bare feet and it’s summer, you could conceivably hide outside until morning or run a few miles with only your own legs (obviously you will trip and fall multiple times) or the killer to stop you. But if its winter time, you have to contend with frostbite and hypothermia and leaving footprints that lead the killer straight to your tender flesh. So even during the scenes when our characters are getting to know each other, there’s a hum of danger. I appreciated the time they took to develop the characters somewhat (except Horny Guy didn’t really evolve beyond his raging boner). The stand-out performance was from Tiger, who could give The Artist‘s Uggie a run for his money. He was so cute and so smart and mischievous and well-trained! I became very attached to him, even though I knew his odds were stacked as a dog in a horror movie. Could people stop killing the dogs, please? It’s so easy and such a cheap ploy and it makes me really, really, really sad. Not scared. Just sad.
Overall I thought The Boogens was an alright monster movie. The only thing I maybe would have like to know (aside from what the title is all about) is what motivated The Boogens to act out. They didn’t appear to be eating their kills. Were they territorial? Were they killing for fun? Were they just mean? Normally I wouldn’t be searching for a reason (I often think the less things are explained, the more frightening they are), but when an actor of Tiger’s caliber is taken down, I need some answers.
Down In Front 