The Boogens [Blu-ray]

BOTTOM LINE: A fright film that has a sense of genuine fun to go with the scares, giving THE BOOGENS a high replay value. Solid video & audio presentation on the Blu-ray makes this old school creature feature a winner. 5 STARSTHE STORY: The opening title sequence sets up the mystery quite nicely with a montage of old newspaper clippings relating an ongoing series of mysterious tragedies surrounding a silver mine. The mine boomed for decades until the strange disasters until, eventually, it was closed up forever... and then we're on our way!THOUGHTS: I discovered this movie late in life. I always passed it by in the video stores back in the day, mostly because of the "silly" title. Shame on me! This is a very well-done little monster movie. Granted, it doesn't really break any new ground; we've all seen this before. Basically you could replace the title creatures with a masked killer and it'd be almost the same movie. That said, even though it's not a ground-breaking horror film, everything it sets out to do it does very well. Competent on every level: direction, lighting & cinematography, creepy music, script with funny, realistic dialogue and, hey! real acting!! What a pleasant surprise to watch actors with some actual talent doing their jobs!The monster FX are the only strike against this film. But you have to take into account when the film was made and its budget. The things don't get a whole lot of screen time, which, with the obviousness of the rubbery marionette/puppets, was probably a good idea. They are disturbing-looking little things; picture a Sleestak crossed with a squid dipped in shellack. Certainly a unique monster design and not all that bad, considering. Some reviewers have griped because the film doesn't even bother to explain exactly WHAT the creatures are. Sorry folks, this is one of those movies where we have to accept the fact that the monsters are... just monsters! I have to give the film makers major kudos for actually daring to try something different, instead of playing it safe and giving us yet another indestructible masked killer hacking up everyone in sight. There were more than enough of those crummy "Halloween" knock-offs clogging the theaters & video store shelves throughout the late 70's and early 80's. The actual "Boogens" creatures were a fun twist in what is otherwise a fairly standard horror opus. The critters and the exceptionally solid acting help lift this film out of the cinemuck, putting it head & shoulders above most other modern so-called horror films. I'll take THE BOOGENS any day over the self-referencing, too hip for its own good slasher horror retreads & tasteless torture porn garbage that infest our multiplexes nowadays, or the avalanche of direct-to-video junk hogging most video store shelves.Another refreshing thing about THE BOOGENS is that the film takes its time, allowing us to get to know the characters better so that we actually care whether they're gonna make it or not. They pretty much don't make 'em like this anymore. Most modern horror films just introduce a handful of bodies, soon to be mutilated, and anyone with more than a passing familiarity with the genre will be able to tell almost at once who'll survive and who'll get sliced & diced. Then they proceed to chop 'em up by the numbers. *YAWN* My advice to jaded or younger viewers: if your idea of "scary" involves people being tortured to death and/or fountains of blood & gore spewing everywhere then do yourself a favor and pass this one by. It truly is old school, in every sense of the word. IF, however, you enjoy things that go bump in the night and take simple pleasure in unraveling an uncomplicated-yet-fun mystery then this film should be a real treat for you. There are genuine scares & suspense to be found here. With that said, I must admit that it IS hard not to laugh whenever the bug-eyed old fart pops up from seemingly out of nowhere every 10 minutes and runs straight into the camera screaming "Boogens!" I'm sorry, but no matter how terrified I was if I were one of the characters in the movie, I'd still giggle at that silly name. :-)THE BLU-RAY: Olive Films' presentation of THE BOOGENS in hi-def is pretty decent. Nice to see this little gem get a solid hi-def release. It's no frame-by-frame restoration or anything, but the picture looks good and the sound is clear & solid. The only bonus on this Blu-ray is an audio commentary with the director, writer and the lead actress (Rebecca Balding). It's an enjoyable listen. In summary, I enjoyed the hell out of THE BOOGENS and have watched it multiple times since buying it.

Fun movie

The Boogens is a 1981 horror flick that has become a bit of a cult classic partially due to it's unavailability for almost 2 decades and partially for it's amusing title. It's just fun to say "Boogens". The film also has sentimental importance to me, as it was one of the horror flicks I saw with friends at the legendary Oritani grind house in Hackensack, N.J. A time when B movies were still released in a theater, where they belong, and a time I now cherish in this direct to DVD and VOD age. Now being given the chance to revisit this low budget chiller, it's time to answer the question of whether it's as fun as I remember or has time and nostalgia created a far better memory then it was a movie. And I'm happy to report it still is a fun flick, although 80s nostalgia does play a part. In a way, "Boogens" is a quintessential horror for the late 70s, early 80s with it's slow burn, creepy old man with ominous warnings, and nubile girls in skimpy bathrobes investigating noises in dark cellars. This is exactly the type of movie Ti West paid homage to in the recent "House Of The Devil". A few months later Evil Dead would arrive and crank horror flicks up to 11 and Jason was just getting started on his body count. This 1981 horror stars Rebecca Balding ("Silent Scream") and takes place in rural Silver City, Colorado, a small mining town where the mines are being reopened for the first time since a supposed cave-in 70 years previous. But, unknown to two college grads (Fred McCarren and Jeff Harlan) working on the re-opening and their two nubile young ladies (Balding and the equally cute, Ann-Marie Martin), the mines were caved in on purpose and unsealing the tunnels unleashes our title creatures and they are quite hungry. Boogens is well directed by James L. Conway who also directed pseudo-documentaries like "Hanger 18" and "In Search Of Noah's Ark" and who went on to direct a lot of genre TV including episodes of all the post-original "Star Trek" series and the current, "Supernatural". He directs with a leisurely pace but, builds some nice suspense and also knows to keep his monsters hidden until the very end. And when we do see them, they are good old fashioned prosthetics, there's something charming about prosthetics that CGI rarely matches. He gets good performances out of his cast and the fact that they are all very likeable helps add suspense when they are in danger. There is some nice gore but, it is used sparingly and the body count is low. This movie was made just as the slasher sub-genre started to gain momentum and before body count became crucial to the proceedings. Sure, by today's standards "The Boogens" is tame, slow and cheesy but, it is the type of horror that they made when I was in high school and I will always have a soft spot in my movie geek heart for them. The transfer on blu-ray is absolutely beautiful and it`s worth a look for horror fans, especially those who enjoy horror from this era. Welcome back, "Boogens".

The five star rating is for the entire package. The film is a solid four star with likable characters, cool monsters and fast paced.

When I was little and my dad was in charge of my brother and me, he did what all dads do. He found something that would keep us glued to the couch and out of his hair for a couple of hours. I, therefore, grew up watching some of the scariest horror movies of the time (in the 1980s), and was exposed to material WAY too mature for a little 4-8 year old. Fortunately, there were no lasting psychological effects, just a healthy appreciation for cheesy b-movies (in the horror genre) from that time. Let's face it, if you didn't see these movies in all their glory, and you're not an overly stuffy movie critic who appreciates crap like the use of shadows to hide bad special effects, etc - you're probably not going to dig this movie. I think that's true with every type of media (music, movies, TV and even video games). So, if you've never seen this movie and someone tells you how much they loved it/how much it scared them when they were younger, try to understand where they're coming from!

Très bon service et très bon film. Un des meilleurs que j'ai vu bien qu'il date quelque peu.

The Boogens is an awesome little movie, and this Bluray is superb: Audio is spot on and so is the transfer. Plus, we get to see Rebecca Balding's scrumptious little arse and bee-stings (if you like what you see, be sure to check her out in Silent Scream by picking up a copy of Scorpion Releasing's great dvd). Go on, you know you want to! ;)

1888年に銀鉱が発見され一気に栄えたユタ州Silver City(ロケ地は同州Park City)。だが鉱内で行方不明者が続出したことから1912年に銀鉱は閉鎖された。そして今、4人の男たちによって問題の銀鉱が再開されようとしている最中に町へやって来たカウガールのTrish Michaels(Rebecca Balding)と其の女友達Jessica Ford(Anne-Marie Martin)の眼前に謎の生物が…。最近では作家Michael Crichtonとの泥沼離婚騒動で世間を騒がせているAnne-Marie Martinが『Prom Night』(1980年)での準悪役的女王様とは打って変わった田舎風ヒロインを熱演した1981年作のホラー映画です。本作は鉤爪を先端に持つ触手で人間や犬に襲い掛かる全貌不明な生物(William Munna＋Ken Hornデザイン・製作)も良く出来ている秀作だけに、今回のVHSの画質・音質の悪さは大いに惜しまれます。

excellent

A classic 80's-style creepy crawlies movie with lots of suspense. I thought the turtle-like creatures were cool. Many thanks!