I've said it before and I'll say it again, “I'm the biggest baby to ever cower behind a theater seat.” When I see a scary movie — as I am prone to do on occasion, against my own better judgement — I grip my husband's arm like I'm clinging to a life preserver in the middle of the Atlantic. There's no way I'm letting go of it. And, if he's careful not to squirm too much, I don't usually leave indents of my fingers. Unfortunately for him this was definitely a “leaving indents” kind of weekend. Of course, it's mostly his fault since he kept trying to scare me just as the movie was trying to scare me — I can't handle fright coming from two places at once. The movies I saw this weekend certainly delivered enough scares of their own (without my bonehead's, err, husband's help).
Let's start with the scariest. “Boogeyman,” do I really need to say anything else? Raise your hand if you can guess what this movie was about. That's right, a big scary man who comes out of the closet — or from under your bed — and drags you away. Now, I hope I'm not alone here when I say that there was a time when little Selina believed in the Boogeyman. If the closet door was open even a tiny bit, I would holler for my Daddy until he came and closed it. And, don't even get me started on the monster under my bed. I vividly remember getting up to go to the restroom and launching myself across the room like I'd been shot out of a cannon, just so I wouldn't have to put my feet too close to the bed. After all, you never know what's under there, waiting to grab your ankle and jerk you under. Anyway, I had gotten pretty decent at hurtling myself from my bedroom doorway to the center of the bed with not so much as a touch of my toes to the bedroom floor. Seriously, if diving across a room were an Olympic sport, I would have been a gold medalist.
Anyway, we're not here to talk about me. We're here to talk about the Boogeyman, so let's get back to it.
The film stars Barry Watson as Timmy, a 23-year-old man who is afraid of closets and pretty much every dark corner because his father was abducted by the Boogeyman when Timmy was 8. As a grown man, he comes up with the extremely brainy idea of returning to his childhood home to face his fears.
I don't know about you, but even if everyone told me it was all in my head, you couldn't pay me enough to spend even two seconds in a house where the Boogeyman lives.
But, Timmy decides he's going to spend the night in the house to break himself of his fear. Good luck, buddy!
This film was scary. Steve and I went to see it with another couple, Chuck and Diane, and they said it wasn't as scary as they thought it was going to be. But I, not being a horror fan, was scared. Though I wasn't actually in tears, I'm pretty sure I was close to wrenching Steve's arm out of the socket.
“Boogeyman” is rated PG-13 “for intense sequences of horror and terror/violence, and some partial nudity,” so is only recommended for the maturest of viewers.
If you like horror films, you probably don't need my say-so to want to see this one. If you're not into horror films, stop by the news office and I'll tell you everything that happens so you won't be as scared when you see it. I'll even give you the scoop on when the jump-out-and-scare-you moments happen.
Though, to be honest, Sharlene Myers told me everything that happened in “The Ring” before I saw it and I was still scared out of my mind.
The other film I saw this weekend was “Hide and Seek.” It starred Robert DeNiro as Dr. David Calloway, a psychiatrist who moves his young daughter, Emily (Dakota Fanning), out of the city after her mother's death. Of course, they move to a big, scary house on the shores of a big, scary lake. Since the summer tourist season had ended, they only had one set of neighbors.
When Emily starts talking about her new friend, Charlie, David chalks it up to her innocent way of dealing with her mother's death. But, Charlie begins taking on a sinister tone and the family cat is his first victim. David must find out if Charlie is real or if Emily is just acting out.
This film was okay, but predictable. I figured it out after the first Charlie incident and was a little disappointed to see the movie end they way I thought it would.
“Hide and Seek” is rated R “for frightening sequences and violence,” so isn't recommended for younger viewers. Like I said earlier, this movie was okay. It wasn't great, but it wasn't that bad, either. If you need an excuse to get out of the house, it's worth seeing at the theater.
Hitting theaters over the next couple of weeks are “Hitch,” “Because of Winn-Dixie,” “Constantine,” and “Son of the Mask.”
Selina Vert is editor of Bay Mills News.
