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Overall Rating : 3/10
Directed By : Gary Jones
Erin Cahill
Chuck Hittinger
Mimi Michaels (Shark Swarm)
Matt Rippy (Day of the Dead (2007) )
Supplied By : Sony Pictures
Film Reviewed By : Rick L. Blalock
Date Reviewed : January. 15, 2009
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| PLOT When college sophomore Sarah Morris witnesses the alleged suicide of her best friend, it sets into motion a series of horrific events that cause Sarah to fear the supernatural entity known as the Boogeyman. As she tries to convince the rest of her dorm that the Boogeyman does exist, the evil force grows stronger and her friends begin to pay the price. Now Sarah must stop this ultimate evil before the entire campus falls prey because the question isn't whether or not the Boogeyman is going to get them...it's HOW and WHEN! |
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| THE REVIEW In BOOGEYMAN 3 Sarah is a college student who hosts a self-help radio show on campus. One night during the show, her roommate calls in saying that she is being stalked by "The Boogeyman". Sarah frightened for her friend Audrey's life, rushes back to the dorm, only to find her hanging by a belt dead. The topic of the young student's death is much talked about around campus, and for Sarah, it's an incident that is much thought about. It is later, that Sarah reveals to her classmates that on the night of Audrey's death, she happened to see a shadowy figure standing over the deceased. This figure, she tells them...is The Boogeyman, but Sarah, known for psychological problems, is laughed off by virtually everyone who choses to listen. But sure enough, when the bodies of her classmates begin to pile up as the result of various gruesome deaths, it turns out that Sarah's fear might be a lot more than just make believe. Ok, so here is a very brief history of me and my liking of the BOOGEYMAN series(do not confuse these with the ok Ulli Lommel flick - aka the best film he's ever made). I really hated the first film and all of it's "CGI'ness", the second one really surprised me, it was actually really clever, taking a nod at 80's films.....i'll admit it, I liked it a lot. Which leads me to this follow-up of sorts, just one in the truckload of Direct-to-DVD sequels to be released this year. Now to answer the inevitable first question everyone will ask...."Is BOOGEYMAN 3 a direct sequel? Does it have any connection to the first and second? Well, your answer would be yes, it does have a connection...albeit small, but it's still there. You know the girl that I referred to above, who "hangs" herself...Audrey? Yeah, well...she just so happens to be the daughter of Tobin Bell's Dr. Allen character from the second film. But once she is dead and gone, all connections are severed, save for a mention of the character from the first film, and the fact that Sarah carries around the journal of Dr. Allen and continuously reads his studies. Actually for this film's script we are back to the drawing board as they say, we have yet another story that involves a "supernatural" Boogeyman. This film goes on to explain that each time someone believes in the Boogeyman, the true monster that is legendary grows stronger. It's a bunch of unnecessary hoopla, but what it is basically telling us in this third installment, is that the events in the first and second films were just isolated incidents. And that since Tim and Henry actually believed in the Boogeyman, they are reason why the real Boogeyman is as strong as he is today....so now, powerful enough, he comes out to play in this film...and to tell you the truth, watching the Boogeyman play is like watching paint dry. There are a lot of things I could say about this film, but i'll put it mildly and simply say that this film is boring. It is slightly ahead of it's original counterpart, but as compared to the second, it has no story, originality, substance, nor reason. Although BOOGEYMAN 2 seemed to be heavily inspired by A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 3 : DREAM WARRIORS, at least it had reason behind it. You see, when a victim would die in the second, they would parrish in ways that involved their deepest fear - which to me was a cool throwback, and a much refreshing change in this series that was previously tarnished up by CGI animation. This time around, people just seem to die for the sake of gore and a cool death gag. I still can't figure out the reasoning for each death scenario, but they all seemed to involve objects used by the victim(a bong, an instrument trunk, a dryer....etc). I found it truly difficult to keep my eyes on this film, as there is nothing driving the film, the killer is laughable and a step back to the original of sorts, the characters are unoriginal and dry....the main character Sarah is the only one who is actually remotely likable....but even she is unoriginal, as her Radio DJ gig can lightly be compared to that of Caroline Williams' character "Stretch" in THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE 2. DJ characters in movies are nothing new, we have characters like 'Super Soul' from the great film, VANISHING POINT, Gene Simmons' character in TRICK OR TREAT, but no one comes close to Stretch.....I mean, how could you not love a girl who asks, "how good are you?" To make it short, yes, even BOOGEYMAN 3's main character is a bit bland. After seeing BOOGEYMAN 3, I really dreaded having to write up this review, as there was absolutely nothing that excited me about this one. Forget serious and practical, the BOOGEYMAN franchise is back on the silly and ridiculous route, if you like this type of film, well then good for you, I know that some of you do. But as for the people who were surprised at how good BOOGEYMAN 2 was(myself included), in my honest opinion, you are likely to be sorely disappointed in this one. |
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| GORE
METER 5/10 There's a bloody hanging, a bong crushed in a face, a body that is brutally contorted, lots of blood splatter, digital gore, among other stuff.. it may have been abundant, but it all wasn't that impressive to me. |
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| MUSICAL
SCORE 4/10 Some dark and gloomy orchestrations....it fit the movie pretty well, but as with the movie...I didn't pay much attention. |
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| OVERALL
IMPRESSION OF THE FILM All I can say is that this film failed to live up to the expectations set by the second film....a film that I thought was kind of brilliant for a Direct-to-DVD sequel. BOOGEYMAN 3 looks and feels as cheap and generic as it actually is, as well as feeling rushed and made for the sake of profit. By the looks of BOOGEYMAN 3's ending, this series will keep continuing...personally I would've ended on the good note that was BOOGEYMAN 2. This DVD will be released January 20, 2009 |
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