I’ve often suggested that the greatest asset of making a traditional Horror movie is that there’s an existing formula that – if followed correctly – practically guarantees a modest measure of success.
Now … the truth here is that Hollywood does like to vary its formulas to some degree, but an awful lot of storytellers stick fairly close to what they’ve seen work best and with modest investment. The story must have a relative amount of suspense – a creeping tension that elevates even the slowest scenes. Despite having a fantastic premise, the production should rely on some graphic realism: if limbs are going to be wrenched from bodies, then it should look about as authentic as effects people can supply. Of course, it should go without saying that the entire affair should understandably dabble in gore, even if that means that buckets and buckets of (faux) blood be waiting in the wings to drench any and all players when the time is right. And if there’s a monster? Well, then that creature should be deployed sparingly: overdoing that screen time tends to dilute the mystery surrounding who or what they are, and – if not enough money has been spent on crafting a screenworthy opponent – the entire house of cards might fall apart at the worst possible moment.
So … an early 1980’s monster movie like The Boogens does, realistically, stick pretty close to that original blueprint. It keeps the scale small, setting all of the action in some sleepy little burg called Silver City, Colorado. In this backwater town, a crack construction team working to re-open a silver mine shuttered decades before inadvertently release a little ‘something something’ that’s been sealed up for ages; and the long and short of this reemergence is that these things are, characteristically, hungry. They’ll stop at nothing to clean their plates of just about every man, woman, child, and dog in the vicinity unless someone can bring it all to the necessary close before dinner is served.
The short of it all? Well, The Boogens is a bit light in substance, feeling like something a bit too often on the kiddie menu.
The long of it? Well, you’ll get that after my customary qualifier.
(NOTE: The following review will contain minor spoilers necessary solely for the discussion of plot and/or characters. If you’re the type of reader who prefers a review entirely spoiler-free, then I’d encourage you to skip down to the last few paragraphs for the final assessment. If, however, you’re accepting of a few modest hints at ‘things to come,’ then read on …)
Now … the truth here is that Hollywood does like to vary its formulas to some degree, but an awful lot of storytellers stick fairly close to what they’ve seen work best and with modest investment. The story must have a relative amount of suspense – a creeping tension that elevates even the slowest scenes. Despite having a fantastic premise, the production should rely on some graphic realism: if limbs are going to be wrenched from bodies, then it should look about as authentic as effects people can supply. Of course, it should go without saying that the entire affair should understandably dabble in gore, even if that means that buckets and buckets of (faux) blood be waiting in the wings to drench any and all players when the time is right. And if there’s a monster? Well, then that creature should be deployed sparingly: overdoing that screen time tends to dilute the mystery surrounding who or what they are, and – if not enough money has been spent on crafting a screenworthy opponent – the entire house of cards might fall apart at the worst possible moment.
So … an early 1980’s monster movie like The Boogens does, realistically, stick pretty close to that original blueprint. It keeps the scale small, setting all of the action in some sleepy little burg called Silver City, Colorado. In this backwater town, a crack construction team working to re-open a silver mine shuttered decades before inadvertently release a little ‘something something’ that’s been sealed up for ages; and the long and short of this reemergence is that these things are, characteristically, hungry. They’ll stop at nothing to clean their plates of just about every man, woman, child, and dog in the vicinity unless someone can bring it all to the necessary close before dinner is served.
The short of it all? Well, The Boogens is a bit light in substance, feeling like something a bit too often on the kiddie menu.
The long of it? Well, you’ll get that after my customary qualifier.
(NOTE: The following review will contain minor spoilers necessary solely for the discussion of plot and/or characters. If you’re the type of reader who prefers a review entirely spoiler-free, then I’d encourage you to skip down to the last few paragraphs for the final assessment. If, however, you’re accepting of a few modest hints at ‘things to come,’ then read on …)
From the film’s IMDB.com page citation:
“Otherworldly creatures are released from the bootleg tunnels underneath a small-town mining community and begin chomping on the locals.”
Regular readers to SciFiHistory.Net know all too well that I’m exceptionally fond of the traditional monster movie, and The Boogens is exactly the kind of thing I’m talking about. There’s a critter – actually, there’s presumably a whole subterranean civilization of them though we’re only shown a few – near the film’s beating heart; and said critter meets nearly all the qualifications that makes for a seminal carnivore.
What’s missing?
Well, the best monster movies invoke a degree of sympathy for these bloodthirsty things that never asked to be born, never asked to be unleashed, and never asked to possess an insatiable appetite. Functionally, that’s nowhere to be seen in the production, so … yeah … this outing from genre director James L. Conway and screenwriters David O’Malley and Jim Kouf veers into more traditional and simpler territory than it could’ve. When even a throwaway element – something as innocuous as greater hints to just how and why these buggers were born, bred, and evolved – is nowhere in sight, the film feels more like a slasher-gone-monsterific instead of something that could stand shoulder to bloody shoulder alongside King Kong, the Wolfman, or even the Creature from the Black Lagoon.
To make matters worse, the Boogens really aren’t even all that photogenic, nor does their anatomy make much sense.
At times, the beasts are depicted as something akin to crawling octopi, using their long, claw-tipped tentacles to do whatever nasties they like. When we finally see one kinda/sorta emerge in the shadows of a cabin’s basement, they’re a bit more reptilian – small, stout bodies with big round heads and massive bulging eyes – and it begs the question: where the Hell do those tentacles come from, and why do we see more of them than we ever do a complete Boogen?
I suspect this is because whatever creature was imagined dwelling beneath our fragile Earth never really had a full design. Instead, the Boogen was conceived to be whatever was necessary to carry the tension and set up for the kill in each time and place one was needed. (Mind you: without spoiling the particulars, most victims are simply clutched by a tentacle and dragged off into the shadows and a dark fate, and we’re shown very little more.) Consequently, the manufacturer had to prepare for just about any eventuality, and this cheapens what could’ve otherwise been a great first chapter in a franchise practically crying out for invention.
“Otherworldly creatures are released from the bootleg tunnels underneath a small-town mining community and begin chomping on the locals.”
Regular readers to SciFiHistory.Net know all too well that I’m exceptionally fond of the traditional monster movie, and The Boogens is exactly the kind of thing I’m talking about. There’s a critter – actually, there’s presumably a whole subterranean civilization of them though we’re only shown a few – near the film’s beating heart; and said critter meets nearly all the qualifications that makes for a seminal carnivore.
What’s missing?
Well, the best monster movies invoke a degree of sympathy for these bloodthirsty things that never asked to be born, never asked to be unleashed, and never asked to possess an insatiable appetite. Functionally, that’s nowhere to be seen in the production, so … yeah … this outing from genre director James L. Conway and screenwriters David O’Malley and Jim Kouf veers into more traditional and simpler territory than it could’ve. When even a throwaway element – something as innocuous as greater hints to just how and why these buggers were born, bred, and evolved – is nowhere in sight, the film feels more like a slasher-gone-monsterific instead of something that could stand shoulder to bloody shoulder alongside King Kong, the Wolfman, or even the Creature from the Black Lagoon.
To make matters worse, the Boogens really aren’t even all that photogenic, nor does their anatomy make much sense.
At times, the beasts are depicted as something akin to crawling octopi, using their long, claw-tipped tentacles to do whatever nasties they like. When we finally see one kinda/sorta emerge in the shadows of a cabin’s basement, they’re a bit more reptilian – small, stout bodies with big round heads and massive bulging eyes – and it begs the question: where the Hell do those tentacles come from, and why do we see more of them than we ever do a complete Boogen?
I suspect this is because whatever creature was imagined dwelling beneath our fragile Earth never really had a full design. Instead, the Boogen was conceived to be whatever was necessary to carry the tension and set up for the kill in each time and place one was needed. (Mind you: without spoiling the particulars, most victims are simply clutched by a tentacle and dragged off into the shadows and a dark fate, and we’re shown very little more.) Consequently, the manufacturer had to prepare for just about any eventuality, and this cheapens what could’ve otherwise been a great first chapter in a franchise practically crying out for invention.
Now, I’m not complaining about Conway’s techniques here because – on that level – The Boogens works quite well. As I mentioned above, there’s a formula to all of this madness – along with the usual degree of tropes expected no matter how good or bad a flick is – and the director scores well with moving camera takes, effective set-ups and resolutions, and even the appearance of enough blood and/or guts to suggest something grander transpired. A cheaper or less talented director might’ve relied on gratuitousness, but Conway and friends packed this production with ample nuance. I do wish, ultimately, that there were more Boogens to consider, if for no other reason that I happen to like monsters.
Furthermore, the production benefits from a solid cast. While it may not contain any box office draws from the era, this ensemble definitely brought some impressive skills even to some small screen time, and the picture feels as though it was a labor of love by all participants. The always fetching Rebecca Balding as ‘Trish Michaels’ makes for a smart leading lady; brought along initially as a second wheel by her gal pal ‘Jessica Ford’ (the equally perky Anne-Marie Martin), she winds up front-and-center once the narrative turns into an investigation about what may’ve gone done in the abandoned mine years ago. While it doesn’t become her story solely, Trish shares the limelight with ‘Mark Kinner,’ an eventually love interest that develops nicely as a serviceable subplot.
Still, it’s hard to overcome the disadvantage of implementing a somewhat non-sinister demon as the film’s antagonist. No amount of good work can replace some inferior designs, and I suppose that’s probably why The Boogens has largely disappeared from the cinematic landscape.
The Boogens (1981) was produced by Taft International Pictures. DVD distribution (for this particular release) has been coordinated by the fine folks at Kino Lorber. As for the technical specifications? While I’m no trained video expert, I thought that the sights-and-sounds to this reported brand new HD Master (from a 4K scan of the 35mm Original Camera Negative) to be quite good in most places, but there were a few sequences that look a bit washed out. Lastly, if you’re looking for special features? The disc boasts two audio commentaries along with a featurette exploring the work of William Munns, the effects specialist who created the film’s central creatures.
Alas … only mildly recommended.
My fondness for monster movies has been known to get the best of me, but The Boogens (1981) just underwhelms more often than it excels. While I’ll concede that the flick adheres to the method previous Horrors both explored and achieved, this one falls flat with the – cough cough – big creature reveal, a suitably goo-covered critter still too nebulous and poorly lit for audiences to fully appreciate. It’s a somewhat obvious invention, one so obvious I found it hard to ratchet up the vicarious chills the onscreen spills were supposed to produce. The film’s saving grace is the fact that it efficiently delivers on most of its expectations, making it an interesting 90-minute ride but probably not a repeat … well, except for those wanting to ogle Ms. Martin in a towel or Ms. Balding’s naked butt. Unexpected high points, indeed.
In the interests of fairness, I’m pleased to disclose that the fine folks at Kino Lorber provided me with a complimentary Blu-ray of The Boogens (1981) by request for the expressed purpose of completing this review. Their contribution to me in no way, shape, or form influenced my opinion of it.
-- EZ
Furthermore, the production benefits from a solid cast. While it may not contain any box office draws from the era, this ensemble definitely brought some impressive skills even to some small screen time, and the picture feels as though it was a labor of love by all participants. The always fetching Rebecca Balding as ‘Trish Michaels’ makes for a smart leading lady; brought along initially as a second wheel by her gal pal ‘Jessica Ford’ (the equally perky Anne-Marie Martin), she winds up front-and-center once the narrative turns into an investigation about what may’ve gone done in the abandoned mine years ago. While it doesn’t become her story solely, Trish shares the limelight with ‘Mark Kinner,’ an eventually love interest that develops nicely as a serviceable subplot.
Still, it’s hard to overcome the disadvantage of implementing a somewhat non-sinister demon as the film’s antagonist. No amount of good work can replace some inferior designs, and I suppose that’s probably why The Boogens has largely disappeared from the cinematic landscape.
The Boogens (1981) was produced by Taft International Pictures. DVD distribution (for this particular release) has been coordinated by the fine folks at Kino Lorber. As for the technical specifications? While I’m no trained video expert, I thought that the sights-and-sounds to this reported brand new HD Master (from a 4K scan of the 35mm Original Camera Negative) to be quite good in most places, but there were a few sequences that look a bit washed out. Lastly, if you’re looking for special features? The disc boasts two audio commentaries along with a featurette exploring the work of William Munns, the effects specialist who created the film’s central creatures.
Alas … only mildly recommended.
My fondness for monster movies has been known to get the best of me, but The Boogens (1981) just underwhelms more often than it excels. While I’ll concede that the flick adheres to the method previous Horrors both explored and achieved, this one falls flat with the – cough cough – big creature reveal, a suitably goo-covered critter still too nebulous and poorly lit for audiences to fully appreciate. It’s a somewhat obvious invention, one so obvious I found it hard to ratchet up the vicarious chills the onscreen spills were supposed to produce. The film’s saving grace is the fact that it efficiently delivers on most of its expectations, making it an interesting 90-minute ride but probably not a repeat … well, except for those wanting to ogle Ms. Martin in a towel or Ms. Balding’s naked butt. Unexpected high points, indeed.
In the interests of fairness, I’m pleased to disclose that the fine folks at Kino Lorber provided me with a complimentary Blu-ray of The Boogens (1981) by request for the expressed purpose of completing this review. Their contribution to me in no way, shape, or form influenced my opinion of it.
-- EZ
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