Warning: The following article contains major spoilers for The Boogeyman.
In a cinematic ocean full of Stephen King film adaptations, the trend has hit a new high lately with The Boogeyman — a mind-melting supernatural experience that revolves around a grieving family dealing with a tragic death. Much like Kyle Edward Ball’s Skinamarink, The Boogeyman deals with familiar elements of childhood fears, trauma, and the overwhelming sense of dread whenever you’re in the area of dark spaces. Only this time, actually catching glimpses of the monster is enough to keep moviegoers on the edge of their seats.
Despite the vast multitude of Stephen King adaptations, it’s worth noting that The Boogeyman is sitting close to the top — with a positive Rotten Tomatoes score making the project one of the more successful adaptations as of late. But with a spine-tingling premise as evident as this one, it should hardly come as a great surprise that film buffs are loving the supernatural piece.
What is The Boogeyman about?
The movie specifically focuses on the Harper family — consisting of father Will, younger daughter Sawyer, and the eldest daughter Sadie. Before the film’s events, Will’s wife was tragically killed in a horrific car accident. As a result, the entire family is attempting to move on after her death, but the overwhelming sensation of grief is still very much there.
Sometime after the death, Will is visited by Lester Billings — a man claiming that a supernatural force murdered his two children just one year after his infant child passed away. Lester insists to Will that the monster takes your children when “you’re not paying attention.” Overcome with guilt and grief, Lester takes his own life in the Harpers’ household. Eventually, the Boogeyman begins to stalk his prey and causes unfathomable chaos inside the house — specifically focusing on Sawyer.
In an attempt to figure out what’s happening, Sadie visits the Billings’ house, only to run into Lester’s wife Rita, who still lives in the household and keeps candles scattered all through the hallways to keep the Boogeyman away. Eventually, Rita attempts to use Sadie as bait to lure the Boogeyman into the house to kill it, but the plan backfires and the Boogeyman kills Rita, leaving Sadie to try and save her family alone. After plenty of convincing on Sadie’s part, Will finally believes the monster that Sawyer and Sadie are seeing is actually real.
The Boogeyman ending, explained
In the movie’s closing minutes, Will, Sadie, and Sawyer join together to try and defeat the Boogeyman. After a brutal brawl, the trio decides to set the creature on fire using a lighter that belonged to Sadie and Sawyer’s mother. Just when all hope seems lost, the lighter’s flame grows bigger, indicating that Sadie and Sawyer’s mother’s presence is with them and helping them. Ultimately, the Boogeyman is set on fire, along with the Harper family’s house.
In the final scene, Will, Sadie, and Sawyer are all attending a therapy session together, marking the first time in the film that Will joins his daughters and chooses to talk about his grief. As the trio is leaving the session, Sadie hears the voice of the therapist call her back into the office. However, when Sadie arrives back in the office, she realizes the therapist is nowhere to be found. As her fear increases, a nearby closet door opens, indicating that the Boogeyman could still be alive. But when Sadie sees the real therapist walk into the room, Sadie shuts the door, refusing to let the Boogeyman or old grief back into her life.
Will there be a sequel?
As ambiguous as a horror ending can be, it’s currently up in the air whether or not The Boogeyman will receive a sequel. As previously mentioned, the closet door opening could be an indicator that perhaps the monster isn’t actually dead. On the other hand, the moment could have simply been Sadie still dealing with a plethora of trauma and grief. Then again, in horror, it’s hard to ever really know if the villain is dead or not.