Stephen King

Wicked Wednesday: The Boogeyman (1982)

One of my deepest, darkest secrets is that I’m not really much of a Stephen King fan. Now I have nothing against him as a human or a writer, but I’ve just never connected with his stories like so many others have. Does that make me a bad horror fan? Oops!

So when it came to watching a short film adaption of his short story “The Boogeyman” I was in the dark when it came to what to expect.

I had to read the short story’s synopsis on Wiki just so I could better understand what’s happening in the film. The film itself is a bit…lacking in the writing department.

Lester Billings is the father of several children who have been killed in his home. The police suspect he has something to do with it, but Lester knows that the truth is: they’ve been killed by the Boogeyman.

He goes to a psychiatrist to talk about what has happened. With each child’s death, he heard them call out “BOOGEYMAN” (I think – though I couldn’t really tell with the quality of the video I was watching). And each time he found a dead child in bed, the closet door would be ajar.

So is Lester insane? Or is there really a mythic creature hunting him and his family?

The end of the film sort of gives you that answer. But then again, I’m happy I read the synopsis as I watched this.

This was apparently a student film made in 1982. For a student film, I like the mood and lighting in some of the scenes, which seem to be Italian inspired with the blue, purple and red tones. But it isn’t spectacular by any means.

The Boogeyman was a part of Stephen King’s Dollar Baby programme. According to its website, “These stories are not under contract for movies, which means they are available for film students who want to try their hands at a Stephen King story. If you want to be one of my dollar babies, send us your info.”

It’s a fun idea, and I’d be curious to see more! Interestingly, “The Boogeyman” is no longer listed. It’s apparently do a feature-length adaptation by Rob Savage (Host) and Mark Heyman (co-writer of Black Swan). Having read the synopsis and watched this, I’m not entirely sure what can be done to make this an interesting 90+ minute film. However, I do love to be proved wrong.

What’s your favourite King adaptation? Or what sort of his am I sorely missing out on?

In the summertime when the weather is hot

P1000498‘Turn off the television – in fact, why don’t you turn off all the lights except for the one over your favourite chair? – and we’ll talk about vampires here in the dim. I think I can make you believe in them.’

Ah, the romantic, dreary, hot summer days – ones filled with heat that sticks and gives you the sense that you couldn’t move much faster than those garden snails you keep finding on the kitchen floor. They are days that hold so much potential to create worlds filled with magic. On muggy days like these spent in the country side of Wisconsin, nothing is better than reading a book that fills you with fear.

I’ve been reading ‘Salem’s Lot, but never have I read it the way that King proposed I should do: alone, at night, as dark as you can possibly make it. Since Spring and Summer came all at once, the bullfrogs haven’t stopped croaking all night. As the world of King’s vampires fill me with fear, I find myself a grown woman praying that the frogs don’t stop croaking – believe that if they finally are quiet I’m in as much danger as the heroes of my novel.

‘Salem’s Lot is not one of King’s most psychologically trying novels, but instead fills you with heartbreak and dread. What would you do if the small town you grew up in became a feast for vampires? You can think that through next time you’re alone at night.

But what does King’s Maine and my Wisconsin have in common? It’s that space. There is plenty of room to be filled with dark stories, whether they are fiction or not.I was having a late-night conversation with my best friend while we were driving through the dark woods trying to spot deer. We talked about the 12-year-old girls from Waukesha and how on earth Slender Man could be so manipulative for an imaginary creature. She told me about the bodies in Geneva. Wisconsin was even home to two of the nation’s most notorious serial killers. Strange that these places of our childhood can take such an ugly form (even if we are the most polite people you will ever meet).

The summer seems to be the best time to really let our imagination get the best of us. Fingers crossed the reality stays far away.

*I wrote this while in Wisconsin. I have been back in London for three days now. Can time slip by any faster?