Boogeyman II (1983) New West Films/Horror RT: 79 minutes Rated R (language, graphic violence, some sexual content) Director: Bruce Starr (Bruce Pearn) Screenplay (uncredited): Bruce Starr, Ulli Lommel and Suzanna Love Music: Tim Krog Cinematography: Philippe Carr-Forster and David Sperling Release date: August 24, 1983 (US) Cast: Suzanna Love, Ulli Lommel, Shannah Hall, Sholto von Douglas, Bob Rosenfarb, Rhonda Aldrich, Sarah Jean Watkins, Rock Mackenzie, Raf Nazario, Leslie Smith, Mina Kolb, Ann Wilkinson, David D’Arnal, Ashley DuBay, John Carradine (flashback sequences). Box Office: N/A
Rating: NO STARS!!!
This is easily the laziest, most half-assed movie sequel EVER! The first 45 minutes of Boogeyman II are composed almost entirely of scenes from the first movie. The story of the original movie is told via flashbacks by Lacey (Love) to a friend who listens with both disbelief (would you believe it?) and fascination. What’s more, she relates events of which she couldn’t possibly have any knowledge since she wasn’t present for them. How stupid do the filmmakers think we are?
On top of everything else, Boogeyman II falls back on the ancient premise of “the butler did it” for the remaining 30 minutes of screen time (not including the closing credits). Wow! Now this movie really is a joke. At least I hope it is. I’d hate to think that the filmmakers were being serious with this abysmal sequel to the passable 1980 fright flick about an evil mirror and the malevolent spirit that escapes from it.
I didn’t think that the first Boogeyman was all that great, but at least writer-director Ulli Lommel made somewhat of an effort with it. The same cannot be said of the folks behind Boogeyman II. It’s such a bad movie that I feel obligated to name names. The guilty parties are Bruce Pearn (going by the pseudonym “Bruce Starr”) in his sole directorial effort and the writers (Pearn, Lommel and Love) who aren’t even credited on screen. What does that tell you? Boogeyman II is so bad that releasing it to the public should have treated as a criminal offense. It’s a true cinematic felony if ever there was one. It doesn’t even matter that there is a decent amount of gore. It’s an insult to the intelligence of anybody who watches it and that’s saying a lot. Have you ever been in the audience for one of these flicks? It’s not exactly a Mensa meeting.
It hardly seems worthwhile even describing the “plot” of Boogeyman II given that most of it consists of the protagonist recounting her terrifying ordeal to a friend (Hall) and her husband (Lommel). As it so happens, Lacey is visiting them in Hollywood which can only mean one thing. That’s right, the husband is a director. He makes exploitation movies (of course) and thinks that Lacey’s story would make for a successful movie. He and his wife don’t believe her story which is why she produces a shard of the mirror as evidence. Why in the hell would she hold onto a single piece of the mirror after all the trouble and bloodshed it caused? Did she know that it would be necessary for the inevitable sequel? I guess so.
In any event, let’s jump ahead a bit. She tells her story and shows her friend the shard. That much we know. The butler (von Douglas), already a real weirdo, becomes possessed by the evil spirit after the piece gets stuck in his hand. This coincides with a party where all the guests are phony Hollywood types who all want a piece of the action. I’m not even going to bother naming or identifying any of them simply because it doesn’t matter. They’re merely sheep lined up for the inevitable slaughter. It all comes down to Lacey and her friend fighting the possessed butler as the husband is nowhere to be found. Even then, it’s not over as evidenced by the final scene which was obviously influenced by the final scene of Carrie. The promise of a third Boogeyman movie constitutes more of a threat than anything else. Will somebody please notify the authorities?
HOLY CRAP!!! Those are about the only words I could muster as I sat through Boogeyman II. It’s a whole different kind of bad than lousy sequels like Speed 2 or Basic Instinct 2 (still my choice for worst sequel EVER!). This one is most definitely a rip-off, so we can add attempted robbery to the ever-growing list of offenses committed by the filmmakers. I didn’t see this one at the movies; I barely remember it opening at theaters in late summer ’83 (it was filmed in ’81). I’m fairly certain that it didn’t play at any theaters in my neck of the woods as I surely would have gone to see it despite not seeing the first movie.
Boogeyman II is 100% dreck! Everything about it reeks of laziness and ineptitude, from the narrative structure to the terrible acting to the poor lighting …. EVERYTHING! Then there are the killings. They should have been the highlight of the movie, but instead turn out to be further evidence of the filmmakers’ incompetence. The scenes are so badly lit that it’s too difficult to see what’s going on. What exactly do we miss? Deaths by electric shears, hedge clippers, electric toothbrush, shaving cream, garden hose, exhaust pipe, corkscrew and shish kebab skewers- all courtesy of the butler and his newly obtained supernatural powers. Perhaps the makers didn’t have the money for decent special effects and used darkness to cover up this shortcoming? It’s as good an explanation as any, I suppose.
Boogeyman II is so bad, it doesn’t even deserve to be shown at the worst fleabag theaters in the most dangerous parts of the city. It doesn’t deserve the latitude that I typically afford to most low budget horror flicks. It’s a shameless display of the contempt that the makers and the studio have for the audience. There’s a certain amount of dignity to most grindhouse flicks and Boogeyman II has none of it. It’s a piece of crap from start to finish. Perhaps the studio should consider changing the title to something more fitting like Don’t See this Movie. On second thought, too many people would take that as a dare and we don’t want that.
