| BOOGEYMEN (DVD) |
 2001 – USA
Compilation, starring: Andrew Robinson, Ashley Laurence, Grace Kirby, Doug Bradley, Nicholas Vince, Simon Bamford, Amanda Wyss, Jsu Garcia, Robert Englund, Heather Langenkamp, Andrew Divoff, Brian Klugman, Marilyn Burns, Edwin Neal, Gunnar Hansen - Reviewed by Dan
However, in that capacity, you'd do better to rent the original Halloween or Nightmare on Elm Street and allow real tension to build, rather than watch the few really good scenes on this compilation. Boogeymen is a good introduction to the most famous psychotics and supernatural stalkers ever to frighten the collective Gen-X consciousness. With the exception of a scene from 1960's Psycho, all these bad boys were introduced within the last 25 years or so—so no Frankenstein, Dracula or Creature from the Black Lagoon here. But you will find a fairly complete list from the golden age of the slasher flick, including Freddy Krueger, Jason Voorhees, Leatherface, The Tall Man (from Phantasm) and Ghostface. During the main event (a montage of 17 scenes) each killer is introduced with some fairly slick imagery (a raging inferno of bloody red images) along with a quick bio and fact sheet (like meeting the next contestant on "The Dating Game") but then it's right into a sampling of their splatter. The problem with removing the splatter moments from the context of their films is that doing so makes them even more gratuitous than they already are (and sometimes more silly). Watching bloody scene after bloody unrelated scene started to make me feel dirty. And THAT'S a real trick. But I won't wax moralistic about it. Personally I was hoping for more definitive moments from most of these killers' careers and fewer spoilers. Several scenes, including those featured from the original Halloween, Psycho and Hellraiser films, basically give away the big ending—as opposed to the scene featuring Jason Voorhees in which no one is even killed. This is like going to Disneyland and not going on the rides. Whatever. Plus, I question the decision to include boogeymen like Simon, from The Ugly (who?) and Corbin Bernsen, from The Dentist. These guys seem way out of place. What about Camilla, the tree monster from The Guardian? Who? But the Boogeymen DVD is not without its merits. There are a lot of cool extras including several theatrical trailers for many of the films featured, and further bios of the boogeymen. The "FlixFacts" animated trivia feature can also be activated to add pop-up info nuggets at the bottom of the screen, a pretty good gimmick. For my money, the real bonus is the audio commentary track by Robert Englund (Freddy Krueger). He seems like a nice guy, and it really is like having him over for a beer while he offers an insider perspective on the horror industry. Go ahead and turn it on the first time you watch. There's also a "Name that Frame" game that culls freeze-frames from the 17 scenes and then challenges you to guess what film they're from. Entertaining for at least 10 minutes or more. Might be useful on Halloween if you can't figure out a more appropriate drinking game. All in all, it's a slick little package with hit and miss content that might be worth having for Halloween background atmosphere. You won't get more than a couple viewings out of the montage, but the extras make up for a lot. |
|
Home
| Currently Playing | For
Rent | Video Obsession ©2001 Moviepie e-mail us |
I like horror movies. Although they're usually as formulaic and predictable
as romance novels, they're rarely as scary as that. Oddly enough, I've heard
that rollercoasters and horror films release the same endorphins in a woman
as foreplay. Take note, lazy loverboys.
