Fluentiama
Perfect cast and a good story
UnowPriceless
hyped garbage
Adeel Hail
Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.
Paul Magne Haakonsen
I was born in 1975 and watched a fair amount of horror movies during the mid- and late 1980s, odd why I never stumbled across this title. But I did recently, and then I sat down to watch it.Wow, talk about being slow paced! I managed to sit through one hour of this ordeal of a movie. And in all of that time nothing, yes nothing, happened to make the movie even remotely interesting.The characters are flat and one-dimensional, which means you have no interest in them or what happens to them.And the storyline was just about capable of putting you well into dreamland. So there are not thumbs up director James L. Conway on this accomplishment.This was as uninteresting as it gets, and I am not ever returning to finish this movie, not now, not ever.
Predrag
"The Boogens", despite its name, is a well paced horror film which pays justice to the cult monster movies of the 1950's. The editing style gives the viewer a well balanced blend of suspense, shock and gore to make the film both eerie and frightening. Old, forgotten evil and shunned places have informed some of the best horror ever since H. P. Lovecraft first set foot in haunted Arkham. Therefore, "The Boogens", with its eerie mine shafts and mysterious creatures has a lot going for it. Thankfully, the director doesn't saddle the film with dumb-as-dirt characters and goofy clichés. We actually come to care for these people(a titanic achievement for many of today's filmmakers). A great emphasis is placed on generating suspense in lieu of tiresome "pop-ups." A product of budgetary concerns, this nonetheless works in the film's favor. If the titular monsters are less than life-like, at least the smart editing obscures this.On the plus side, the cast is kind of fun, with recognizable faces Rebecca Balding (Silent Scream and TV's Soap) Fred McCarren (Xanadu), Anne-Marie Martin (Dori Doreau on TV's Sledge Hammer!) and veteran character actors John Crawford (all over 60's and 70's television, like Batman and Mission Impossible) and Jon Lormer (Creepshow). The Boogens themselves are mostly represented through low to the ground point of view shots for the first hour or so in classic pre CGI monster movie style until they are finally revealed in all their early 80's animatronics glory near the climax. All in all, this one almost succeeds, but the draggy middle and lack of exposition end up making it only for 80's horror completists in the end.Overall rating: 7 out of 10.
BA_Harrison
It's not unusual for a horror film to feature one or two characters so irritating that they fully warrant a painful demise, and The Boogens is no exception, with Roger, played by Jeff Harlan, being the film's most deserving ass-hat; this particular film goes one step further, however, by even including a dog so obnoxious that you'll be cheering when it eventually meets its fate.The creatures responsible for the doggy's death are 'Boogens', vicious subterranean monsters that are accidentally set free by a group of miners when they reopen an old Colorado silver mine. Once loose, the ravenous critters crawl along tunnels that connect to the house currently occupied by Roger, his pal Mark (Fred McCarren), their pretty girlfriends Vicky and Trish (Anne-Marie Martin and Rebecca Balding), and the movie's maddening mutt Tiger.The insufferably inane 'jokes' and puerile sex-chat from Roger are enough to make you want to switch off, but with the film also dragging its heels regarding actual monster fun, it really is a bit of a chore to get to the end. The film is almost over before the creatures are shown in their entirety and, to be honest, they're really not worth the wait—rubber slug/turtle thingies with random tentacles and claws; they're so crap, one can hardly blame the film-makers for keeping them out of sight for as long as possible.Making the ride a little bit easier to bear are Martin and Balding, who provide a bit of eye-candy to prevent total boredom setting in. Balding very kindly bares her butt and boobs, but Martin keeps herself covered, even when being chased around the house wearing nothing but a bath towel.
SnakesOnAnAfricanPlain
The Boogens doesn't exactly have a notable plot. Little monsters escape and cause havoc and kill. Later examples are so much more successful. It isn't completely devoid of charm. At least it has some strong characters going for it. Even the sex mad ladies man character, is portrayed with a lot of heart and little annoyance. The build is far too slow. I enjoy a bit of tension, but if your monsters look like ridiculous puppets in the final reel, at least showcase them early. Only so many tentacle attacks I can stomach. It's also quite repetitive with just two locations, and the dog sniffing out danger gets about 4 separate scenes. Could do worse, but the slowness is a test of patience.
