Hey folks, Harry here... This flick, the first from Raimi's GHOST HOUSE label, is due out in August, so this thing still has a whole helluvalot of work left to be done. Almost zero CG, temp everything... heck even wires still in. However, seems like Raimi's first pick sounds like a bit of a winner! Great! Can't wait to see how it all turns out!
Hey Harry,
I'm a long time reader, first time contributor. I'm currently a student at UCLA, which you may imagine gives me the chance to preview all sorts of great movies.
Today I had the great honor of being in the first ever screening of Boogyman, the first horror movie produced under Sam Raimi's new company, Ghost House. A friend and I went to a small theatre and were prepped with the usual "no recording device" shpeal. About thirty of us mortals were there, along with Sam Raimi and the directors! They ran out of seats so a couple of us got beanbags.
The movie was a very rough cut. Strings were still attached to the actors and all the special effects shots were still in starting stages. The plot goes to the tune of this: A young man by the name Tim is haunted by memories of the Boogyman, who constantly haunted him as a child. A killer opening sequence has a young Tim sitting in his bed at night. He can't get to sleep: he keeps seeing glimpses of the monster, only to be a pile of clothes or toys when he turns on the light. It's such a great scene because we've all been scared like that as kids (hell, that shit still gets me!). Finally, Tim's dad comes in to see what the fuss is all about and... well, I won't ruin any surprises for you!
I'm sure Raimi is glad to have this movie in his starting line-up for Ghost House. It isn't a grand opus by any means: but it is a great b-movie horror romp, much like a Wes Craven or even a modern day Evil Dead. The camera work is impressive; like another character on screen running around all the action. The suspense is definitely there, though they definitely use way too much of the "image-flash" technique (think the American "Ring") to try and get our blood pumping. Probably the best part of the movie is not knowing whether or not what's happening is real or if Tim is really just going nuts. In one scene he gets caught in a closet, and seems to be "attacked" by something inside of it, although it could just be the coat hangers scratching him. It adds another tier to the film that keeps it above the straight-to-video shelfs.
Well, that's it. Hopefully they'll chop it a little shorter in editing, to keep it at a nice pace, and whip up a convincingly spooky monster. I hope I can get back to you with more info. Until then, just call me...
-Torgo
