Boogeyman 2 (2007)

Boogeyman 2 is a 2007 horror film directed by Jeff Betancourt and starring Danielle Savre. It is the sequel to the 2005 film Boogeyman. Despite being a direct-to-DVD release, the film received a very rare theatrical run in some countries including Russia, Italy, Mexico and Venezuela.

Plot
Laura Porter, who as a child witnessed both her parents being brutally murdered by a hooded man, along with her brother Henry. A decade later, she still is having trouble dealing with the traumatic event. She checks into a mental health clinic run by Dr. Mitchell Allen and joins a therapy group under the care of Dr. Jessica Ryan (Renee O'Connor). Dr. Ryan has a fear of becoming comatose like her schizophrenic mother. Her brother Henry, who was in the same therapy group, seems to be doing fine and is seemingly cured. Henry goes off to a job interview. Laura gets comfortable with the group which consists of scotophobic Mark, germaphobic Paul, masochistic Alison, agoraphobic Darren who is scared of commitment and relationships, and Nicky, a bulimic girl who fears extreme weight gain.

Laura struggles in facing her fear of the Boogeyman, the entity that Laura believes killed her parents. Then, the therapy group begins to get murdered, one by one. All of their deaths relate to their fears. Mark falls down the elevator shaft, trying to escape from the darkness when the lights go out, and is torn in half. The next is Paul, who accidentally eats a cockroach after finding them in his bag of chips. The killer, a mysterious man wearing a Boogeyman mask and cloak, then hands him a bottle of cleaning solution, which Paul drinks and burns a hole in his throat. Laura begins to suspect these were not accidents. The lights go out at the hospital and all that's left is Laura, Alison, Darren, Nicky, Dr. Ryan and Gloria, the receptionist. Gloria (Lesli Margherita) goes to the basement to check the lights. Alison is killed when the Boogeyman ties her to the bed and places maggots on her arms, which crawl into Alison's skin using the cuts, forcing her to cut them out, killing herself in the process.

Dr. Ryan goes to the basement to check on Gloria and is electrocuted when the Boogeyman throws an electrical cord into a puddle of water she is standing in. Laura finds a file on her brother and ones on other patients with Bogyphobia (what Laura has). She finds out that all Bogyphobia patients including Tim Jensen (character from the first film) have committed suicide after being treated by Dr. Allen. Darren and Nicky have sexual intercourse in the locker room and Laura finds Alison. She gets Darren and Nicky, but when they get to where Alison was, the blood and the maggots have been cleaned up. Darren and Nicky think she's crazy. Darren and Nicky go to Darren's room, where they have an argument. Darren thinks they shouldn't have a relationship. Darren forces Nicky out of the room and is killed when the Boogeyman painfully cuts him open and takes out his heart.

Laura goes to the basement when she hears Nicky scream and finds her on a table. Nicky has hoses attached to her, filling her with bile until she explodes. Laura runs away in shock, and the Boogeyman attacks her. He chases her through the hospital, where she finds Gloria dead and Dr. Ryan barely alive and mumbling, in some sort of trance. Laura begins a cat and mouse game with the Boogeyman, who chases her through the underground storage area, finally running into Dr. Allen who thinks Laura committed the killings. He tries to sedate her, but the Boogeyman stabs Dr. Allen and shoves two needles in his eyes. The Boogeyman is revealed to be Henry, Laura's brother. Henry was treated by Dr. Allen. Dr. Allen abused Henry, locking him in a closet.

Henry was beginning to doubt the Boogeyman's existence, until the Boogeyman himself appeared in the closet and entered into him. Whist possessing Henry, the Boogeyman decided to take revenge on those who didn't believe in him, and this way he would make himself known to the world. Henry then chases Laura. She hides in a room, but Henry finds her and she decapitates him with garden shears. The police arrive and discover that under the Boogeyman mask was Dr Ryan. Between killing Dr. Allen and Laura running and hiding, he put a delusional Dr. Ryan in the Boogeyman mask and Laura decapitated Dr. Ryan. Knowing Henry is running free she has a breakdown and is dragged away by the police.

List of Deaths
List of deaths in Boogeyman 2.

Development and filming
Boogeyman 2 was first announced in October 2006 due to the financial success of its predecessor with Jeff Betancourt, film editor of The Exorcism of Emily Rose, When a Stranger Calls and The Grudge 2, making his directorial debut and Brian Sieve attached as writer. The film was slated to start development in January 2007 in Los Angeles, California. It was produced by Ghost House Pictures, a film production company created by Sam Raimi and Robert Tapert which specializes in creating horror films. Betancourt stated that he wanted to avoid usage of CGI as well as present a new take on the Boogeyman rather than rehashing the storyline of the first film; this led to a more grounded version of the creature in the film. As a result, and due to the film's low budget, he focused especially on the atmosphere and writing. Storyboards were used extensively to plan out the film and minimize wasted effort and resources by make-up artists on unused prosthetics; the limited budget meant that most effects could only be filmed once. The former hospital Linda Vista Community Hospital served as the primary filming location for the mental institution.

Casting
The first actor to be cast was Renee O'Connor as Dr. Jessica Ryan in December 2006; she filmed her first scenes in February 2007. O'Connor had visited her personal friend and Boogeyman 's producer Rob Tapert on the New Zealand set, where she had had a discussion with him about "the differences of having a supernatural demon versus a real person that can come in and be a threat." She concluded the former was scarier. On getting cast in the film and her approach to the character, she stated:

In mid-January, Danielle Savre was cast as the film's lead Laura Porter. On Savre, Betancourt stated that "[she] has been incredible so far and has been a real trooper. We've [...] had her running up and down these halls screaming, throwing blood on her, throwing vomit on her, throwing guts on her and she's held up so far." Tobin Bell was cast as Dr. Mitchell Allen in February and Matt Cohen as Laura's brother Henry in March. Bell modeled his portrayal after Dick Cheney.

Effects
The special effects were handled by Quantum Creation FX, who were involved with the project throughout the entire duration of filming. Ten artisans and technicians were involved in creating severed heads, puppets, prosthetic makeup, and gore gags. The killer's mask was designed by Jerad S. Marantz, and the Boogeyman itself was based on Betancourt's own childhood fears, with "skeletal things and bird corpses" as inspiration for its skin texture.

Release
Boogeyman 2 was screened in a sold-out showing on October 20, 2007 at the Screamfest Horror Film Festival in Grauman's Chinese Theatre. During the same month, it was announced that the film would be released on DVD on January 8, 2008. Outside the United States, the film was released theatrically in both Russia, where it stayed in theaters for two weeks, and Italy.

Box office
Boogeyman 2 made at least $2,484,219 from its domestic video sales and a further $1,798,418 from its international releases, bringing the total gross to $4,282,637.

Critical reception
The film was criticized for having an unoriginal story and unlikable characters. Brandon Ciampaglia of IGN described it as "yet another stupid horror film" and gave it a score of 4/10. Ryan Turek of ComingSoon.net criticized the story, characters, and lack of suspense, but found the film more entertaining than the original, with better acting than it deserved. He added that despite the movie's low budget, "[Betancourt] has hashed together a fine-looking film that’s technically competent." Tristan Sinns of Dread Central awarded it two out of five stars, criticizing it for not featuring the mythological Boogeyman and having unsympathetic characters but praising the death scenes as "rather creative."

Positive reviews praised the film for presenting a more realistic approach to the Boogeyman and eschewing CGI, both of which were considered improvements over its predecessor. Its death scenes were highly praised for being extremely violent and gory. Many reviewers also recognized that the film exceeded their expectations despite its direct-to-video status and low budget. Shawn Lealos of CHUD.com gave the film a score of 6.8 out of ten, stating that it was "a very solid little horror flick that forgoes the ridiculous CGI and hokum supernatural aspects of the first movie, as well as the restraints of PG-13." In a similar review, Matthew Stern of PopMatters praised the film in comparison to its predecessor, giving it eight stars out of ten, with a consensus reading: "A film that bucks the stigma of direct-to-DVD sequels, this unyieldingly dark and bloody feature will surprise you, especially if you were unfortunate enough to catch the first one." David Nusair of Reel Film Reviews also praised Boogeyman 2 over the first film, particularly for its "satisfying kill sequences" and an entertaining supporting cast. While he criticized the middle half as "uneventful," he felt that the film "recovers nicely for a surprisingly enthralling third act" and gave it 2.5/4 stars.

Home media
The DVD, which was released as "Unrated Director's Cut" and lacks an MPAA rating, includes two different commentaries. The first one features director Betancourt and writer Sieve while the second features actors Bell and Savre along with producers Hein and Bryman. Additionally, the DVD includes a documentary called "Bringing Fear to Life: Makeup Effects from Storyboards to Screen," which shows some of the film's development using storyboards. The film has also been digitally released on Google Play, Amazon Video and Hulu.

Sequel
A sequel, titled Boogeyman 3, premiered at the Screamfest Horror Film Festival on October 18, 2008 and was released direct-to-video on January 20, 2009. Brian Sieve came back as writer, but the film features new cast members and characters, taking place on a college campus and starring Erin Cahill. As with the first movie, the Boogeyman is portrayed as a supernatural entity.