Horror virtuoso Stephen King is known for his horror stories that have been adapted to film for nearly fifty years. While some of his greatest works are available for viewing, his deeply horrific 1973 short story, “The Boogeyman”, has yet to become a full-feature length film, but is ripe with potential.
King’s first break into the cinematic world of horror was with the Brian De Palma 1976 adaptation of his 1974 novel Carrie. Since that moment, he has been at the forefront of horror cinema and nearly dominated the genre’s theatrical releases in the year 2019. There are approximately fifty film adaptations of his works taken from his expansive bibliography of over two-hundred short stories and sixty novels. The short story, “The Boogeyman”, is an unbelievably horrific short story and it is shocking that a director has not taken up the task of adapting it until 2018 (TBA).
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“The Boogeyman” is King’s take on the fear of the unknown. It follows Lester Billings as he speaks to his psychiatrist, Dr. Harper, about the inexplicable deaths of his children. Before each of their deaths, they all yelled out the word “Boogeyman”, leading Lester to believe that a monster is stalking his family and taking the lives of everyone he cares about. In a bizarre twist ending, it is revealed that Dr. Harper is the actual boogeyman who has been tormenting Lester and his family. It is a dramatic retelling of a classic horror creature and fear of the unknown that has yet to see its day on the big screen.
Why “The Boogeyman” Needs To Be Adapted To Film
A common thread exists between nearly every film adapted from Stephen King’s expansive bibliography: the fear of the unknown. Whether it’s Pennywise The Clown lurking in the sewers waiting to strike at any moment in IT (2017) or “He Who Walks Behind The Rows” in Children Of The Corn (1984), the unknown threat is always the most horrific. The most successful adaptations of his works contain this commonality, “The Boogeyman” is an essential addition to the growing category of King films about the unknown.
While there are numerous horror films that take on the task of presenting their idea of what the boogeyman could be, King breaks the expectation that it lurks in closets and shadows. The real boogeyman is hidden in plain sight. Throughout the entirety of the short story, Lester Billings is totally unaware of the fact that he has been pouring his heart out about his family to the entity that took their lives. The boogeyman used his disguise as Dr. Harper to get closer to Lester in order to finish what he started; killing the Billings family. It is unlike any other story about the mysterious entity so many children fear and deserves an adaptation as soon as possible.
In 2018, Scott Beck and Bryan Woods announced that they would adapt the short story to film, but due to complications with the purchase of 20th Century Fox to Disney, the project has been on hold. The last announcement made about the film was in 2019, Woods and Beck confirmed that they were still working on the script and fully intend to get it to audiences as soon as possible. Due to COVID-19, whether their timeline has been further disrupted is uncertain. Regardless, “The Boogeyman” may see its day on the big screen in the very near future as a welcome addition to the many Stephen King adaptations.