The Boogens isn't a movie that gets referenced too often, but if you're a horror fan you might come across the title from time to time. I certainly did, even in the days before I had internet access, and I was very interested in watching it - but unfortunately it wasn't available at any of my local video stores. One reason why I was so curious about The Boogens is the fact that I had heard that it was one of the great character actor John Malkovich's favorite movies, if not his #1 favorite. I'm not sure where I first got that information, whether it was printed in a magazine or if I heard it in an interview, but apparently it wasn't online because a search with the keywords "The Boogens" and "John Malkovich" didn't turn up much.
When I first saw The Boogens on cable sometime in the early '00s, I actually wasn't too fond of it. Maybe all the years I had spent wanting to see it had built up too much hype. It wasn't until I caught a screening with an audience at the Cinema Wasteland convention a couple years ago that I started to gain appreciation for the film, and after watching it again with blog contributor Priscilla I have officially become a fan of The Boogens.
Directed by prolific television director James L. Conway from a screenplay by Jim Kouf (under the name Bob Hunt) and David O'Malley (who wrote the story with Tom Chapman), The Boogens was produced by Silent Night, Deadly Night director Charles E. Sellier Jr. Much like Silent Night, Deadly Night, this movie tells a tale of snowbound horror. The setting is Silver City, a small town in the Rocky Mountains, where a silver mine that was opened in 1888 and then closed in 1912 after cave-ins and reports of strange "attacks" in the mine shaft is now being re-opened.
Buddies Mark (Fred McCarren) and Roger (Jeff Harlan) have been hired to help out with the re-opening process, and are staying in a cabin near the mine while they're in the area. Roger's girlfriend Jessica (Anne-Marie Martin) will be staying in the cabin as well, and her friend Trish (Rebecca Balding) accompanies her to the place to help her move in... which gives Roger and Jessica an excuse to set Mark and Trish up on a blind date. Jessica has also brought along her little dog, a Bichon Frise named Tiger - and this dog is truly the star of the film.
Much of the entertainment that comes from watching The Boogens is provided by Tiger. It apparently took two canine actors to fully bring this character to life on the screen, and those dogs were very gifted. Snooping around the cabin, getting on everyone's nerves, jumping up on furniture, chewing on things he shouldn't, somehow getting on top of a car, Tiger is a marvel to watch. And when he senses that the titular creatures are lurking in the cabin, this dog even acts scared. This is one of the best canine performances I have ever seen.
So what are the Boogens? They're this weird sort of reptilian creature that seems to come from a body of water in a natural cavern that the mine intersected with, and they are inadvertently released from the mine shaft during the re-opening explorations. From the mine they're able to access the basement of the cabin Mark, Roger, Jessica, Trish, and Tiger are staying in, and when the creatures cross paths with the characters we see what sort of attacks happened in the mine sixty-nine years earlier.
Part of why I wasn't so enamored with The Boogens the first time I saw it is because the creature attacks didn't come frequently enough for my liking. Conway and the writers chose to take their time building up to the attacks, which is an approach I can appreciate more these days. The build allows us to spend a lot of time with the characters, and they're a fun group to get to know as we watch them banter with each other. Not only are they written in an enjoyable way, they're played by a good cast. Anyone who watches this movie will be sad to learn that McCarren passed away several years ago, he has such a likeable screen presence.
I also like that so much of the running time takes place in the cabin, because the look of the place is really pleasing to my eyes. I love the set design, the interior of the cabin has such a cozy feel to it. This place didn't even really exist; according to online trivia, the interior of the cabin was built inside an Elks Lodge.
So The Boogens offers good characters, a nice location, and an awesome dog, then lets you watch tentacled monsters ruin it all. What more could you ask for? It works for John Malkovich.
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