Review by Peter Syslo
I don't know where to begin with this one. RETURN OF THE BOOGEYMAN (1994) was very confusing to me because it drew heavily upon material from the original 1980 film, THE BOOGEYMAN. I guess that ROTB is technically a sequel to that film, but it is not your ordinary sequel. I have never seen a sequel, remake, or re-imagining like this. Here's why: at least 50% of the content in ROTB is comprised of actual scenes from the first movie. I kid you not, large portions of the original film are included, in ROTB, and a “story” is woven around them. It actually feels like a documentary on THE BOOGEYMAN; it is something that would be included in the special features section, on a DVD. In fact, it reminded me of one of the “fake” documentaries that came out after THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT (like THE BURKITTSVILLE SEVEN... or whatever it was called). To sum it up, ROTB left me with that same type of feeling and that same level of disappointment.
ROTB is directed by Deland Nuse and is written by Jack Smight. The film stars Kelly Galinda , Suzanna Love, and Omar Kaczmarczyk/Richard Quick.
Well, let me give the storyline a shot. A woman, Annie (Galinda) is experiencing visions of “the man with no face” (the killer in the mirror, from the first film). Annie is psychic and is picking up on the “vibes” from the killer and the people that he is planning to kill (I think that some of the events are happening concurrently with the events of the original film – it is a little unclear whether these are psychic predictions or recollections). Annie is working with her psychiatrist, Dr. Love (Kaczmarczyk) to purge her fears of the killer and to move on with her life. The psychiatrist helps guide her through her visions, with the help of mirrors, in order to put her demons to rest and rid her mind of “the man with no face”.
I thought that the initial premise was decent, with Annie being haunted by the killer and the visions, but the film just didn't go anywhere after that. Strangely enough, the best parts of this movie are the recaps of the kill scenes from the original film. I liked THE BOOGEYMAN a lot; I thought that it was a pretty original slasher film and I think that it is largely unsung in the horror community. I just wish that the filmmakers in ROTB would have taken the story to another/different level – or would have at least paralleled the events of the first film. If you like the first film and you want to revisit it, then ROTB would be good for that. Or, if you need an explanation of the first film, ROTB is also useful for that. But, I do have a difficult time saying that ROTB is an separate, feature-length film. In its defense, there is a nice opening shot where the killer is stalking Annie on the beach and there is an ending shot where the killer is involved, but that is about it (regarding new content). You also have a few scenes where there is interaction between Annie and Dr. Love but those scenes and that dialogue are just “steered” by the interspersed scenes from the original. I don't know. I'm still a little confused by the whole thing.
Gnawing through the flesh: RETURN OF THE BOOGEYMAN was disappointing. I did have hopes for the basic premise and I did like some of the quasi-“film-noir” atmosphere of it (reminded me of a David Lynch type of atmosphere), but the story just fell flat. Again, it is good for an encapsulation of the first film, but there really is no new content which can justify the purpose of the film. If anything, though, it is a good display of editing techniques. I know this review is pretty brief, but this is all that I have to say about this film. It clocks in at 76 minutes and it is basically “Cliffs Notes” for the original. I don't enjoy giving a film a really bad review and I do try to see the positive in things, but I also have to be honest. I give RETURN OF THE BOOGEYMAN a 1/10.