‘You’ve been chosen’
Boo! is a 2018 American supernatural horror feature film directed by Luke Jaden from a screenplay co-written with Diane Michelle. The movie stars Jaden Piner, Jill Marie Jones, Aurora Perrineau, Charley Palmer Rothwell, Dwight Henry, and Rob Zabrecky. It was produced by Phil Wurtzel of Midland Entertainment and Automatik Entertainment’s Brian Kavanaugh-Jones.
Plot:
A torn suburban family refuses to heed the warning of an innocent prank left upon them which causes an unknown supernatural force to wreak havoc…
Review:
Amidst the costumes, candy, decorations and overall commercialisation of Halloween we often forget its dark origins. Origins rooted in the return of the spirits of the dead and rituals to appease them. Those rituals may have changed over the centuries, but they still exist and are to be ignored at your own peril. One family finds this out in Boo! the first feature from Luke Jaden.
Boo! opens with a prologue set in1980 involving a man, a photocopied sheet of paper with a ghost on it and a shotgun. We then jump forward to the present day, when a troubled family gets the same photocopied sheet left on their door. James (Rob Zabrecky), the family patriarch denounces it and Halloween as paganism and burns it, much to the distress of his son Caleb (Jaden Piner), who believes in the Boo! and its powers. Mother Elyse (Jill Marie Jones) and daughter Morgan (Aurora Perrineau) are amused by the whole thing. Amused that is until it quickly becomes apparent that the curse is real and something malevolent has arrived.
Writers Jaden and Diane Michelle lay the family’s problems on so heavy that evil spirits seem like the least of their troubles. Elyse is a chain-smoking alcoholic with a medicine cabinet full of pills. Caleb is withdrawn and draws strange creepy images. James is obsessed with the bible. Morgan has relationship issues and suicidal thoughts. All of which the curse draws on for the apparitions and nightmares it sends them.
Boo! works up some genuinely creepy images and sequences but they’re overwhelmed at times by talky domestic drama. The film spends way too much time showing the characters smoking and bitching at each other. It shows too little of them dealing with whatever is stalking them.
It’s not until the last twenty or so minutes that it builds any sustained tension or suspense It needs a stronger build-up to keep the audience engaged because that last stretch is a wild ride, but some viewers are going to have checked out by then.
Jim Morazzini, guest reviewer via Voices from the Balcony
Other reviews:
“As it is, there’s not a lot happening in Boo!‘s underneath. It compares in structure to the recent Terrified from Argentina, but it fails to maintain a concept for as long or as successfully. It can’t seem to hold an idea in its head beyond that it’s bad when families drift apart and good when they don’t.” Walter Chaw, Film Freak Central
“Despite the amazing atmospherics and acting, the plot does falls apart in the third act, swept away by the visions of ghastly dread the family is subjected to. That is easily forgiven, however, because the vibe is all-engrossing. It’s fun to imagine a 3rd act that pulled together and paid off all the threads, but what we get is still high quality creepy fun.” Bradley Gibson, Film Threat
Cast and characters:
- Aurora Perrineau … Morgan – Truth or Dare
- Jaden Piner … Caleb
- Jill Marie Jones … Elyse – Ash vs Evil Dead
- Rob Zabrecky … James – Decay
- Charley Palmer Rothwell … Ashton
- Dwight Henry … Memphis
- Dan John Miller … News Reporter
- Reuben Blumenstein … Creepy Blind Boy
- Kurt Schneider … The Ghost
- Kaden Brosowski … Door Ghost #1
- Torque … Torque the Dog
- Felix McCarthy … The Dark
- Anthony Kurkowski … Door Ghost #2
- Reggie … Reggie the Goldfish
- Austin Reckart … Door Ghost #3
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