YMMV / The Boogeyman (2023)

• Complete Monster: The Boogeyman is a vile entity speculated to have haunted mankind from the beginning of time. Despite its capability to kill entire families, the Boogeyman prioritizes driving its victims to the brink of insanity, prolonging the torment of its victims much to its sadistic amusement. After slaughtering Lester Billings's three children—the youngest being an infant—it stalks the Harper family, gradually breaking them down and feeding on their trauma. When Rita Billings fails to kill the Boogeyman in an elaborate harebrained scheme, the Boogeyman gruesomely rips her in half before retreating to the house and taking Dr. Will Harper and Sawyer hostage.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Lester Billings. He's barely in the film, but David Dastmalchian's performance was unanimously acclaimed and he's regarded as one of the highlights of the film.
• Spiritual Sequel: To Smile (2022). Both films act as metaphors for dealing with grief and feature female protagonists dealing with supernatural threats. The Boogeyman of this film and the Smile Entity choose their victims in nearly the exact same way - latching onto people who have experienced severe trauma and wearing them down and isolating them until they can go in for the kill. The main difference comes from how the respective films end: The Boogeyman ends with the main characters coming together to defeat the Boogeyman and coming to terms with their trauma whilst Smile ends with the Entity succesfully overwhelming the protagonist and ensuring that the cycle of trauma continues unabated.
• They Copied It, So It Sucks!: Whilst considered a decent horror film, The Boogeyman received guff for being a not-very-original retread of the "horror film as metaphor for grief" trend ala The Ring, The Babadook, Hereditary and, most especially, Smile (2022), which itself received criticism for being derivative.

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