There’s nothing better than a horror film with good lore. It’s hard not to become immersed in a scary story with concise rules or an interesting background tale. When a horror film lacks a strong set-up, it makes it harder for audiences to invest themselves in what happens to the characters. Unfortunately for filmmakers, this isn’t all it takes to make an interesting film. In the case of the new film Boo!, a set-up that leaves the door open to spinning a fun new horror yarn, is wasted by sticking to overused tropes and gags.
Boo! tells the story of a family living in an impoverished area in Detroit who, on Halloween, are left a bag on their porch that reads “boo!” with instructions to pass it along or suffer a curse. We learn that they are a very religious family. As such, they don’t celebrate Halloween, and the father, James (Rob Zabrecky) flat out refuses to entertain the idea of honoring the curse’s request. He burns the instructions, and thereby curses his family. This is all much to his son, Caleb’s (Jaden Piner) dismay, as Caleb believes the local urban legend of “boo!”.
It’s a good set-up. I was locked in and ready to see some type of monster or entity torment this family for not heeding it’s warning. The unfortunate reality is that Boo! then travels down very familiar ground and unfolds in a very unsatisfying manner. Each family member is essentially haunted by different ghosts or beings, and these are very familiar and quite uninteresting. We get an old-timey little boy stalking around with that typical choppy editing (ala The Ring), we get a spooky lady in Victorian-type clothing, the teenage girl having visions of self-harm complete with mirror doppelganger, and the mother is dealt a eerie wailing stroller. All of the scares feel too similar to the recent rash of Hollywood horror movies that revolve around hauntings or possessions. Only here, we get a grab bag of them, none of which seeming to stick or leave any impression.
The Detroit setting is one strength to this film. Not many horror films are set in the area, and it was refreshing to see a horror tale in this urban environment. Some of the shots of the city, and the surrounding neighborhoods and highways, lent to the bleak feeling the film was trying to convey. Boo! has slower pacing during some stretches and the rundown houses and dark city streets gave the film a considerable amount of personality. Unfortunately, the atmosphere isn’t enough to make this film very memorable and feels a bit wasted.
Boo! is a film that has a bit going for it, but doesn’t deliver where it matters. It’s a shame that such a fine setting and set-up only end up being merely a platform to give horror fans a smattering of elements they’ve seen a dozen times before. If you’re looking for a very digestible horror film that echoes moments from huge horror successes like Sinister, The Conjuring, and It, then you may find yourself enjoying Boo!, but if you’re looking for something fresh, original, and memorable, you won’t find it here.
Boo! will be available on Digital Download on June 17th from The Movie Partnership.
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