Stephen King’s ‘The Boogeyman’ Will Visit Your Closet With Help From ‘A Quiet Place’ Writers
By Jacob Hall/June 26, 2018 10:30 am EST
Deadline has news of the Boogeyman movie, which will see Beck and Woods team up with producers Shawn Levy, Dan Levine, and Dan Cohen of 21 Laps. That’s an interesting combination of talent: Beck and Woods are horror vets who have earned Stephen King’s approval, and 21 Laps has proven itself to be a versatile company, producing everything from Arrival to Stranger Things to the Night at the Museum series.
Originally published in 1973 but collected in the 1978 short story collection Night Shift, “The Boogeyman” follows a father who finds his young children being stalked by an otherworldly creature that lurks in the closets of his home. It’s a creepy, nasty story, one that reflects that sharp and unforgiving edges of King’s early work. It’s also proven popular with filmmakers over the years, as it has been adapted into a short film no fewer than seven times. However, this will be the first feature film adaptation of the material.
While Beck and Woods did not direct A Quiet Place (that would be unlikely horror maestro and co-writer John Krasinski), they managed to craft a screenplay that did a whole lot with very little. And that makes them a perfect match for The Boogeyman, a very simple, very straightforward tale of terror that will need a delicate touch. It will be easy to make this a simplistic monster movie, but they have the chops to deliver something more personal, something that taps into the story’s bone-deep fears of being unable to protect your loved ones.
