Stephen King is well-known for his outspoken opinions on film adaptations of his literary works, often expressing disdain for those he feels misinterpret or exploit his stories. This criticism famously extends to Stanley Kubrick's iconic 1980 film The Shining, a movie King has openly disliked. However, King holds a surprising affection for a more recent adaptation: Rob Savage's 2023 supernatural horror-thriller, The Boogeyman, which is now available to stream on Netflix.
While the original 1973 short story, featured in King's 1978 collection Night Shift, centers on Lester Billings recounting the mysterious deaths of his three children to a psychiatrist, the 2023 film reimagines the narrative. Savage's adaptation acts more as a sequel, focusing on Dr. Will Harper and his daughters, Sadie and Sawyer, as they grieve the recent death of their mother.
In the film, after Billings visits Dr. Harper's office to describe a malevolent entity responsible for his children's deaths, he becomes a victim of the Boogeyman himself. His death is staged as a suicide, allowing the entity to begin tormenting the Harper family. Sadie soon suspects a connection between Billings's demise and the supernatural occurrences in their home.
Savage also updated the film's setting and the creature's appearance. The movie is set in the present day, and the Boogeyman is depicted as a skeletal figure with glowing eyes, a departure from the 1970s-set short story where the entity was described more ambiguously and could assume the faces of others.
Despite these significant deviations, King reportedly found the adaptation compelling. Director Rob Savage shared that King sent him an extensive note praising the film, even suggesting it deserved a theatrical release rather than direct-to-streaming. The Boogeyman achieved this theatrical release and grossed $82 million worldwide against a $35 million budget. Critically, the film garnered a 60% score on Rotten Tomatoes' Tomatometer and a 65% audience score.
Savage's interpretation captures the core theme of King's story—a terrifying creature preying on a family—while also expanding upon it. The adaptation leans into the Boogeyman as an allegory for grief and trauma, themes that resonate with the unsettling atmosphere King established in his original narrative. This thematic depth likely contributed to King's positive reception of the film.
