The Boogens

Don’t go in the basement!

Some men look into reopening a mine that has been closed for 70 years in northwest Colorado, yet it was shut down for a good reason and the people soon find out why when folks start horrifically dying.

"The Boogens” (1981) is a small town creature feature in the vein of “Without Warning” (1980) and “The Being” (1981), as well as the later “The Nest” (1987) and “Slugs” (1988), all of which were made in the tradition of “The Blob” (1958). This one was produced for a paltry $600,000, but it’s quite well done considering the limited resources. You can’t beat the snowy Rocky Mountain milieu and the cast is highlighted by jaw-dropping Anne-Marie Martin as Jess, whom you might remember from her memorable role in the Buck Rogers episode “Twiki is Missing” from a year prior.

Rebecca Balding plays the lesser woman as Trish, but she curiously turns out to have the meatier role. She and the director fell in love on set and married right after the film was made in February, 1981. They were together until her death in July, 2022, due to ovarian cancer.

While the set-up is great, the creators fumble the ball in the last act as far as a key person being removed from the proceedings, which makes the last 20 minutes less-than-compelling. Thankfully, the creature effects are good. Although it looks cute when finally revealed, it’s quite horrifying when it opens its maw.

I’ve heard the rumor that "the boogens" is miner terminology for the fear some miners experience after spending too much time deep in the earth. Actually, it was just a silly word screenwriter David O'Malley made up based on "boogeyman." He originally intended to call the flick "The Boogeyman," but another film by that name debuted in 1980 while he was still working on the script; hence, the dubious contraction.

The film runs about 1 hour, 30 minutes, and was shot in Park City, Utah, which is roughly 125 miles from the northwest border of Colorado and about 24 miles east of Salt Lake City.

GRADE: B-