The Diet Coke of evil

Grade: C

You remember him.

He's the one that made the creaking sounds in the closets of youth, gluing you to the mattress, paralysis-style, beading cold sweats on a fear-wrinkled forehead.

He's the one that darted through your moonlit window, fluttering the curtains and breathing down your neck. He's the one that laid in silent wait beneath the bed, daring you to dangle your socked foot over the edge.

You remember the boogeyman.

Tim Jensen, played by Barry Watson ("Teaching Mrs. Tingle") is a college-aged average Joe, save the fact that he can't get his girlfriend's coat because he feels it could be hung right next to the boogeyman. His studio apartment in Chicago boasts no cupboard doors and no closets. It's a boogeyman-free zone.

Tim suffers from a childhood run-in with the boogeyman. It seems that the fiend in the closet is out to get him, or at least everyone he cares about.

Tim's father disappeared when he is a young boy, and he claims that the boogeyman took his father. He is treated at a child psychiatric center after his mother has a breakdown. As a result, Tim is doomed to tread softly the rest of his life, wary of every shadow, and every enclosed storage space.

The film, directed by Stephen Thomas Kay ("Get Carter"), has shock moments. Kay throws in the obligatory "alarm clock" tactic. In other words, just as the viewer gets comfortable with a moment, something, a high-pitched creak, a sudden slamming door, or a random bird flying head on into a windshield, gives an intrusive wake-up call.

The film's redeeming characteristic is its quick camera shots, which drag and thrust the viewer through a rather intense first 50 minutes. However, at the hour point the viewer is just about ready to call it quits.

The story follows Tim through his adventure back to the house where his father was taken. No one from his hometown legitimately believes in the boogeyman, except for one little girl, Franny, played by Skye McCole Bartusiak ("The Patriot").

Tim resolves to spend one last night in the house he and his mother abandoned after his father's disappearance. Franny, an unlikely companion, proves useful as a way to shift the fear from Tim as he becomes more determined to start cleaning out his closet.

Chasing the boogeyman through closet portals, a shout back to the film "Little Monsters" where the undersides of beds were actually doors leading to the underside of every other bed in the world, Tim finds himself launched from friends' houses to motel rooms and finally his own childhood bedroom.

Tim's fear of the boogeyman is fierce, and only he can stop his own paranoia. The idea of the film is an intriguing one and the beginning of the movie is wrenching. However, the excessive drama of it all becomes tiresome. In the words of Doctor Evil, the film is "The Diet Coke of evil."

"Boogeyman" would be beneficial to see for those who are still afraid of the dark corners of their room. There are some hot tips in boogey-fighting here. If the closet doors are nailed shut, the underside of the bed is jam-packed to ensure no entry, and there's still a nightlight in every hallway, check this film out. Really. Just close your eyes, count to five, and let Tim help you face the boogeyman.