How Scary & Violent The Boogeyman Is Compared To Other Stephen King Movies (2024)

Another Stephen King movie adaptation arrives by tackling one of the author's short stories, and here is how scary and violent The Boogeyman is compared to other adaptations. 2023 has already been a strong year for the horror genre with the likes of Evil Dead Rise, Scream VI, M3GAN, and Infinity Pool among the most thrilling entries to arrive so far. Three years after breaking out with Shudder's hit Host, director Rob Savage is taking on his biggest challenge yet, adapting one of Stephen King's works for the big screen with The Boogeyman.

The goal of terrifying audiences with The Boogeyman is the same as many other Stephen King movies. While some of his more revered story adaptations like The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile are not horror movies, the 2023 release from Disney and 20th Century wants to scare audiences similarly as IT and Doctor Sleep did recently or Carrie, Misery, and The Shining did decades ago. Those familiar with the short story the movie is based on know how terrifying it could be. Here is a guide to how scary and violent The Boogeyman is compared to other Stephen King movies.

The Boogeyman Is Among The Scariest Of Stephen King Movies

Thanks to how Rob Savage pulls off the adaptation, The Boogeyman is quite scary. The hype for how terrifying the adaptation was constant in the lead-up to its release. After stating that it was the scariest movie he ever directed, Savage claimed in an interview with SFX that The Boogeyman is actually the scariest Stephen King movie to date. This came after he revealed in an interview with Empire that the movie had to be recut following test screenings because the Boogeyman's unveiling was too scary. It left audiences screaming so loud they originally missed other moments before changes were made.

There are certainly plenty of big scares in The Boogeyman, including the major events that unfold once the Harper family encounters the Boogeyman. Since this showdown is saved for the movie's third act, the previous two acts of the story use tension to drive the scares. Not seeing the Boogeyman makes him even more terrifying in some ways, as audiences are just as nervous as The Boogeyman's cast of what is haunting them. This allows several jump scares, as well as other genuinely frightening moments, to be included and make The Boogeyman scary, even when compared to other Stephen King movies.

The Boogeyman Is Less Violent Than Other Stephen King Movies

For as scary as the movie is, The Boogeyman's violence is not that violent for a horror movie or Stephen King adaptation. This is partially due to the subject at hand and the way that Savage and the writers wanted to explore the family. However, it is also the result of The Boogeyman's PG-13 rating. This designation by the MPAA automatically sets some parameters for the level of violence and gore that can be included. The Boogeyman is still violent in moments, but it can only get away with so much in PG-13, which is not typical for a Stephen King movie.

The majority of Stephen King movie adaptations receive R-ratings that allow them to push the boundaries more in terms of the violence and blood that is included. Despite The Boogeyman's violent scenes, they do not come close to the graphic violence audiences have seen in other King movies. There is nothing quite close to memorable scenes like Pennywise biting off an arm in IT or the child murder in Doctor Sleep from recent years. The Boogeyman favors scares over violence as a result.

Sources: SFX, Empire