Stephen King’s horror “The Boogeyman”, with Sophie Thatcher and David Dastmalchian, now on Netflix

Horror fans have a reason to sit down in front of Netflix this week: “The Boogeyman”, director Rob Savage’s adaptation of Stephen King’s classic short story, arrived on the platform on Monday (5 October), as ComingSoon.net reports.

The 2023 film follows Sadie Harper (Sophie Thatcher) and her younger sister Sawyer (Vivien Lyra Blair), two girls coping with the sudden death of their mother, while their father, therapist Will Harper (Chris Messina), struggles with his own grief. Their lives change when Lester Billings (David Dastmalchian) knocks on their door seeking psychiatric help — and tells Will that a supernatural creature killed his three children. After Billings’ death inside their home, the family begins to face the same entity.

“The Boogeyman” is based on King’s short story from 1973, later published in the collection “Night Shift” (1978). Screenwriters Scott Beck, Bryan Woods and Mark Heyman expanded the narrow premise of the original story into a full family story, while Savage builds tension by keeping the creature partly hidden between light and shadow.

Ironically, the film was initially planned for Hulu — but strong audience test screenings convinced the studio 20th Century to release it in cinemas in June 2023, where it grossed 67 million dollars worldwide.

Thatcher became known for the role of Natalie Scatorccio in the series “Yellowjackets”, while Dastmalchian is known from Marvel’s “Ant-Man”, Christopher Nolan’s “The Dark Knight” and DC’s “The Suicide Squad”.