Stephen King has been openly critical of several film adaptations of his work. He has objected to movies that feel exploitative, such as Graveyard Shift, and adaptations that overlook the themes of the source material, as he felt happened with The Running Man.
His most famous disagreement may be with Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining, despite that 1980 horror film becoming an enduring hit. King’s enthusiasm for Rob Savage’s 2023 supernatural thriller The Boogeyman is therefore more surprising, particularly because the film takes substantial liberties with his short story. The movie is now available to stream for free on Netflix.
A very different version of King’s short story
King’s 1973 short story, later published in the 1978 collection Night Shift, is a compact, dialogue-led tale. It follows Lester Billings, a man who visits psychiatrist Dr. Harper after the deaths of his three children. Most of the deaths were considered natural by doctors and police, but each child had reportedly cried out “boogeyman!” beforehand. Their bodies were also discovered with a closet door left slightly open.
The story unfolds over one night and relies heavily on Billings recounting his disturbing experiences. Savage’s film instead uses that premise as the starting point for a broader family horror story centred on Dr. Will Harper, played by Chris Messina, and his daughters Sadie and Sawyer, played by Sophie Thatcher and Vivien Lyra Blair.
After Billings tells Dr. Harper that the Boogeyman killed his children, the creature murders him while hiding in the closet of Sadie’s late mother. His death is staged as a suicide, leaving the family unaware that anything supernatural may be involved. As the entity begins haunting their home, Sadie starts to suspect a connection between Billings’ death and the terror surrounding her family.
The changes extend beyond the plot. The film moves the action into the present day and presents the Boogeyman as a skeletal figure with elongated limbs and glowing eyes. King’s original story is set during the 1970s and describes a more humanoid creature capable of wearing other people’s faces.
Why did Stephen King like The Boogeyman?
King’s approval is notable because the film is closer to a continuation of the short story than a direct screen version. Savage had to expand a story built largely around a conversation between two people, while the original provides only a limited description of the creature and its history.
That freedom allowed the filmmakers to develop a modern story about a family dealing with loss. The film keeps the short story’s central idea — an evil presence destroying families — while giving the Boogeyman a stronger connection to grief and trauma.
Savage told GamesRadar that King sent the production team an “almost-essay” explaining how much he enjoyed the film. Savage also received an email from King the next morning saying he was still thinking about it.
“They’d be fucking stupid to release this on streaming and not in cinemas,” King reportedly told Savage.
The film did receive a theatrical release and earned $82 million worldwide against a reported $35 million budget. Critics were less enthusiastic, giving it a 60% Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes, while audiences awarded it 65% on the Popcornmeter.
A horror film built around grief
The Boogeyman is not generally regarded as one of the finest Stephen King adaptations, and it does not approach the reputation of The Shining. However, the film’s willingness to expand a sparse short story without losing its central fear helps explain why King responded so positively.
For Australian arcade fans who enjoy building a themed entertainment room, the film’s shadowy creature design could also provide inspiration for a darker setup alongside arcade machines, virtual pinball machines or a compact bartop arcade. The story’s emphasis on atmosphere makes it a natural fit for a horror-focused games room, without requiring the adaptation to be a literal retelling.
The Boogeyman is available to stream for free on Netflix.
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