Is The Boogeyman based on a book?

The first trailer for new horror feature The Boogeyman went live last night, but is the scary movie about things that go bump in the night based on a book?

The Boogeyman has good pedigree, being directed by Host helmer Rob Savage, and written by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods – of A Quiet Place fame – as well as Mark Heyman, who penned Black.

The film stars Chris Messina, Sophie Thatcher, Marin Ireland, David Dastmalchian and Vivien Lyra Blair, with the official synopsis as follows…

High school student Sadie Harper and her younger sister Sawyer are reeling from the recent death of their mother and aren’t getting much support from their father, Will, a therapist who is dealing with his own pain. When a desperate patient unexpectedly shows up at their home seeking help, he leaves behind a terrifying supernatural entity that preys on families and feeds on the suffering of its victims.

Is The Boogeyman based on a book?

Yes, The Boogeyman is based on a book. The film is adapted from a short story in the Night Shift anthology, by Stephen King.

That tome was first published in 1978, though the story could first be found in the pages of men’s magazine Cavalier in 1973, back when King was still supplementing his writing career with teaching work.

Night Shift has been the source of both horror movies and shows through the years, inspiring the likes of Children of the Corn, Cat’s Eye, Maximum Overdrive, Graveyard Shift, and The Mangler. 1992’s The Lawnmower Man also took that title from the book, though little of the actual story.

The Boogeyman was previously turned into a movie by Jeff Schiro in 1982, as part of Stephen King’s ‘Dollar Baby’ adaptations, whereby aspiring filmmakers can adapt his short stories for a single dollar. King retains the rights to said tales, however, and the resulting films can’t be exhibited commercially.

King himself clearly approves of this forthcoming adaptation, as he tweeted the new trailer, with a simple caption: “Really scary.”

As for the content of that trailer, it kicks off with a little girl being put to bed, then checking her room for monsters. She sees something that terrifies her, then we hear that whatever lurks there “has been around forever, in the dark.”

Dad is soon warned of “the things that come for your kids when you’re not paying attention.” Which is followed by a series of jump-scares that suggest this is going to be a serious fright-fest.

The Boogeyman is released on June 2. To read more about the movie click here, while the rest of our horror coverage can be found here.