The Boogeyman
Renovatio Records is pleased to celebrate the Halloween season with a new presentation of Patrick Jonsson’s score for the 2023 adaptation of Stephen King’s short story The Boogeyman. Directed by Rob Savage, the film stars Sophie Thatcher as Sadie Harper, alongside Vivien Lyra Blair as her younger sister Sawyer and Chris Messina as their father, Will, with Marin Ireland and David Dastmalchian in supporting roles. The film follows the Harper sisters as they struggle with the recent death of their mother. Their father, a therapist coping with his own grief, has become increasingly distant. When one of his troubled patients arrives at their home seeking help, he leaves behind a supernatural presence that preys on families and feeds on their suffering. As the creature begins to haunt the house, Sadie and Sawyer must confront both the threat in the darkness and the loss that has unsettled their family.
Savage builds the film around familiar horror conventions—shadowed rooms, ominous doorways, and the fear of what may be waiting just outside the light—while drawing much of its unease from atmosphere and sound. The supernatural threat becomes entangled with the Harpers’ grief, giving the film’s domestic setting an increasingly claustrophobic quality.
The film received a mixed critical response. Some reviewers praised its shadowy atmosphere, performances, and carefully staged scares, while others found its story and horror conventions too familiar. Made on a reported budget of approximately $35 million, The Boogeyman grossed about $82 million worldwide, making it a solid commercial success. One of the film’s greatest strengths is its striking cinematography by Eli Born. Fluid camera movement, carefully composed images, and expressive contrasts of light and shadow give the Harper’s house a vivid, unsettling atmosphere. These visual and atmospheric qualities help the film make effective use of familiar horror imagery: the darkness in a child’s room, the silence of a grieving household, and the possibility that something may be listening from just beyond view.
For film-music listeners, Jonsson’s score offers a distinctive blend of atmospheric writing and traditional horror punctuation. Rather than opening with a large orchestral statement, the music favors a slow, subdued build, creating unease through dark textures, sustained tones, and the careful use of silence. “Hush Now” establishes this creeping atmosphere from the outset. Its restraint allows the tension to gather gradually, drawing the listener into the film’s shadowy world before the music turns more forceful.
That quiet approach also reflects the film’s attention to sound. Savage builds suspense through what the characters hear—and what they cannot quite identify—so the score often seems to move close to the boundary between music and sound design. In “Stranger in the House,” “Is It Real?,” and “Red Light,” unstable, unnerving textures turn small disturbances into looming threats. Abrupt dissonances and abrasive bursts punctuate the quieter passages with the sharp impact of a jump scare. The music’s unease comes not only from its loudest moments, but also from the expectation that one may be just around the corner.
Against this growing dread, Jonsson develops a more lyrical musical identity for the Harpers. The family theme, introduced in “We Never Talk About It,” carries the sorrow and emotional distance left by the mother’s death. A distant piano motif suggests her presence, while the theme’s string writing—particularly its expressive cello color—gives the music a mournful, intimate quality. “Mom” explores these ideas more directly, allowing grief to come forward within the score’s otherwise unsettled atmosphere.
The family material reaches its fullest expression in “Burning House,” where the themes take on greater emotional weight, before “Shut the Door” brings their arc toward release. Beneath the fear of the creature lies a family still struggling to live with loss and find its way back to one another. Jonsson lets the music hold both feelings at once, so that moments of tenderness never entirely escape the surrounding unease.
The creature’s musical presence is difficult to separate from the film’s sound design. Rather than relying on a single, clearly defined theme, Jonsson builds its threat through unstable string textures, unnerving rises, and sudden shocks. “Hush Now,” “Stranger in the House,” “Is It Real?,” “Red Light,” “The Billings House,” and “Only One Way to Find Out” show how these sounds can gather around the characters, tightening the atmosphere until tension gives way to a jolt. In “Video Games” and “Bending the Flame,” a growling woodwind effect adds another sinister color, giving the creature’s growing presence a weight that feels both musical and physical.
Across these cues, the contrast between the cello-led tenderness of the family material and the harsher textures surrounding the monster gives the score its emotional shape. Jonsson’s music keeps the Harpers’ grief close to the supernatural danger in their home, allowing sorrow and fear to remain intertwined.
The official The Boogeyman soundtrack, released by Hollywood Records, presents Jonsson’s score across 26 tracks and approximately 51 minutes. Its length offers a broad view of the music heard in the film, including the recurring family material and the unsettling textures that help give the creature its presence. But the score’s reliance on sustained tension, abrasive sound design, and sudden shocks can make a full-length listening session an intense experience.
Renovatio Records’ new presentation takes a more concise approach. At 34 minutes, the 12-track program reshapes selected cues into a tighter dramatic progression, bringing related passages together and giving the music room to move between the Harper family’s grief and the threat surrounding them. The sequence retains the score’s most striking moments while creating a more focused listening arc, from the creeping unease of “Hush Now” to the emotional release of “Shut the Door.”
This Halloween, keep the lights on as you open the door to Jonsson’s haunting score—and hear what stirs in the shadows.
Track listing:
|
Track Title |
Cue Title |
|
1. Hush Now |
Hush Now (Edited) |
|
2. We Never Talk About It |
The Dress (Edited) We Never Talk About It (Edited) |
|
3. Stranger in the House |
Susceptible (Edited) Voices (Edited) |
|
4. Is It Real? |
Is It Real? (Edited) Focus on the Flame (Edited) |
|
5. Red Light |
You Believe Me, Don’t You? (Edited) |
|
6. The Billings House |
The Billings House (Edited) Rita (Edited) What Have You Done? (Edited) |
|
7. Mom |
Mom (Edited) |
|
8. Video Games |
Video Games Liar (Edited) |
|
9. Only One Way to Find Out |
Only One Way to Find Out (Edited) Run (Edited) |
|
10. Bending the Flame |
Full Pelt (Edited) Bending the Flame |
|
11. Burning House |
We End It Here |
|
12. Shut the Door |
Release Ajar |
No comments:
Post a Comment