Boogeyman review

What's that lurking beneath your bed? If Boogeyman is to be believed, it's an entire sound effects department. Yes, we're in jump-scare territory for a bland, seen-it-all-before thriller that will only entertain those who don't mind metronome-timed terrors.

Tim (Barry Watson) is a disturbed twentysomething haunted by the memory of his father's disappearance. When his mother dies, he returns home to confront his tortured past. Everyone else had Pop down as a deadbeat dad, but Tim thinks otherwise. Guess who's right?

With a guiding hand from producer Sam Raimi, Boogeyman aspires towards psychological drama, and its attempts to wedge in more character than the usual schlocky horror contains are welcome. But while Watson makes for a blandly likeable lead and there's sparky support from Emily Deschanel, a gutless attitude to horror means this ends up as just another lightweight teen nerve-tingler.