A New Horror Movie from Two Iowa Filmmakers is Now in Theaters
Just months after releasing a science-fiction action thriller starring Adam Driver, two filmmakers from Iowa have their names on another high-profile film that is hitting theaters at the beginning of the summer movie season.
Scott Beck and Bryan Woods struck screenwriting gold when A Quiet Place became the massive hit that it was in 2018. Earlier this year, they followed it up with 65, the aforementioned dinosaur thriller. Now, the duo are two of the three writers of The Boogeyman, a horror film based on the short story by Stephen King.
The Boogeyman comes out today (June 1st) exclusively in movie theaters. Here's the plot of the film, per 20th Century Studios:
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.
Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, who were both raised in Bettendorf, IA, attended the University of Iowa together. They went on to create their own production company, Bluebox Films, and sold their original screenplay to Paramount Pictures in 2016. That screenplay wound up being the basis for a movie you might've heard of/about: A Quiet Place, starring John Krasinski and Emily Blunt.
A Quiet Place was critically acclaimed upon its release in 2018, and managed to gross over $330 million worldwide. While 65 proved less successful, grossing $60 million against a $45 million budget, The Boogeyman was considerably less expensive ($35 million), and since Evil Dead Rise in April, there haven't been many noteworthy horror films in mainstream theaters as of late. It also doesn't face much genre competition over the next couple weeks.
As of this writing, The Boogeyman sits at 65% on Rotten Tomatoes, essentially saying the consensus from film critics is mixed-to-positive. Should the film's score not fall below 60%, it'll be the first Stephen King adaptation to receive a "fresh" score on Rotten Tomatoes since It: Chapter Two. There have been some pretty dour adaptations of King works as of late, with Children of the Corn (2023) and Firestarter (2022) to name a few.
As if multiple movies released in the same calendar year wasn't enough, Beck and Woods are also preparing to open a luxury movie theater in Davenport, IA. The two have big dreams for the project, which is called The Last Picture House. They foresee it hosting exclusive events, screenings of cult classics, indie/international films, and the latest blockbusters, per Iowa Public Radio.
Find out more about The Boogeyman on IMDb, and check both AMC Dubuque and Phoenix Theaters for local showtimes!