A small construction team of four men work to reopen an abandoned silver mine, in a Colorado town, 100 years after a mysterious massacre forced the military to shut it down. What they don't know is that their excavating has inadvertently freed some predatory creatures (cross between a turtle and a spider) lurking deep within the mine shafts. The reptilian creatures are known as the Boogens. These creatures have been dormant for centuries and are now hungry for human flesh.
As the Boogens start attacking the townspeople, a group of friends becomes trapped in the mine. They must find a way to survive and escape while facing the relentless and deadly creatures. The film follows the classic horror movie formula of a group of people isolated in a dangerous location, trying to fend off a monstrous threat.
On aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, The Boogens holds a 33% approval rating, with a rating average of 4.7 based on nine reviews.[9]
TV Guide gave it 1 out of 5 stars, criticizing the film's incoherent plot.[10] Dennis Schwartz of Ozus' World Movie Reviews gave the film a grade C+, stating, "At best, it's a so-so horror pic".[11]
Brett Gallman from Oh, the Horror! gave the film a positive review, writing, "A charming little homespun monster movie, it's a far cry from many of its gooey, splattery contemporaries, and it's armed with a solid cast that makes it personable in the absence of an abundance of on-screen carnage. All told, a pretty good flick was mined from the old monster movie standard".[12]The A.V. Club critic Keith Phipps described the film as "charmingly clunky", and said that it "plays like a cross between the then-omnipresent slasher films and a '50s monster movie".[13]Diabolique critic Samm Deighan called it "a charming, if sedate mishmash of horror genres and tropes", but praised the acting, saying that "The Boogens' small, intimate cast is surprisingly solid, and its characters are likable", and that "despite the low budget, the sets and effects are solid".[14]
^Amazon.com: The Boogens [VHS]: Rebecca Balding, Fred McCarren, Anne-Marie Martin, Jeff Harlan, John Crawford, Med Flory, Jon Lormer, Peg Stewart, Scott Wilkinson, Marcia Dangerfield, Paul Hipp, James L. Conway, Michael Spence, Bill Cornford, Carole Fontana, Charles E. Sellier Jr., Cliff Osmond, David O'Malley, Jim Kouf, Thomas C. Chapman: Movies & TV. ISBN0782008062.
