‘The Boogeyman’: Director Rob Savage Talks His New Horror Film, Earning Stephen King’s Approval & More [The Playlist Podcast]

Rob Savage isn’t a household name in horror, yet, but if you look at his most recent work, this is a guy who seems like he is destined for great things in genre filmmaking. And in this episode of The Playlist Podcast, I got the chance to talk to Savage and discuss his newest film, “The Boogeyman,” which is based on a short story by Stephen King.

Savage is probably best known for his 2020 horror film, “Host,” which is a film shot entirely in during a Zoom discussion. Then he followed that up with “Dashcam,” a found footage horror film dripping with social commentary. Now, he’s making the leap to studio filmmaking with “The Boogeyman.” “The Boogeyman” is a film that follows the story of two young girls mourning the loss of their mother and living with a therapist father who doesn’t seem to be dealing with his wife’s death in the most healthy of ways. This family drama is interrupted when the literal Boogeyman begins to haunt these children, forcing them to reckon with their grief before the monster destroys them.

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During our discussion, we go deep with ‘The Boogeyman,” talking about the origins of the film, including the all-important design of the title monster. 

“It was about trying to find something that felt simple and stark, like a child could draw it in crayon and it would make sense on those terms,” he explained. “But also, it needed to be something that was simple enough that people could project their own fears onto it. I wanted this creature to lurk in the darkness for a lot of this movie.”

Another key aspect to keeping the character of The Boogeyman scary was to limit the screen time of the monster. And for guidance in this respect, the filmmaker took cues from two iconic monster films, “Jaws” and “Alien.”

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“The Boogeyman is in this movie one second less than the shark is in ‘Jaws’ and 1.5 seconds less than the alien in ‘Alien,’” Savage said. “I wanted people to leave the theater with an idea of what this thing looks like. Obviously, there’s a design we’re very happy with. But I also wanted these moments where you’re catching a glimpse of cat’s eyes in the darkness… A lot of it had to exist in the audience’s mind.”

We also talk about Stephen King, who is seemingly responsible for this film changing course from being a made-for-Hulu streaming movie to then getting a wide release in theaters. The filmmaker explained that King was given a copy of the script before production and was elated by what he read. This led to the author going around talking about how excited he was to see the finished product. As you might expect, this approval from King, who is notoriously critical of adaptations of his work, gave Savage a ton of confidence going into production.

“I knew that if we did the script justice—and I didn’t fuck it up—then there’s a good chance he’d like the movie,” said Savage. “It was still nerve-wracking. We showed him an almost-finished cut with some pretty shonky VFX in there—the VFX weren’t finished—and he loved it.”

King loved the film so much that he wrote a letter to Savage, the cast, and the rest of the crew. And according to Savage, the letter ended with King saying that this is a film that should be seen on the biggest possible screen, which was one of the factors that led to 20th Century Studios pulling “The Boogeyman” from its Hulu fate and instead, giving it a wide theatrical release.

“The Boogeyman” is in theaters now. You can hear my full discussion with Savage below:

The Playlist Podcast is part of The Playlist Podcast Network, which includes Bingeworthy, Deep Focus, The Fourth Wall, and The Discourse. We can be heard on iTunes, AnchorFM, Soundcloud, Stitcher, Spotify, and most places where podcasts are found. You can stream the podcast via the Spotify embed within the article or click on the lead image at the top page. Follow us on iTunes, and you’ll get this podcast and our other shows regularly. Be sure to subscribe and drop us a comment or a rating, as we greatly appreciate it. Thank you for listening.