Boogeyman 2 is a 2007 American psychological horror-slasher film edited and directed by Jeff Betancourt and the sequel to the 2005 film Boogeyman. The film was written by Brian Sieve and stars Danielle Savre, Matt Cohen, David Gallagher, Mae Whitman, Renee O'Connor and Tobin Bell. Savre portrays Laura Porter, a woman who witnessed her parents' murder alongside her brother as a child. She believes the killer to be the Boogeyman, and now as an adult seeks group therapy to overcome her phobia of the creature. However, her fears become reality as her fellow patients are murdered one by one.
Due to the previous film's financial success, Boogeyman 2 was announced in October 2006. Production of the film began in the same month with the hiring of Betancourt as director and Sieve attached as writer. Casting began in December of the same year with the hiring of O'Connor; Savre got the lead role in January 2007. Filming took place in Los Angeles at the former hospital, Linda Vista Community Hospital, over a four-month period, beginning in January 2007 and concluding in April. Unlike the original film, which featured the Boogeyman as a supernatural being, Betancourt strove to present a more grounded and realistic version of the mythical creature. Additionally, emphasis was placed on the writing and atmosphere to compensate for the film's small $4.5 million budget.
After screening at the Screamfest Horror Film Festival on October 20, 2007, Boogeyman 2 was released direct-to-video in the United States on January 8, 2008; it was later released theatrically in Russia and Italy. It received largely negative reviews from critics, although it was deemed to be a general improvement over its predecessor. Attention was especially given to the human-like nature of the Boogeyman in the film, which reviewers felt was preferable to monsters in other contemporary creature features, including the previous film. Despite a mediocre commercial performance, recouping slightly less than its budget, the film received a sequel, Boogeyman 3, the following year.
Plot
As young children Laura Porter and her brother Henry witness their parents' brutal murder by a hooded man, whom they believe to be the Boogeyman. As an adult, Henry has attended group therapy, improving such that he is instead currently looking for work. Laura joins this group as he leaves, meeting the other members: nyctophobic Mark, germaphobic Paul, masochistic Alison, agoraphobic and commitment-averse Darren, and Nicky, a bulimic girl who fears extreme weight gain.
Upon her joining, however, the members of the group are targeted and murdered one by one. All of their deaths relate to their fears: Mark falls down an elevator shaft, trying to escape from the darkness when the lights go out, and is torn in half. Paul accidentally consumes a cockroach while eating a bag of chips; he is given cleaning solution by a masked figure, and upon drinking it, burns a hole in his throat. Laura begins to suspect these deaths are not accidental. The hospital loses power, leaving Laura, Alison, Darren, Nicky, Dr. Jessica Ryan, and the receptionist Gloria in the dark. Gloria goes to the basement to turn the lights back on, but once the patients return to their rooms, Alison is tied to her bed by the figure who places maggots on her arms, which burrow into her self-inflicted incisions in her skin, and she kills herself attempting to cut them out.
Dr. Ryan goes to the basement to check on Gloria, but is electrocuted by the killer while standing in a puddle of water. Laura finds a file on her brother and those of other patients with bogyphobia—phobia of the Boogeyman. She learns that all bogyphobia patients - including Tim Jensen - have committed suicide after being treated by Dr. Mitchell Allen. Laura learns from Darren that Dr. Allen went to sadistic measure to cure her brother by locking him in a closet which Laura fears might have sent Henry over the edge. Laura finds Alison's corpse, but the remains in the bedroom have been cleaned up after alerting the others before they could notice. Darren and Nicky go to his room, where they argue about the viability of their relationship. After Nicky left the room, the Boogeyman disembowels Darren and remove his heart before capturing Nicky who was found by Laura on a basement table with hoses attached to her, pumping bile into her body until she explodes.