People are voting emotionally.

Good movie, but best of all time? Hardly . . .

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

This film is astoundingly dull and slow-paced. If you know what filler or padding is, this is what 90% of this movie is. It was obviously made by someone who wanted to make a monster movie but had to work on a tiny budget, so they barely show any scenes of an actual monster, but pad out the film with scenes of people standing around looking scared when they hear noises, or empty dialogue and conversation between characters. They should've called it The Seinfield Movie, because it feels like a movie about nothing.

The Boogens differs from a lot of animal-on-the-rampage features of its era for two reasons: firstly, it is never exactly clear what kind of animal is on the rampage; and secondly, its style is more akin to a slasher movie than the nature-strikes-back genre. Only in the final ten minutes do we actually get a glimpse of the titular creatures, and even then the script avoids definitively identifying them as a species (they are best described as giant turtles with sharp teeth and a penchant for human flesh). The slasher genre motifs are pretty evident throughout – we have a) creepily atmospheric P.O.V shots as the boogens move around stalking their victims, b) young oversexed couples staying in a remote house, c) numerous false scares before the real killings begin, and d) the obligatory shower scene.Young mineworkers Mark (Fred McCarren) and Roger (Jeff Harlan) - supervised by older miners Brian (John Crawford) and Dan (Med Flory) - reopen a disused silver mine with explosives many decades after it was originally sealed. Unbeknown to them, they also release some subterranean turtle-like creatures (boogens) at the same time. Mark and Roger are due to move into a log cabin in the area the following day, and their girlfriends Jessica (Anne-Marie Martin) and Trish (Rebecca Balding) are already en route to join them. It isn't long before the boogens are on the loose in the community, hungrily devouring their first victim – the departing cabin owner, spending her final night there before moving out. The young new owners, plus their pet dog, look set to be next on the menu. It's just as well that crazy old loon Greenwalt (Jon Lormer) – an ex-miner who happens to be the only living soul who knows the boogens exist – is on hand to deliver the obligatory "you-had-to-go-and-release-them-didn't-ya?" speech, galvanising the survivors into action in time for the final reel.Perhaps The Boogens greatest claim to fame is that it received positive attention in an old edition of Twilight Zone magazine from one Stephen King. "A wildly energetic monster movie" was King's glowing review of the film, though it should be noted that he hated the film version of The Shining and, when given the chance to direct a movie himself, gave us the abysmal Maximum Overdrive… so his credentials as a movie critic are not to be accepted without caution. Nevertheless, there are good things in The Boogens. It has surprisingly convincing and witty dialogue, the acting is generally rather good, and its early sequences are all the more spine-tingling for keeping the creatures hidden off-screen. Two scenes in particular, set in the cellar beneath the cabin, generate stomach-knotting unease, while the build-up to each boogen attack pays off handsomely thanks to atmospheric lighting and clever use of false alarms before the actual pay-off. Logic is in short supply throughout and the monsters, when they finally appear, are somewhat unconvincing… but overall The Boogens is an under-appreciated entry in the animals-on-the-rampage sub-genre.

...not to mention the strangely positive reviews on this site. Despite a few moments that work well (mostly involving Tiger, the dog, a true scene-stealer), "The Boogens" is utterly forgettable, dispensable, and ignorable. It's as pure an example of Sturgeon's Revelation as one might ask, and further proof that Stephen King is not a trustworthy blurb-whore, at least not when it comes to movies.The ostensible lead, Rebecca "Soap" Balding, handles her underwritten part fairly well, even favoring the target audience with some brief T&A, but the best one can say about the ensemble cast is "adequate." It's the uninspired script and lack of production value that chains everyone with mediocrity; this thing has made-for-TV written all over it (even though it wasn't). The creature (such as it is) is wisely kept hidden until film's end, but the payoff is risible at best; I have known scary monsters, sir, and you are no scary monster! Truthfully, I wanted to like this unassuming little feature, perhaps only because my brother and I had a habit of calling each other "Boog" when we were young and callow, but sadly "The Boogens" never rises above its own shopworn premise. I'd have given it another point if I'd been in a more forgiving mood, but it really wouldn't deserve it. There are simply far, far more films worthy of our attention. Second-tier character actors gamely earning paychecks is not my idea of a good time. "The Boogens" is, sad to say, late night insomnia viewing only.Some amusing trivia: Anne-Marie "Sledge Hammer!" Martin, whose career apparently withered away with her divorce from Michael Crichton, co-wrote "Twister." Balding's romantic co-star, Fred "Class Reunion" McCarren died much too young at 55, while Balding ended up marrying her director, James L. "Star Trek: TNG, V, DSN, E" Conway. "The Boogens" DP got his start (and spent most of his career) shooting low-fi exploitation films like "Thar She Blows!"

It's not unusual for a horror film to feature one or two characters so irritating that they fully warrant a painful demise, and The Boogens is no exception, with Roger, played by Jeff Harlan, being the film's most deserving ass-hat; this particular film goes one step further, however, by even including a dog so obnoxious that you'll be cheering when it eventually meets its fate.The creatures responsible for the doggy's death are 'Boogens', vicious subterranean monsters that are accidentally set free by a group of miners when they reopen an old Colorado silver mine. Once loose, the ravenous critters crawl along tunnels that connect to the house currently occupied by Roger, his pal Mark (Fred McCarren), their pretty girlfriends Vicky and Trish (Anne-Marie Martin and Rebecca Balding), and the movie's maddening mutt Tiger.The insufferably inane 'jokes' and puerile sex-chat from Roger are enough to make you want to switch off, but with the film also dragging its heels regarding actual monster fun, it really is a bit of a chore to get to the end. The film is almost over before the creatures are shown in their entirety and, to be honest, they're really not worth the wait—rubber slug/turtle thingies with random tentacles and claws; they're so crap, one can hardly blame the film-makers for keeping them out of sight for as long as possible.Making the ride a little bit easier to bear are Martin and Balding, who provide a bit of eye-candy to prevent total boredom setting in. Balding very kindly bares her butt and boobs, but Martin keeps herself covered, even when being chased around the house wearing nothing but a bath towel.