The Boogens
8 /10 1 Votes8
Duration Language English | Country United States | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Release date 1981 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Boogens is a 1981 American horror film directed by James L. Conway and starring Rebecca Balding, Fred McCarren, Anne-Marie Martin and Jeff Harlan. The title refers to scaly turtle-like monsters that are released from an abandoned and boarded up silver mine to wreak havoc.
Contents
Scene from the boogens 1982
Plot
A small construction team of four men work to reopen an abandoned silver mine, 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 amphibious reptilian creatures lurking deep within the mine shafts.
Production
The screenplay was directed by James L. Conway, produced by Charles E. Sellier Jr. and Bill Cornfold, and written by Thomas C. Chapman, David O'Malley and Jim Kouf (as Bob Hunt).
The opening credits made use of several still image zoom (zoom burst) and panning techniques that predate by several years the motion effects popularized by filmmaker Ken Burns, which later became hugely popular features in Apple Inc.'s iMovie software program.
Release
The film opened in US theaters on September 25, 1981, distributed by independent outfit Jensen Farley Pictures. The film notably received a positive review from author Stephen King in The Twilight Zone Magazine.
The film was belatedly released on VHS video in the mid 1990s via Republic Pictures. In 2012, Olive Films sub-licensed the film from Paramount and The Boogens was released on DVD and Blu-ray on August 7.
Reception
On aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, it currently holds a 33% approval rating based on nine reviews.