Aahana Swrup
‘The Boogeyman,’ directed by Rob Savage, is a horror thriller film that brings a child’s worst nightmares to life. Following the sudden death of their mother, teenage Sadie Harper and her younger sister Sawyer struggle to cope with their grief. Furthermore, when their father, Will, accidentally brings something evil into their house during a therapy session, the girls find themselves faced with a menacing force that lives in the shadows. Battling their inner demons alongside the one living in their house, the sisters try to open Will’s eyes to the truth before it’s too late for the family.
The illustrious nature of this story’s monster, paired with the ever-present worry about the Harper family’s survival, is sure to raise a few questions among the viewers. If so, here is everything you need to know about the ending of ‘The Boogeyman.’ SPOILERS AHEAD!
The Boogeyman Plot Synopsis
Mara Harper dies in a car accident, leaving her husband, Will, and two kids, Sadie and Sawyer, lost and in mourning without her. On the kids’ first day back to school since the tragedy, a stranger visits Will’s home clinic without an appointment, desperate to discuss his recent loss with someone. An eerie, concerning vibe surrounds the stranger, Lester Billings, compelling Will to agree to his wishes. As the session starts, Lester talks of his three kids’ passing, starting with his youngest baby, who died of SIDS.
However, his other two kids perished under unnatural causes. Although people believe Lester killed his own kids, the man insists his kids’ were killed by a mysterious monster in the shadows and shares a horrifying drawing that one of his kids’ drew. Unnerved by the strange man, Will excuses himself and covertly calls the authorities on the man. However, by then, Lester leaves Will’s office, traversing onto the house’s second floor.
Sadie, who ditches school after a difficult first day back, hears noises from her mother’s abandoned art studio and investigates. Inside the room, she hears a fight between two people in the closet and barges in, assuming her father is in danger. Nonetheless, Sadie only finds Lester’s body inside, hanging from the ceiling. Following the incident, when Sadie tries to talk to Will about her problems, her father encourages her to talk to her therapist when she brings up her mother’s death.
The same night, Sawyer, perpetually afraid of the dark, witnesses some invisible force stalking under the bed from the closet and glimpses at the horrifying face of the Boogeyman. Strange things begin to occur around the house, leading the sisters to visit Wellers together to work on Sawyer’s growing phobia of darkness. Yet, the session only increases Sawyer’s fear of the Boogeyman, which leads Sadie to look into Lester. After finding the drawing made by Lester’s kid and catching sight of the Boogeyman herself, Sadie looks into the Billings further and arrives at their deserted home.
During the house visit, Sadie meets Rita, Lester’s wife, learning more about the Boogeyman’s behavior, like its penchant for playing with its prey and aversion to fire. The next day, her former best friend, Bethany, tries cheering Sadie up and sets up a sleepover at her house. However, the other girls are flippant and disrespectful toward Sadie’s trauma, going as far as to shove her in the closet in which Lester committed suicide. The same brings Sadie face-to-face with the Boogeyman, who later attacks Sawyer in the living room, throwing her against the television.
The next time Sawyer awakes, she’s in a hospital. When Sadie tries to tell Will the truth about the Boogeyman, her father finds it hard to believe since Sadie was high when she saw the monster. Frustrated, Sadie returns to Rita’s house to help her get rid of the Boogeyman. However, the woman only uses Sadie as bait to trap the monster and dies when her plan fails. Even though Sadie manages to escape from the monster’s claws, a phone call from Will soon makes her realize the Boogeyman has gone after her family.
The Boogeyman Ending: Does Will Harper Die?
Once Sadie realizes her father has returned to the house with her little sister, she tries to stop him from entering their dark house over the phone. Yet, by the time Will agrees to listen to Sadie, the Boogeyman catches him in his clutches, dragging the pair into the darkened house. When Sadie arrives, she finds Sawyer hiding in a closet with the Christmas lights blinking green and red, keeping the kid safe from the monster.
Still, unlike Sawyer, Will fails to escape the Boogeyman, who takes him into the basement. The sisters enter the basement together, with Sawyer tying the Christmas lights around her torso to illuminate their way. Downstairs, they find the Boogeyman holding their dad hostage, but it scatters once they shine a light upon it. Although it frees Will, the monster pounces on Sawyer, trapping her under a couch. Using the opportunity, the Boogeyman straddles Sadie to the floor and extends grotesque, bloodied hands from its mouth to suck the teenager’s soul out of her body.
Nonetheless, Will gains consciousness in time and attacks the Boogeyman with a knife, freeing Sadie from its grasp. Although Sawyer’s Christmas lights go out in the tussle that follows, Sadie eventually overpowers the monster by attacking it with a makeshift flamethrower made from her mother’s lighter and aerosol cans. Ultimately, the sisters defeat the monster by backing it into a corner and setting it alight. As a result, the basement gradually erupts into flames, and the Harper family escapes with their lives intact.
Did Sadie’s Mother Save Her Family?
Near the story’s end, the Harpers find themselves stranded in a dark basement with little resources to fight the Boogeyman. After Sawyer’s lights go out, the entire room remains bathed in darkness, giving the Boogeyman an advantage. Still, Will pulls out his wife Cara’s old lighter and lights it, giving his daughters a beacon to huddle around. Throughout the film, Cara’s death presents as a shadow over the Harper family, preventing them from connecting with each other.
Despite Will’s profession as a therapist, he’s unable to communicate with his daughters, leading to further divide within the family. The girls are lonely under their caring father’s neglect, which makes them vulnerable to the Boogeyman’s attack since it only targets kids with distant parents. Will has never imagined a life without Cara, where he would have to deal with a monumental loss. Therefore, Will grows distant after her accident, unwilling to discuss the death with Sadie and Sawyer.
As a result, Sadie looks for ways to contact her mother throughout the story, watching videos online to communicate with people in the afterlife. Yet, it isn’t until Sadie gets trapped in the basement that Cara shows a sign of reciprocation. Her notoriously tricky lighter refuses to light up at first but eventually bursts to life, giving a brighter flame than ever. Since the basement is full of Cara’s belongings, from her art supplies to her dresses, it’s possible that her spirit has a more significant pull here and responds to her family’s cry for help.
Narratively, Cara’s death acts as the Boogeyman’s harbinger into her family’s life. As such, when Will finally opens up to his daughters’ pain surrounding the accident, it helps them bond as a family. Consequently, it also weakens the Boogeyman that feeds on Will’s neglect. Therefore, the scene depicting Cara helping Sadie with the lighter can read as a literal spiritual interference or her symbolic contribution to the family’s survival. The instance is open to the audience’s interpretation but highlights Cara’s importance either way.
Is The Boogeyman Dead?
After Sadie sets the Boogeyman on fire, its influence over the house dims, and the flames engulf it alongside the house. The Harper family’s terrifying adventure ends with a metaphorically resonant shot of them huddled together as they watch their family house burn down, starting with the basement that holds Cara’s belongings. The Harpers learn to let go of Cara’s death through this traumatic event.
Later, the family attends a joint therapy session with Dr. Waller, an upgrade from Sadie and Sawyer attending alone, with Will ignoring the problem entirely. Sadie assumes she killed the Boogeyman since fire was its one known weakness, and she doused it in the same. However, at the session’s end, Sadie hears Waller call her back to the room, only to realize the voice has come from an eerie closet. Furthermore, Waller is surprised to see Sadie back, implying she never called for the teenager in the first place.
Instead, the Boogeyman, known for its ability to mimic other people, had called Sadie back. The thing to remember about the Boogeyman is that it’s nearly impossible to kill it. Rita spends a long time hiding from it after her family’s destruction, and her final attempt to kill it fails regardless of its assumed finality. Likewise, although Sadie escapes from the Boogeyman, she never succeeds in killing it.
In a sense, the Boogeyman is a metaphor for undelt trauma. Even though the narrative heavily implies that The Boogeyman killed Lester’s first daughter, the imagery is ambiguous and open to interpretation. As such, when Rita talks about it, she frames the incident differently. According to Rita, her baby’s death made her other kids perceptible to the Boogeyman. Similarly, Cara’s death, which Will refuses to discuss, opens up the Harper family to the Boogeyman’s influence.
Therefore, the film’s conclusion presents the idea that the Boogeyman is always lurking in the shadows, waiting to pounce at the opportunity to torment the Harpers again. As such, Sadie shutting the closet door symbolizes her belief in Will and Sawyer. Sadie believes her family will work through this trauma together and block the Boogeyman from their lives forever. Until then, the Boogeyman, undying and alive, will continue to hide in the shadows, looking for its next victims.
Read More: Is The Boogeyman Based on a True Story? Is it Real?
