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Coincidentally, this movie
and my pet rabbit have the same name, and without sounding too harsh, I
would just like to say that even though it had it's vague points of
merit, the movie is nowhere near as cool as my rabbit. Not that that's
necessarily a bad thing. Not much is cooler than my rabbit. She's
pretty damn awesome.
 Now
that's out of the way, I can continue on with my review. Boo could have
been so very much more. I stand whole heartedly for everything this
movie attempted to do so much that I nearly did a back flip when I read
that it was set in a haunted hospital. A few years back I lived next to
an old nursing home/hospital that was being gutted and renovated. It
was built (or last renovated) in the sixties. Trudging through there
late at night with nothing but a flashlight and a few friends was one
of the scariest things I have ever done. Unfortunately for the people
making Boo, they just couldn't seem to capture that creepiness. I'm not
sure whether it was the lighting, or the camera angles, but brace
yourselves because I don't say this often - it just didn't feel real
enough.
The story itself was a little
bland. Once again, it had a great idea behind it, but felt poorly
executed. Jessie, a young teenage girl who lost her mother to cancer,
is sensitive to paranormal phenomena - specifically a phone call from
her dead mother every Halloween night. Much to the amusement of her
so-called friends. Said moronic friends have planned an expedition to
the local haunted hospital for some Halloween fun. Despite the fact
that many kids may have disappeared after trying the same thing in
previous years, none of our youths seem to harbour too much trepidation
about their Halloween plans. Jessie has a bad feeling about the place,
but considering all her friends do is rag on her about her psychic
abilities and visions, none of them take any notice of her. Against her
better judgement, Jessie heads inside with them.
 Meanwhile, a young man (I vaguely remember him
being a priest?) named Allan is looking for his sister Meg, whose last
known whereabouts was in the hospital with her friends. He tries to
enlist the help of Arlo Ray Baines, an action movie star turned police
officer who was a friend of his father, and seems to know more about
the hospitals sordid past than anyone else. After much whining from
Allan, Arlo agrees to help him, and they break in to the hospital via
the morgue across the street, which has an underground access tunnel.
Meanwhile, our other friends
have realised that once the doors close, the hospital doesn't let you
out again. Thinking that their friend Emmett who went in earlier to set
up some cheesy scares is responsible, they all think its funny and head
up to the dreaded third floor. Emmett, and his dog *cringe* are
actually already dead.
I'd like to go off on a
tangent if I may, and make it known that I can handle pretty much
anything in a horror movie. But the moment they hurt an animal, I
usually get up and leave. I haven't watched past the first segment in
Campfire Tales, and probably never will. At this stage watching Boo, I
got up and walked out. Luckily for this review, I returned about ten
minutes later and decided to give it another go, provided no one else's
dog was murdered.
This is where things start to
get fuzzy. We learn that Jessie's boyfriend Freddy is a complete
scumbag, and he's having sex with her incredibly bitchy friend Marie,
who personally I would push off a bridge if she were my friend. Then we
learn that anyone who has been killed by the hospital ghost can have
their body inhabited by it, making you all gooey, disgusting and
generally explosive. A giant evil clown shows up, and then also
explodes.
You can also be killed by
being possessed, tell tale signs of said possession include, but are
not limited to, some sort of weird blood /ectoplasm hybrid dripping
down your forehead.
 Allan and Arlo find Allan's sister Meg, who
informs them that all her friends are dead and it all took place on the
3rd floor. The trio then meet up with Jessie and the others. Freddy
completely loses it, thinking that Allan and company are the living
undead, and somehow ends up with a gun in his hand. He then goes on to
shoot Marie in the head. No one really seems very bothered by this.
Freddy is the worst actor in
the world.
They drag Marie's body away
but it isn't long before she's up and about terrorising them all,
before exploding. Once again, no one too bothered by the chain of
events, and they move on. Jessie's having all sorts of visions about a
deranged patient, a little girl and a vigilant nurse, along with her
dying mother. This all does tie together, but I'm not going to be a
complete cow and give away the whole movie.
I have yet to mention Kevin,
who although a nice guy, is a complete doormat and undeniable wuss. I'm
not giving away any spoilers by letting you all know that he is nothing
more than fodder.
I think I'll end it there,
because my brain is starting to hurt, and I still need to proofread
this and make screen caps. Like I said before - the idea is there, the
premise is great, but the execution is poor.
And apart from Dee Wallace
Stone who is ten shades of awesome, the acting is nothing short of
deplorable. Ok, maybe I'm generalising - Meg and Arlo were also okay,
but the others *forehead slap*. I appreciate that they all had a crack,
gave it a good ol' try, but they just didn't do it for me. The bad
acting was highlighted even further by bad dialogue and lack of
reaction to anything going on around them. I don't know a bout you
guys, but I'd be a little shaken up if my friends started dying around
me thanks to some whacked out supernatural force making everyone
explode.
It's worth a look to make up
your own mind, provided you don't go into it expecting movie of the
year.
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Year: 2005
