I wasn't entirely sure what to expect from Boo. The title was pretty non-descript, and the box was covered in the kind of hyperbole every horror movie released in the west has had all over it's sleeve since 1976. About 10 minutes in, Boo was looking like it was going to plough forward like Dead Scared or the Convent without a sense of humour, and I was starting to get a bit bored.
However, 20 minutes in the cast got into the haunted hospital, then it really picked up steam. The interior direction in the film is great, the hospital looks fantastic, almost as good as the hospital sets from Session 9 and Silent Hill, and the movie's atmosphere gets really tight and tense once the obligatory pack of kids is inside the building and the lights are down.
Boo has a lot of little shocks, it's steadily paced so after that initial 10 minute lull you keep stopping and starting every five minutes or so. It doesn't have a lot in terms of scare set-pieces, but it's fast pacing and creepy atmosphere make up for the lack of truly terrifying scenes.
In honesty, some of the movie is a little generic. If I see a post-Ring American psychological-horror that DOESN'T have a scary little kid wandering around it'll be a miracle. Thankfully they don't waste the cliché here and the little girl is pretty spooky, and responsible for what's probably the best scare in the film when one of the cast gets trapped in a room with her .
The cast aren't magnificent either. The main bad guy is more irritating and whiny than fearsome and spooky, and aside from the lead girl the rest of the cast are amiable but completely disposable.
Still, that's not necessarily important in a horror movie, what's key is that the film stays atmospheric and has good pacing and tension. Boo has all that and then some, so honestly you can overlook most of it's flaws.
However, 20 minutes in the cast got into the haunted hospital, then it really picked up steam. The interior direction in the film is great, the hospital looks fantastic, almost as good as the hospital sets from Session 9 and Silent Hill, and the movie's atmosphere gets really tight and tense once the obligatory pack of kids is inside the building and the lights are down.
Boo has a lot of little shocks, it's steadily paced so after that initial 10 minute lull you keep stopping and starting every five minutes or so. It doesn't have a lot in terms of scare set-pieces, but it's fast pacing and creepy atmosphere make up for the lack of truly terrifying scenes.
In honesty, some of the movie is a little generic. If I see a post-Ring American psychological-horror that DOESN'T have a scary little kid wandering around it'll be a miracle. Thankfully they don't waste the cliché here and the little girl is pretty spooky, and responsible for what's probably the best scare in the film when one of the cast gets trapped in a room with her .
The cast aren't magnificent either. The main bad guy is more irritating and whiny than fearsome and spooky, and aside from the lead girl the rest of the cast are amiable but completely disposable.
Still, that's not necessarily important in a horror movie, what's key is that the film stays atmospheric and has good pacing and tension. Boo has all that and then some, so honestly you can overlook most of it's flaws.