The Boogens (1981) - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - February 19, 1982

On Friday, February 19, 1982, The Boogens finally opened at a theater or drive-in near me and I could not wait to see it. Lucky for me, as you can see in the center right of the listing, the movie had been booked at Alameda's Southshore Cinema. Even better, it was on a double-bill with John Carpenter's The Fog.

The Boogens is one of a number of films that I "spoiled" for myself by reading the novelization prior to seeing the film. The others include Alien (1979), Dead & Buried (1981), Final Exam (1981), The Funhouse (1981), The Thing (1982), and Poltergeist (1982).

It would also be the second time I would be confounded by the creative liberties I assumed were taken by the novelization's author. Because, at that time, I did not know that the shooting script for The Boogens was not the same script that had been given to Robert Weverka to novelize.

As caught off guard and confused by the differences between what I had read and what I was seeing, that paled in comparison to the running commentary being made by two chatterboxes seated directly behind me. This was the second time they had sat throgh the movie, so they kept talking about what was coming up. It got so bad that I moved to another seat, so I could finish the movie in peace.