Comparison between the original version and the Director's Cut, represented by the respective tape (original version) and DVD (Director's Cut aka 'Redux Verion').
In the second Boogeyman movie, director Ulli Lommel sees himself (and plays) a director forced to do a sequel he doesn't want to, which leads to a return of the Boogeyman. The quality of the transfer from tape (original version) to DVD (Director's Cut) is good, the DVD even has special features like an interesting interview with director Lommel in which he talks about the creating of the movie and even compares himself with Hitchcock. In many countries the original version had its difficulties with the release, in England for example, due to its violent nature, but by now both the original version and Director's Cut are available uncut in most countries. As the Director's Cut is far different from the original version (it's more like a new interpretation of the first movie), this will be an overview of the different composition of each one of them, alongside a summary of the differences and some information about the creation of the movie. Runtime original version: 80:00 mins. Runtime Director's Cut: 79:39 mins. The original version
It starts with Lacey being driven around L.A. during the credits.
Lacey meets her old school buddy Bonnie. Bonnie's husband Mickey is working on a movie, being told into adding more nude scenes by his producer.
During dinner, Lacey talks about her childhood, and you see the first flashback. Lacey's brother Willie is being tied to his bed by his mother's lover, so they can get to it undisturbed. Lacey gets a knife from the kitchen and releases her brother. He takes the knife, sneaks into his mother's bedroom, and kills her lover.
Lacey tells that she and her brother got to live with an aunt and uncle of theirs, not hearing anything from their mother for a long time, until all of a sudden she sends a letter with the request of seeing her children. Lacey afterwards has a nightmare in which she is tied to her bed by a stranger. She wakes up screaming.
Lacey tells that she had sought help from a psychiatrist whom she told about her childhood. He advises Lacey's husband Jake to return to the house. By now, the house is inhabited by two sisters and their family, but they are on vacation at the moment. Jake and Lacey disguise themselves as potential buyers of the house to be able to explore it. In the bedroom, Lacey sees her mother's lover in the mirror and smashes it.
Lacey tells that Jake had tried to reassemble the mirror, but one little piece was missing.
This missing piece still is in the house and makes one of the sisters kill herself with scissors. Her brother dies due to a falling window. The remaining sister finds the piece of the mirror and shortly afterwards the dead bodies. She tosses the mirror-piece into the sink, causing a flame.
After this story, they order dessert. During a conversation in bed, Bonnie suggests that her husband Mickey do a movie about Lacey's past, but he is skeptical about it. Bonnie's daughter is afraid of the Boogeyman and needs to be comforted. Mickey goes to Lacey and she tells him that she is always carrying a piece of the mirror, which no one else may touch. Joseph is watching them.
Lacey and her hosts are relaxing at the pool. Lacey goes on telling that two teenagers have died due to the negative influence of the mirror.
Bonnie announces that they are going to have a party that evening. In the meantime, Joseph sneaks into Lacey's room, snatches the mirror-piece, and falls under its influence.
Joseph is missing at the party and Lacey gets introduced to some newcomers in the movie business. She tells them the end of the story: Lacey fell under the spell of the mirror, but she could be released of it by a priest. Willie suggests that they throw the mirror into the well. Jake assists him, and huge flames shoot out of it.
The guests are delighted by the story. Bernie wants Mickey to do a movie about this and promises him the money needed, but Mickey still is skeptical. Two of the guests sneak away and are killed with a hedge trimmer.
Two other guests are killed in the bathroom with an electric toothbrush and shaving foam.
Bernie is talking with Lacey and Bonnie. He is eager to do the movie, but Lacey doesn't appreciate the idea.
In the garage, Bernie is talking with a girl. As they want to enter the car, Bernie gets killed with a water hose and the girl is pushed onto the exhaust pipe.
Two guests are killed in the kitchen with fire thongs and a cork screw.
Lacey realizes that her mirror-piece is missing. At the pool, she and Bonnie encounter Joseph, who is holding the mirror-piece. They fall into the pool struggling, resulting in Joseph's death. In the meantime, Mickey returns home.
Lacey wants to visit Joseph's grave. She goes there with Mickey and Bonnie. As she is standing at Joseph's grave, his hand shoots out of the grave and the car explodes with Bonnie inside. Lacey tries to grab the hand, but it slips back into the grave.
Director's Cut The movie starts with Willie sneaking into his mother's bedroom and killing her lover. After that, you see Mickey, charged with murder, in an interrogation room. He says that he can barely remember anything, but eventually starts telling Lacey's story.
Lacey's mother is getting it on with her lover while Lacey is watching them through the window with her brother Willie. When they are caught, Lacey is sent to bed, while Willie is tied to his bed by the lover. Lacey walks into the kitchen, picks a knife and releases Willie. He takes the knife and kills his mother's lover.
Mickey says that his wife had suggested him do a horror movie about it, but he is quite reluctant as he is more into movie art. This is followed by a scene in which Lacey and her family are in church. Lacey afterwards confesses to the priest that she has a foreboding of something bad happening. This is followed by some scenes of everyday life. Father Reilly is invited for dinner and Lacey learns through a letter that her mother wants to see her. Lacey tells Willie that he mustn't be afraid, but she herself has several flashbacks of the killing.
Lacey puts her son to bed while Willie takes a knife and burns the letter. Lacey has a nightmare in which she is tied to her bed and threatened with a knife by a stranger. She wakes up screaming and is comforted by Jake.
Mickey tells that he suspects Joseph the butler as perpetrator. You see two flashbacks of the deaths of the couple in the bathroom and of Bernie and the girl in the garage. Mickey goes on telling that Lacey suspects the Boogeyman, but that he doesn't believe in that.
Lacey attends a psychiatrist's office with Jake. She tells the psychiatrist about her childhood, accompanied by a flashback of the murder. The psychiatrist advises Jake to visit the old house.
Jake and Lacey go to the house. In the meantime, Willie is visited by a girl who just wants to pick up some eggs but confesses that she is in love with him. He starts to strangle her, but lets go of her after a glance into the mirror. He starts painting the mirror black.
Lacey and Jake arrive at the house which by now is inhabited by two sisters and their family. Lacey and Jake disguise themselves as potential buyers of the house to be able to explore it. In the bedroom, Lacey sees her mother's lover in a mirror and smashes it. Jake collects the shards and takes the mirror with him. He doesn't believe her story and fixes the mirror at home. But one piece is missing.
The missing piece is in the house and makes one of the sisters kill herself with scissors. Her brother dies due to a falling window. The other sister finds the missing mirror-piece and shortly afterwards the dead bodies. She tosses the mirror-piece into the sink, causing a flame.
Now you see Lacey at the psychiatrist's who tells her that she has been the 'Boogeyman' who has been killed for good by shattering the mirror.
Willie finds a bag of glass shards in the barn. When he throws it on the floor, a pitchfork starts hovering in the air. When Lacey appears, it stabs into a hay bale. Willie and Lacey are wondering how this could have happened. Lacey wants to go fishing with her son, who has one of the shards stuck to his shoe.
Mickey tells the end of the story, when Joseph's hand shot out of the grave and the car with Mickey's wife exploded. He deems it possible that the Boogeyman is responsible.
Lacey and her son have gone fishing. On the other shore, some teenagers are having fun. By a reflection of the mirror-shard, two of them get killed. The remaining two drive away.
Mickey denies his involvement in the murders. A flashback of the killing of the couple in the kitchen follows. When Lacey returns, her dress is mysteriously ripped apart while Jake is trying to put the mirror back together. Now even he believes that something unnatural is happening. They call Father Reilly. Jake visits the psychiatrist once more and tells him about what happened.
In the meantime, Father Reilly has arrived. Jake tells him the story. When Father Reilly touches the mirror, one of the pieces ends up on Lacey's eye. The Father and Jake go into the barn and discover the bodies of Lacey's uncle and aunt.
Mickey once more explains his not wanting to do a horror movie. Jake and the Father return to the house where Lacey is under the mirror's spell. The Father manages to remove the shard from her eye. Jake and Willie throw the mirror into the well, causing a huge flame to shoot out of it.
In the end, you see Mickey once again claiming his innocence and blaming the Boogeyman for all of it.
Summary of the differences The original version consists of about 40% footage from the first movie which have been used mainly in the first half of the movie and the flashbacks. The story around those recycled scenes is about Lacey visiting her old school buddy and telling her about her encounter with the Boogeyman. Bonnie's husband Mickey is a director and hassled by his producer to make a movie about this, but he is reluctant. At a party, the Boogeyman comes to life again and, in the body of Mickey's butler Joseph, kills all of the guests. In the Director's Cut (aka 'Redux Version'), those scenes are far less important. Mainly the murder scenes of this part of the story are left as flashbacks. Additionally, there are some new scenes with Mickey in an interrogation room, charged with murder. He there tells the events of the first part. This Director's Cut consists of about 90% of scenes from the first movie, only shortly interrupted by the scenes of Mickey's interrogation. It's more like a new interpretation of the first part. To understand all this, one has to look at the creation of this movie. After the success of the first movie (mainly in the U.S.), director Ulli Lommel got hassled to do a sequel. He even had an offer from Paramount, but he didn't want to do it. In the end, he gave in to the pressure and made Boogeyman 2, however as an independent flick. The situation of its creation is reflected in the movie, too. There you have Lommel playing a director forced to do a Boogeyman movie against his will. This even results in the Boogeyman's return and slaughtering all those greedy producers and actors at the party. The Director's Cut is even more explicit in the way that you see the first movie, interrupted by Lommel's constant comments (as Mickey) that he doesn't want to do a sequel. However, ironically he even has made a third Boogeyman movie since. |