A relic of a brief era in horror-movie history from just before slasher films nearly overwhelmed the genre, the above-average 1980 quickie The Boogey Man distinguishes itself from its more forgettable counterparts with sheer competence. If you were to prepare a syllabus for a class on how to make a generic but acceptable early-'80s horror movie, a better example would be difficult to come by. Artfully directed, up to a point, by Fassbinder protege Ulli Lommel (of Cocaine Cowboys fame), The Boogey Man stars Suzanna Love as a woman haunted by a childhood incident in which she witnessed her brother killing their mother's abusive boyfriend. Years later, Love encounters a mirror also present at the event which, once shattered, provokes a series of grisly murders. Shamelessly combining elements of Halloween and The Amityville Horror, Lommel's film has the requisite number of chills needed to fill out its 83-minute running time, but little more. It does, however, feature future Sassy editor Jane Pratt as both a teen victim and a character clad in a neatly tucked-in Triumph T-shirt, the latter of which has to be somebody's worst nightmare.