Introduction: Who Said “Boo”?
There are horror films that make you scream, films that make you laugh, and then there’s Boo (2005), a straight-to-DVD masterpiece that makes you scream with laughter while also reconsidering every life choice that led you to pressing play. Directed by Anthony C. Ferrante (later of Sharknado “fame”), this film proves that even ghosts can suffer from poor character development.
It’s called Boo—not Boo! with an exclamation point, mind you, but just Boo, like a half-hearted Halloween decoration taped to a dorm room door. And honestly, that sums up the energy level perfectly: half-hearted, flimsy, and falling apart by morning.
The Plot: Abandon All Logic, Ye Who Enter Here
The premise sounds like a campfire story that got drunk and forgot where it was going. Jessie Holden is invited by her boyfriend Kevin and their friends Freddy and Marie to spend Halloween in an abandoned hospital—because nothing screams romance like asbestos, tetanus, and ghosts with anger management issues.
Meanwhile, Allan is looking for his missing sister Meg, accompanied by Arlo, a former actor-turned-cop whose most terrifying quality is his mustache. Allan’s dog, Dutchess, is quickly mutilated and then reanimated—because in this movie, even the pets come back wrong.
Inside, the group discovers that the hospital is haunted by Jacob, a child murderer who somehow got locked inside during a fire decades ago. Instead of spending eternity reflecting on his crimes, Jacob passes the time by possessing corpses, reanimating dogs, and tormenting horny twenty-somethings. Nurse Russell, the film’s only competent adult, also haunts the halls, but she’s too busy clutching keys and looking cryptic to do anything helpful until the finale.
By the third act, possession is being handed out like Halloween candy, characters die and reappear like malfunctioning lightbulbs, and Jessie cosplays as Nurse Russell to scare Jacob—because apparently, the ultimate weapon against evil is method acting.
The Characters: Ghosts of Bad Casting Choices
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Jessie (Trish Coren): Our heroine, spiritually sensitive but emotionally flat. She spends the entire movie whispering about her dead mom like she’s auditioning for a Hallmark horror film.
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Kevin (Jilon VanOver): Jessie’s boyfriend, who cheats on her almost immediately with Marie. Then he gets possessed. Honestly, it’s the most productive thing he does all movie.
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Freddy (Josh Holt): The designated “comic relief,” which is a generous way of saying “guy who dies halfway through so no one has to listen to him anymore.”
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Marie (Nicole Rayburn): The obligatory “sexy friend” who doubles as a meat puppet for Jacob.
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Allan (Michael Samluk): Looks for his sister with all the charisma of a man ordering soup.
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Meg (Rachel Melvin): Turns out she’s already dead, which explains why her performance is so lifeless.
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Arlo (Dig Wayne): Former blaxploitation actor turned cop. His character is named Dynamite Jones. Yes, really. Imagine Shaft, but with less screen presence and worse dialogue.
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Jacob (M. Steven Felty): The villain, a child killer turned ghost. Despite being a supernatural predator, he has the menace of a cranky mall Santa.
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Nurse Russell (Dee Wallace): Poor Dee Wallace. From E.T. to this. She shows up to deliver exposition and moral support, then vanishes until the script needs her again.
The Horror: Jump Scares on Life Support
The film is stuffed with every haunted hospital cliché in the book: flickering lights, locked elevators, ghostly children, and ominous whispers. The scares are telegraphed so badly you’d think the ghosts were required to submit a PowerPoint presentation before appearing.
Even the gore feels lazy. Dogs get blown up into chunks, friends get shot and immediately reanimate, but the effects are about as convincing as ketchup on a paper towel. The scariest part of the film is realizing you still have an hour left.
The Dialogue: Kill Me, Then Reanimate Me Later
The script is a buffet of bad lines delivered with all the urgency of someone ordering takeout. Highlights include:
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“Everyone who dies here comes back.” (Thanks for the spoiler, Meg.)
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“Silver bullets don’t work on this!” (Because apparently we needed clarification it’s not a werewolf movie.)
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“You belong to me now.” (Said by Jacob, but honestly could’ve been said by the DVD that held me hostage for 90 minutes.)
Characters repeat information like they’re stuck in a paranormal version of Groundhog Day. If you stripped out the redundancy, the movie would be a tight 25 minutes—and still feel long.
The Ghost Logic: Now with Extra Nonsense
Jacob is a ghost who possesses bodies, but also sometimes just kills people, but also sometimes traps them in visions. The rules shift faster than the cameraman trying to avoid showing the cheap sets. By the end, he possesses Kevin, who apparently is such a perfect sociopath that Jacob treats him like a timeshare condo.
Meanwhile, Nurse Russell can also possess people, but in a nice way. So possession is either evil or therapeutic depending on the plot’s mood swings. It’s less supernatural mythology and more improv night gone wrong.
Production Values: More “Boo-Hoo” Than “Boo”
The hospital set looks less like an abandoned asylum and more like a community theater production of Grey’s Anatomy. The lighting alternates between “too dark to see” and “overexposed to the point of blindness.” The sound design features ghosts wailing like constipated whales and gunshots that sound like cap guns.
Even the costumes are a letdown. Ghost Jacob looks like he raided a Spirit Halloween clearance bin. Nurse Russell, the big heroic presence, dresses like she just walked out of an 80s soap opera.
Missed Opportunities: The Real Horror
The concept of a haunted hospital is actually solid. Hospitals are creepy by default—sterile, cold, filled with death. But Boo manages to make its setting feel about as scary as a Walgreens flu clinic. Instead of leaning into atmosphere, the film goes for cheap jump scares and endless possession subplots.
Imagine if The Ring had been directed by someone who thought every scary moment needed a soundtrack that screamed “BOO!”—and now you understand this film.
Final Thoughts: The Real Premonition Was Regret
At its core, Boo is a movie that desperately wants to be part of the mid-2000s J-horror-inspired boom. Instead, it feels like a SyFy Channel reject that wandered onto Blockbuster shelves by mistake.
The scares aren’t scary, the characters aren’t likable, and the ending sets up a battle between Jacob and Nurse Russell that would’ve been more compelling if either of them acted like they’d read the script beforehand.
The only truly frightening part? Knowing Anthony C. Ferrante went on to direct Sharknado—meaning this movie was technically a warm-up.
