THE BRIDE OF BOOGEDY
US, 1987, 95 minutes, Colour.
Richard Masur, Eugene Levy, Mimi Kennedy, Tammy Lauren, Leonard Frey.
Directed by Oz Scott.
The Bride of Boogedy is a family telemovie from the Walt Disney Studios. It is a ghost story - plus special effects - with links to such American ghost stories as The Canterville Ghost and Ichabod.
Set in New England, the film has a 400-year-old ghost who can't be laid to rest and whose statue stands in the main square. He intervenes in the life of the Davis family - descendents of those who had antagonised him in the past. The Davis family are into magic and tricks. This all combines in a madcap kind of way with the ghost materialising, taking possession of various members of the town, including the father played by Richard Masur and the jealous storekeeper played by Eugene Levy.
Nothing particularly startling - even for a ghost story - but some madcap humour which will entertain the undemanding family audience.
1.Entertaining ghost story? American style? From the Disney Studios? The New England town, shops, homes, the carnival? The importance of special effects for the ghosts? For the magic? Musical score?
2.The ghost, the ghost story being told at the beginning? The 17th century, the old traditions of the Puritans in New England? Greed? The old man, his frustrations, love for his bride? His cloak, one foot in the world? The cloak and the magic? His taking possession of people? His final defeat - and the statue? The caricature of the sinister old man and the sinister ghost?
3.The Davis family, parents, children? Good-natured, loving relationships? The father and his magic and tricks? His boss and the visits? The wife and her collaboration? The daughter and her concern? The boys, their common dream, waking up? The ghostly world entering into dreams? The magical tricks? The jealousy of the storekeeper? The ghost taking possession of the father? The confrontation? The taking of the cloak? At the fair? The wife being taken by the ghost, her rescue?
4.The storekeeper, jealousy, his cantankerous behaviour? The taking of the cloak, possessed by the ghost? Rescued and coming on-side?
5.The people in the town, the fortune-teller, the stories of the past, the touch of the supernatural?
6.The importance of the special effects, the delight in the tricks? The ghostly effects? The ghost taking over the humans? The build-up to the taking of the bride - and the heroics of the rescue? Popular ingredients for family audiences?
