Boogeyman 3   Starring: Erin Cahill, Chuck Hittinger, Mimi Michaels, Matt Rippy and Nikki Sanderson Icon Home Entertainment RRP: £15.99 ICON Certificate: 15 Available 27 April 2009

Psychology student and late night radio agony aunt Sarah shares a university dormitory with Audrey. Audrey's professor father has recently died, and she is convinced that the Boogeyman killed him and that she is next. Sarah sees her friend being strangled by a shadowy supernatural figure, but when the other students arrive Audrey is hanging from the neck by her own belt. Now that Sarah is convinced that the Boogeyman is real she tries to convince everyone else of the fact. However, Sarah has recently returned from psychiatric treatment following the death of her mother, and very few people believe her. But word slowly spreads throughout campus, and the more people that believe in it the stronger the Boogeyman becomes...

It seems that every notion which falls under the category of horror is created for the purposes of franchising. This has been the case for some time now, but has accelerated since the turn of the century. Seldom does a film which has recouped its outlay pass us by without a sequel popping-up a year or two later - in the majority of cases considerably poorer than its predecessor. Boogeyman is no exception.

The original film was okay and certainly achieved what it said on the tin, tapping into childhood scary moments, such as something unknown under the bed, and the darkness in the cupboard. However, as with every monster flick, the minute the creature is seen and at least partly understood, the most part of its power and effectiveness is stripped away. So, we know what it looks like and what it can do, and as there is no progression to the legend the story has already been told.

What we're effectively left with is the inevitable set-pieces again, with no proper conclusion; after all, they wouldn't want to kill-off the franchise, would they? This instalment doesn't even have the fun element of the Friday 13th films. Stop now, before they become as bad as the Wishmaster sequels.

Extras include deleted scenes, three featurettes and a trailer.

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Ty Power