Movie: Boo

 

Production Year: 2005

 

Tubi Provided Summary: Five college students spend a night in an abandoned hospital and learn they’re not alone when they encounter a spirit trying to escape the psych ward.

 

Film Can Be Accessed At: https://tubitv.com/movies/606390/boo?start=true

 

Does This Movie Pass The Bechdel Test: Yes

 

Character Analysis:

  • Jessie: Nervous, emotional, sensitive, strong under pressure, outspoken, feminine
  • Kevin: Not very intelligent, driven by sex, cheating on Jessie with Marie, very masculine
  • Emmet: No discernible personality, caring to his dog, feminine
  • Jacob: Ghost antagonist, angry, masculine
  • Marie: Sensual, highly sexualized, ditzy, hysterical, stereotypically “bitchy”, feminine
  • Freddy: Mild-mannered, quiet, feminine
  • Allan: Outspoken, loves his family, strong, masculine
  • Meg: No notable personality, possessed through the whole film
  • Arlo: Token character of color, strong, law enforcement officer, masculine
  • Nurse Russell: Ghost protagonist, caring, strong-willed

Death Analysis

  • Emmet: First to die, extended death scene, after being killed and reanimated by a ghost off-screen and slowly melting, shot and exploded, killed by Meg
  • Marie: Second to die, extended death scene, attacked by Emmet and slowly melts before being shot, killed by Kevin
  • Freddy: Third to die, moderate death scene, begins melting, shot, and exploded, killed by Arlo
  • Reanimated Kevin possessed by Jacob and Reanimated Meg possessed by Nurse Russell: Fourth to die, moderate death scene, pressed together and shot with the same bullet, killed by Nurse Russell to keep Jacob from escaping

 

Survival Analysis

  • Survive the film
    • Jessie
    • Allan
    • Arlo
  • Dead but not destroyed
    • Jacob
    • Nurse Russell

 

Final Statistics:

Character Sex Ratio: 4 Females: 6 Males

Character Survivor Ratio: 2 Females: 3 Males (including ghosts)

Character Death Ratio: 50% of Females to 50% of Males (not including ghosts)

 

Final Takeaways: 

Boo is a unique film in the horror genre. It takes the common story of a haunted house and creates characters that are self-aware, acknowledging that they are the dumb teenagers in a horror cliché that go into a scary house and are never seen again. In addition, for an early 2000’s movie, this film offers a surprisingly progressive story compared to its counterparts from that time.

For example, while the cast is slightly male-dominated, Boo surprisingly passes the Bechdel Test. In addition, deaths are mostly similar between characters with no particularly drawn-out or gruesome moments saved for any one character. The deaths are also proportionally even between the sexes of the characters with 50% of males and females surviving the film.

Boo offers a surprisingly head-strong female lead as well. She is highly outspoken and opinionated. When her boyfriend attempts to talk over her or demerit how she feels, Jessie simply dumps him in front of all their friends and proceeds to validate herself as if he meant nothing to her. Jessie is also the one that solves the puzzle of the film, comes up with a plan of escape, and executes that plan nearly flawlessly. Because of her unique role as seen by the Sex Role perspective and this film passing the Bechdel Test, Boo makes for an interesting watch despite its plot-based shortcomings. 

Shared by: Ariana Nichols
Image Credit: IMDb