After two years of living with his aunt in Florida, teenager Neal returns home to live with his father and younger brother. His father had remarried and his new wife wants them all to be a happy family. We discover that Neal may be a bit unbalanced when it's revealed he set the house on fire two years before--but he really seems to have a deep dread about returning to this house--and to his bedroom. He talks to his younger brother, Paulie, and Paulie is having the same dreams and fears he once had--of a fearsome creature that lives under his bed. Of course, the adults don't believe them and when they finally do it's too late.
The two actors who portray the boys are great, so good, in fact, that it makes everyone else seem like a bad actor. And for the most part the special effects are decent, with no lame cartoony CGI. This is what a "Boogey Man" should look like. I found this far better than Joe Dante's similarly themed THE HOLE. Recommended.