Death and the grief surrounding it is an inevitability in this world. Everyone will experience it at some point and we all react differently to the challenges it presents. Sometimes we even attempt to avoid it in order to postpone the pain as long as possible. There’s no limit to the ability of our brain when it comes to delaying the realization that things are no longer the same. With Booger, debuting director Mary Dauterman attempts to take on that grief with a bit of body horror, comedy and a touch of shapeshifting.
One day, a stray cat named Booger finds his way up the fire escape and through the window of longtime friends Izzy (Sophia Dobrushin) and Anna (Grace Glowicki of Strawberry Mansion). When Izzy unexpectedly dies in a bicycle accident, Anna shifts her attention to the mysterious stray. After returning from the funeral and smothering Booger with her affection, Booger bites her on the hand and promptly runs away. What follows is a long, strange transformation into feline-like behavior sandwiched in between a series of bizarre dream sequences.
This movie was a brief 78 minutes of high strangeness. At times I was utterly enthralled and times completely disgusted (which is a difficult task for me). Already being aloof with her feelings, Glowicki as Anna excels at being the cat-like lead. Everything from waking up in contorted position in the oddest of places, eating the most disgusting things and even knocking shot glasses off the bar in that all too familiar cat-like way she takes on the persona of a feline stalking its way around your house in a fairly believable way. The part that got me was the hairballs…ugh the hairball sequences turned my stomach but I’m sure that was the intent.
The story had a definitive beginning, middle and end but I would have liked to see more of the physical side of the transformation. We got the hairs sprouting from the bite wound she received and her canines sharpening but aside from that we had to rely on the improv chops of someone pretending to be a cat. That’s all fine and good but the fan in me that grew up on Werewolf flicks craves that.
Dauterman gained a little buzz with her shorts and I’m excited with what I’m seeing in her feature length debut. This flick approached grief in a way that felt unique. I would have never thought of using transmorphic body horror to tackle a subject like this and it caught my attention. It’s not perfect but there’s a voice developing there and I’m curious to see where she goes from here. Booger was funny when it needed to be and being a veteran of this subgenre I can attest It was gross enough to turn my stomach a time or two. With a runtime of a little over an hour it accomplishes what any horror/comedy would set out to do, it entertains when it needs to. It probably won’t be the best thing you see but it’s a good start for Dauterman and the cast she assembled. I’m interested to see what they do next.
Booger is open now in select theaters and VOD.
