Face-Off: Samara (The Ring) Vs. Mr. Boogie (Sinister)

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

The decision was unanimous with our last Face-Off. Everyone agreed that the sequel The Road Warrior bests the original Mad Max in every possible way. Of course, both make quite a one-two punch for back-to-back viewing. Bring on Fury Road!

Today’s Face-Off is loosely inspired by the forthcoming summer horror movie event, Deliver Us From Evil, from director Scott Derrickson whose last flick was the fantastic Sinister. That movie has a particularly nasty creature by the name of “Mr. Boogie” who made his attacks through film footage. I’m sure you remember another sinister specter that killed with the help of video footage. Hence, set your video player to “scared shitless” as we pit Samara from The Ring up against Sinster’s Mr. Boogie!

Look
It’s pretty ghastly how frightening a person’s face can become after being drowned at the bottom of a well for seven days. Samara’s pale, wrinkled skin and whitened, evil eyes are the stuff nightmares are made of. Not to mention the straight, black-ink-like hair that her visage is creepily peeking out from. I know she may be a kid, but damn, that’s scary.
This f*cking guy is so friggin creepy, you almost don’t want to look at him at all. It’s all in the eyes, or rather, the lack thereof. He’s got these black, triangular pits over his ocular cavities that resemble those of an evil jack-o-lantern. His mouth looks like it’s been erased and his hair is long, black, and greasy. The white skin only highlights all the aforementioned features.
Video Images
The images on Samara’s video range from the weird to the crazy to the sickly disturbing. We see chairs spinning, a lady brushing her hair, creepy bugs, dead horses, and much more. It’s something you definitely watch and then go “What the f*ck?” Plus, the entire thing is capped off with a woman leaping off a cliff to her death.
Now, Boogie’s videos are tough to sit through. There’s just something incredibly unsettling about watching innocent families being killed in sadistic fashions. It’s tough to pick one kill that is worse. The hanging from the tree, the drowning in the pool, the burning in the car; all are just awful. But I’d have to say the one that comes out of nowhere and just stabs you in the heart is the lawnmower one.
Reasoning
Poor Samara. Her insane mother thinks the little girl is evil, so she suffocates her with a plastic bag and throws her down a well. However, Samara did not die… yet. She has to endure starving to death over the course of seven days. That is just the worst and definitely makes for one pissed off evil spirit.
This poor bastard, Mr. Boogie or Bughuul if you want to use his full name, just needs to eat the souls of children in order to keep on keepin’ on. He also needs to kill off the entire family of the kid in order to, I guess, get permission. It’s definitely a very sinister means to exist, but it certainly isn’t a good one.
Best Scare
Right when you think all is well at the end of the movie, the TV goes on in Naomi Watt’s man’s apartment. Samara creeps out of the well, looking all ghostly and shit. She gets closer to the screen, looks up slightly, and proceeds to come through the f*cking TV! Trust me, when you see this for the first time, you lose your shit. I still remember the audience freaking out in the theater.
For a freakin’ creepy ass dude, Mr. Boogie’s scariest moment is actually quite subtle, but still super unnerving. Ethan Hawke is going over his notes on the killing and has a paused image of Boogie’s face on his computer. He looks away briefly and suddenly, Mr. Boogie turns right toward him. It’s totally unexpected and an excellent example of simple shock scaring.
Longevity
Samara lives on through her video tape. With DVDs and Blu-Rays now taking over the way we view things, her means of travel could end up obsolete. That’s not to say she couldn’t fashion her sick legacy into a DVD for all to watch. I mean, she was able to put all that shit onto a video tape, so whose to say she can’t do the same thing with a DVD. She’s a powerful, pissed off specter. Even though The Ring 2 sucked, I’m pretty sure Samara will always live on.
Mr. Boogie has a bit of a problem. He needs families to find his super 8 films in order for him to kill them and steal one of their kids. If he doesn’t do that, he’s done for. Now, before we automatically call him the loser of this category, let it be known that he’s already succeeded with this task six times straight. Clearly, he’s got a knack for taking care of business, but the odds are still greatly stacked against him.
Mr. Boogie
I just love it when we have a tight battle! Both Samara and Mr. Boogie are such future classics of horror that it makes they’d go down to the wire. However, it also makes sense that Boogie would take this match. Maybe it’s because Samara is just a kid. I don’t know. What I do know is I want your opinions on this one. So, please fire them bullets below! And feel free to send any future Face-Off ideas to me at [email protected].

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